"I love spending time with my kids"

Venkatesh is perhaps the only Tollywood actor who has hardly seen many ups and downs in his career. A sure shot box office hit, Venkatesh is aptly titled 'Victory hero' by his admirers. A look at the collections of his movies illustrates that for this actor who is in his 25th year of stardom, success was not a destination but a continous journey.In the news for his upcoming movie 'Eenadu' a remake of Naseeruddin Shah's 'A wednesday', Venky shares the screenspace with Kamal Hasan.


Venkatesh says he was never entangled in the 'image' and feels this multi-starrer will be a trend for other actors and directors to emulate. "Directors and writers have been hesitant to come up with multi-starrer stories with the misconception that people might not like it.In Hollywood , established stars act together in films like Ocean 11. Kamal called me and asked me to do this role and since we have to begin multi starrer movies somewhere, I readily agreed. 95 per cent of the Telugu audience have not yet watched 'A wednesday' and I await to see the result of Eenadu. I have played Anupam Kher's charecter of a Police commissioner. Though I wanted to do the role in Tamil too, Kamal gave it to Mohanlal since he promised him earlier. If this flick clicks, then Tollywood will have more multi- starrers in the days to go. Though not every film can be multi -starrer,directors and writers can hereafter come up with scripts that demand multistars" he says.



"Though Marmayogi in which I was supposed to do face to face scenes with Kamal is not happening anymore, I look forward to a movie where we both get to act in scenes together" he adds. He is also learning Ventriloquism for his upcoming movie 'Om namoVenkatesha'. Is he hinting at a change in the image from his stereo typical family comedy entertainers?



"I have done charecter roles in Ganesh, Dharmachakram et al. I have been doing variety of roles. I am willing to even play a villain provided the charecter and script are exciting."


The actor who takes his remuneration only after the release of the film has his eyes set on Bollywood too. Venkatesh who is a familiar face in the north for his 'Anari' with Karishma Kapoor, now wants to play mature lead charecters in Hindi. "I have been listening to scripts from Hindi too. I was offered a cop's role last year. In a year of two, I will be playing a charecter in Hindi. I am looking at roles that Nanapatekar plays. It should be a good charecter and Iam ready to act in Hindi again" he says .



Venkatesh a dad of four children claims spending time with his children is one of his favourite pastimes. Brushing aside rumours that his first standard going son Arjun is slated to be a child artiste, this proud father can't stop praising his son's capabilities to judge movies.
"I am from a joint family and I loved to have a big family. Whenever I had a child, I also had an injury on the sets and that was a blessing in disguise. It gave me more time to spend with my children. When we are out in the society, we wear so many masks but with children, we can be natural and our selves. I like to have their company. They bring out the real godly qualities within us. When I go back home I have wonderful kids and it is pleasant to get to spend time with them. My son Arjun who is now in his first standard can very well judge which movie is good and who is performing well at fights et al. Its nice to see them all growing up" he says with a spark of pride in his eyes.


His two nephews Daggubati Rana and Naga Chaitanya are now into acting. Does he spend time with them giving them tips and grooming them? "I watched Josh and Naga Chaitanya did well considering this is his first film.I do give my honest advice to Rana and Chaitanya on how to go about in films since they are my family.I only tell them that they don't have to be serious and tensed. There is space for everyone in the industry. Thats how I was and I am happy. Beyond that I think experience will teach them their own lessons. If one is successful and others are not it could be because they might not have got the right script yet. So, I also ask them not to compare themselves with anyone." he says.



Enter Venkatesh's office and one will find books on spirituality, potrait of Guru Ramana Maharshi and beddings for meditation. Venkatesh is perhaps one of the rare heroes who so religiously reads spiritual books and meditates.
"We are all temperory guests in this world. We should enjoy what god has given us. But we should also remember that we should grow within as we grow outside. We should be able balance our spiritual and material life. We have to tap the energy within us. The only way we can do it is to meditate and mind our own business. We should light our lamp before attempting to light the lamp of others. I read the practices and principles of Ramana Maharshi, Ramakrishna Pramahamsa, Vivekananda, Gita, Osho et al. Once we get the taste of that realisation, we tend to become strong from inside" he says like a master of spiritual world, perhaps hinting that it is his favourite topic.