One would have heard of numismatists passionately collecting coins to get into record books, or a philatelist accumulating stamps to pass on the message of universal brotherhood. But here is a man, who has been collecting the counterfoils of cinema tickets for over three decades, to get into the record books such the Limca Book of Records or Guinness Book of Records, and to showcase his love for cinema.
P. Venkat Rao (47) had taken up the collection of cinema tickets when he was barely 10 years old. His first movie was N.T. Rama Rao’s Rayakota Rahasyam . That was in the year 1980 and the ticket was priced at Rs. 1.25 paisa, he recollects.
And from that movie, began his collection of cinema ticket counterfoils and his latest collection is from the Mohan Babu and Allari Naresh starrer Mama Manchu- Alludu Kunchu .
Talking about his collection to The Hindu , Mr. Venkat Rao, who works as a constable with the Home Guards, says: “I have seen the ticket denomination change from 25 paisa to Rs. 125.” On why he had taken up such a collection, he said: “Everyone is into coins or stamps collection. This was my original idea and I have not come across anyone doing this.”
From 1980 to till date, he has watched 1,1,74 movies and has tickets pertaining to all the movies that he has seen.
A movie buff and a diehard fan of NTR, he has seen almost all his movies. Currently, he is an admirer of ‘Rebel Star Prabhas’.
He not only collects the ticket counterfoils, but also writes the name of the movie, the lead stars, date and show time and director of the film, on the backside the counterfoils and has them segregated year-wise. He regards Vamsy as his all-time favourite director, Ladies Tailor as his favourite film in Telugu, J.P. Dutta’s Border in Hindi and Guns of Navarone in English.
Venkat Rao, a constable, has been collecting cinema tickets for over three decades
