Raavi Kondala Rao is one of those erudite gentlemen who was born a year before the inception of Telugu Cinema and continued his life journey through films till date. He was first noticed with his peculiar dialogue delivery by saying “Silence!” in Preminchi Chudu and later grew close to legendary films personalities like ANR, Jaggaiah, Gummadi, Arudra, Bapu, Ramana and SPB. There is a wonderful dialogue writer hidden in him as well. Raavi Kondala Rao is a multi talented person and a story writer too. He did write many stage plays and won Parishat awards for his work.
While excelling on stage and on silver screen simultaneously, Raavi Kondala Rao is unnerved even hitting age 80. He is a brilliant dubbing artist who joined with Ghantasala for chorus singing. He is extremely well versed with Telugu Cinema and the industry and has great bonding with many film personalities. One of the best aspects of his writing style is that- he brings up the good as well as the sad truth pertaining to film industry with great ease. One such brilliant books he has written is- Nagavali Nunchi Manjeera Varaku. This book features his journey from the banks of river Nagavali near his hometown Srikakulam till Hyderabad on the banks of the river Manjeera. The casual way of presentation is quite evident throughout the book. While mentioning about disturbing incidents, he made sure the incident is more highlighted than the people behind it. The book also features about his personal journey by getting married to co-star Radhakumari and how earning has no relation with a happy marriage. He also speaks about his dear wife’s sudden death and how he canceled his US trip for the cremation in a heart wrenching manner.
Raavi Kondala Rao entered film industry hoping to get work as a director, and then transformed to an actor thereby getting hands on experience in various fields of film making. The interesting incidents, situations and the way in which he interacted with various film personalities make this book a gripping reading.
This book was published by Creative Links in the best quality possible as the book features color pictures of many interesting incidents. Once the book is completed, the reader would definitely feel a sequel is must for it!
(‘Nagavali Nunchi Manjeera Varaku’- Author: Raavi Kondala Rao, Pages- 176, Price: Rs.176/-, Available in all book stores)
