Raju hits a purple patch

Photos : P.V. Sivakumar

So far, so good Raju is called ‘the man with the Midas touch’ in the industry; (right) Chaitanya

An actor, director or producer is as good as his last hit. And ‘Dil’ Raju knows it. His office in Srinagar Colony is sparsely furnished and a sole cut-out of Aakasamantha adorns the drawing room. “I don’t ha ve posters of previous hits. I’ve instructed my staff to remove all posters apart from the last release,” he says. The industry regards him as the man with the Midas touch and he knows his golden streak may not last forever. “I cannot take it easy just because I’ve had hits,” he says.

His next production, Josh, will introduce Nagarjuna’s son Naga Chaitanya and actress Radha’s daughter Karthika. “I haven’t fixed the release date. I want to see how Ram Charan’s Magadheera fares. It doesn’t make business sense to have two big films clashing. I don’t fix a release date and work towards it. Since I’ve been a distributor, I understand the businesshe says.

Unwilling to spill the beans on Josh, he maintains, “It’s a love story; I’ve been working on the script with Vasu Varma (debut director) since 2006. Vasu and I go back a long way. He was the AD (assistant director) for my first production, Dil. For all my films, I work with the director and develop the script for a year. Only when I’m convinced, I go out and sign an actor. It doesn’t work the other way round.” Raju isn’t content being Mr. Money Bags. “Producers like Ramanaidu succeeded because of their involvement with their projects. In between, many producers were reduced to being financiers while the director and hero controlled the film. I like to be hands-on, visit the sets and know how the film is shaping up. But I don’t interfere,” he says.

Dil, Arya, Bommarillu, Bhadra, Parugu, Munna and Kotha Bangaru Lokam have made him a ‘bankable’ producer. With Josh, he confesses, the onus is on him. “I have a first-time director and the film launches Chaitanya and Karthika. I feel more responsible. I don’t doubt the film’s outcome though. I’m confident it will work. Chaitanya is a good performer and Karthika has remarkable screen presence. It was tough to convince Karthika to be part of the film,” he says. Raju learnt that Karthika was keen on movies and sent feelers which were rejected. Radha relented, albeit slowly, when she learnt Josh would launch Chaitanya. “Chaitanya should be judged by his own merit. We’ve avoided using famous dialogues and songs from his father’s and grandfather’s movies,” adds Raju.

Raju, who now owns a black Audi A8, was once a Reddy. To his family and friends, he remains Venkataramana Reddy. “Raju was my pet name and stuck with me when I entered movies. After Dil’s success, the film’s name was prefixed to my name. By business card and title card in my films read just ‘Raju’. I prefer it that way,” he says. His family hails from Nizamabad and is into agriculture. Raju watched his first film, Jai Santoshi Mata, when he was 12. “I was never crazy about films. I enjoyed good films and liked playing movies on VHS for kids in my village. The interest in films increased when I moved to Hyderabad after my brother set up an automobile business venture in R.P Road. The area has a number of film distribution companies and I got to interact with people from these offices,” he shares.

Egged on by his cousin Mahender Reddy who was a distributor, he entered film distribution. “The first three films flopped. Among them was Mani Ratnam’s Amrutha (Kannathil Muthamittal in Tamil). I went back to automobile business but kept thinking why the films didn’t work. I returned to distribution with Pelli Pandiri, a remake of a Kannada film. I learnt the pulse of the audience as a distributor. That helped me when I produced Dil.” Nitin’s father Sudhakar Reddy and Mahender Reddy being good friends helped him rope in Nitin. More hits followed.

Raju has a track record of introducing new directors. He played safe with Dil, directed by V.V. Vinayak. “After the film became a hit, I took a risk and introduced Sukumar for Arya,” he says. The fetish for new directors continued. Bhaskar debuted with Bommarillu. Munna introduced Vamsi Paidipally, Bhadra introduced Boyapati Srinu and Kotha Bangaru Lokam had Srikanth Addala.

Now, Raju wants to explore offbeat movies. He’s working on the remake of the golden hit Marocharitra, made 32 years ago. “This will be a modern take on Marocharitra, retaining the flavour of the original,” he says. The film will star Varun Sandesh and newcomer Anita with music by Mickey J. Meyer. “Two tunes will be retained from the original,” he says. Ask him if the new Marocharitra will also be a tragedy and he smiles, unwilling to reveal the plot.

In the pipeline are films with Prabhas, NTR (Brindavanam) and Ram (Rama Rama Krishna Krishna). Raju feels he’s been successful since he stresses on originals scripts. “I don’t watch foreign films to copy scenes and plots. I’m happy watching regional and Hindi films.”

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu