Kona Venkat is the busiest man in the Telugu film industry right now. He is involved with six films at the moment — Bruce Lee, Akhil, Soukhyam, Shankarabharanam, Dictator and Krishnashtami . Ask the writer how he manages all this and he answers in a very cool manner, though he looks a wee bit tired. “I am 45-films old, by now I am a seasoned technician, I know how to handle pressure. Those who don't know time management will feel the stress but not me. I am focused on the few hours that I allot to that work. Unless a hero wants me on the set for a particular scene, I won’t go,” he says.
The writer admits that he is the reason for the rise of template-comedy in Telugu films but balances and justifies his forte and its application to the hits at the box office. “Once upon a time there was importance for mass films, but the moment we roped in a star for a comedy film, the whole scenario changed. Star hero and comedy yenti annaru ...but now everyone is doing it. Dhookudu is the first example for the present generation. Chiranjeevi was the first hero to try humour in Gang Leader .”
Is he aware that people are saying that he knows only one formula and if he is not bored churning out the same comedy film after film? He avers, “The stars like glamour, foreign locations, mass and masala. They want grandeur and I want to satisfy fans. The films I’m writing are for 20 plus. I want to bring new concepts and new talent to the fore. I am producing Naga Chaitanya and Gautam Menon’s film too with my friend.”
Kona however asserts that after the release of Shankarabharanam , big heroes would want to work under his banner. He quips, “If they want to play characters they should come without demanding fights and shouldn’t say my fans want this and that. My scripts can’t handle stars, they need characters. I want to bring in new experimental stories. I am planning Powder , a different city film, about drugs, cocaine and how it is making inroads into clubs and colleges. It is told in an entertaining way. Then there is a Bhanumati , a terror-comedy. Then there is crime-comedy then spy-comedy... but I will not leave my forte, that is comedy.
