★ Salman Khan’s favourite scriptwriter is a Hyderabadi !
He is one of the most sought after writers in Tollywood. He’s currently scripting films for the creme of Telugu cinema — Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, NTR Jr, Siddharth, Nani, Ram, Ravi Teja and Nithiin. And while that’s his worksheet in T-Town, Kona Venkat is fast making a name for himself on the national scene as well, with a slew of Salman-starrers.
Making waves in B-Town It all started with “Ready” which was remade in Hindi with the same title. Kona and his aide Gopimohan wrote the story for the Bollywood version as well. And ever since the film turned out to be a hit at the BO, Sallu has taken a shine for the writer. “Salman loved working for “Ready” and after its success at the BO, he began trusting me so much that he tries to involve me in some capacity in every film he does. It is an industry that runs on faith,” shares Kona, who has written the story for “No Entry 2” and has assisted in developing the screenplay for Sohail Khan’s upcoming production, “Sher Khan”. Kona has also written another script — an adaptation of “Parugu” — for Salman.
Giving a peek into Salman’s upcoming film, “No Entry”, Kona says, “The movie is going to be twice as good. The film will have two Salman Khans, two Anil Kapoors and two Fardeen Khans. It’s going to be a battle between originals and duplicates,” he reveals.
The South Indian edge Offering an interesting insight to the phenomenon of Tollywood potboilers taking Bollywood by storm, Kona says, “I think Telugu writers are the best when it comes to projecting heroism on screen because we believe heroes are larger than life figures. In Bollywood, the writers look at stars as characters. They address them by their first names. “Sala raat bhar peetha hai aur set pe late aata hai,” remark some of them, when Salman turns up late. But for me, Salman is the god of heroes. Naturally, when I write stories for him, they are larger than life. That’s where South Indian writers have an edge over their Mumbai counterparts,” explains Venkat adding, “Bollywood stars have fans, whereas Southern fans are more like fanatics.” Kona thinks that writing for big stars is a much easier proposition than writing for non-star flicks.
Rest at TOI
