RAVI KUMAR GANDEPUDI
Eyes set on making films with Amitabh, Kamal Hassan

Ravi Kumar Gandepudi is an all-rounder of sorts.
He is a producer, director, actor, editor, cartoonist and journalist. A Karate expert, he has also learnt animation. Presently he is in Mumbai waiting to complete the dubbing of Yeh Dil Mujhe De De which is the remake of the Telugu hit film Manoharan

Yeh Dil Mujhe De De (YDMDD) is based on patriotism and the works of the ISI. To be released in Hindi by Ravi Kumar’s banner RK Creations, the film will be ready by March, says Ravi who has taken the dubbing rights of the film which stars Telugu artistes Jagapati Babu, Laaya, Jeeva with Mukesh Rishi as the terrorist. Shot in Delhi, Agra, Pollachi and Wagha on the Indo-Pak border, it has cinematography by Shekhar V Joseph, famous cameraman of Malayalam films. Lyrics by Saawan Kumar Tak have been set to music by Mani Sarma. Ravi proudly states that some scenes of this Rs 4-crore project, the first of its kind in Telugu, have also been shot on the Delhi-Lahore bus.

When queried as to what he thinks would be the fate of the film in Hindi, he asserts that it is a superhit in Telugu. Similarly like the Tamil film Roja which did good business when it was dubbed in Hindi, he is certain that YDMDD too would be liked. “Moreover, it is a first film on the present problem. The climax has been picturised very well and the treatment is different. The stars too are new for viewers outside Andhra,” says Ravi who came to Mumbai from Hyderabad five years ago to become an actor. He joined a two-year acting course run by director V Madhusudhan Rao and Roshan Taneja. He took dancing lessons from Jay Borade and Manohar Naidu and learnt jazz from Limboo. “Aamir Khan and Farah Khan were my classmates in the dancing school. At that time, Aamir who was signed for Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak offered me a role in the film but I didn’t take it up as I thought that he would never make it as the hero because of his height. How wrong was I?” he lamented.

Faisal Khan was his classmate in the acting class. Ravi plans to cast Faisal in the Hindi film that he is to make soon. “I know he is talented. All he needs is a good director,” says the loyal friend. The film will have lyrics by Javed Akhtar and negotiations are on with Preeti Jhangiani to play one of the two heroines.

Ravi has several hidden talents. He is a cartoonist and several of his illustrations were published in the Illustrated Weekly and News Times. He is a political journalist and runs a printing press in Hyderabad. He has also written articles on various topics. He was the former editor of Soundarya magazine in Andhra and has also interviewed several film stars. “I joined the film industry because I am a die-hard fan of Kamal Hassan and Amitabh Bachchan and have been fortunate to interview Amitabh Bachchan twice for Sithara magazine and Kamal Hassan once. I would like to make films with them in the near future,” says Ravi, who is also planning to start a film weekly next year
Ravi, who aspired to be an actor, has done over ten Telugu films. His first film was with Nagarjuna, one of the superstars of Telugu films, in Majnu which was directed by Dasari Narayan Rao and had music by Laxmikant-Pyarelal. The love story was made in 1986 and starred Rajni and Moon Moon Sen.

Ravi is also planning to produce, direct and act in a Telugu serial titled Mr Gopalakrishna, which will have 16 new girls from Mumbai besides introducing Bappa Lahiri, son of composer Bappi Lahiri as the music director. The title song is being sung by Suneeta Rao. So impressed is Ravi with Bappa’s work that he will compose music for Ravi’s next film also. In the pipeline is another venture— making programmes for the small screen with the association of Raghunath Telefilms, one of the biggest banners in South India, as well as family dramas and mythologicals with special effects for Zee’s Telugu channel and Doordarshan Hyderabad. Ravi also plans to start a Rs 24 crore animation studio project with BV Reddy, proprietor of Raghunath Films and Software.

Ravi has also learnt animation because it is useful in filmmaking. Besides this, he has plans to make a love story with a new pair. It will be a bilingual (Tamil/ Telugu) titled Anakapalli Kondalarayurudu. A gold medalist in Thaikondo martial arts (Karate), Ravi gradually lost interest in acting, as his attention was diverted to direction. He has a script ready for a film on dance, “something like Fast Forward and Saturday Night Fever,” he says.

He has the talent needed for making films and is backed by varied experience in a variety of fields. No wonder, if today he entertains dreams of becoming someone like Subhash Ghai, Yash Chopra and David Lean.

Namita Nivas