Folks familiar with South Indian movies, especially Telugu movies, would know Venkatesh. He is a big star with a considerable fan following out here in Andhra Pradesh. He has been working as a hero in movies for more than 20 years now in various genres of movies from action movies to comedies, most of which have been popular hits.
We chanced into him when visiting a local bookstore near home the other day. I must confess that both Sheetal and I are reasonably star struck, and here we saw a "superstar" right across the aisle. The was no security or assistants- just the man all by himself. He looked just like the rough and tough characters he portrays in movies- brazen look, rolled up sleeves and no nonsense look on his face. After hesitating for a good minute or so, I mustered up enough courage to walk down to him and ask him for an autograph, literally looking up to his solid 6 feet+ frame from my frail 5 feet+ frame.
But the guy was an absolute gem and a thorough gentleman. He gave me a warm smile when I asked him for an autograph, spoke very nicely to me and gave me an autograph. Having crossed the first hurdle, I chanced my luck and asked him for a photograph. He readily agreed and posed for one, with only a passing concern about how he is looking like a "duck".
All in all, it was a memorable encounter. He came across as a soft spoken and almost shy person. He spoke very good English and Telugu, and was an amazing contrast to his onscreen persona and appearance. I came out of the encounter being further impressed in his abilities as an actor, as I can only imagine the difficulty he would have in getting into on screen personalities so contradicting to his real life one.
-Phani
We chanced into him when visiting a local bookstore near home the other day. I must confess that both Sheetal and I are reasonably star struck, and here we saw a "superstar" right across the aisle. The was no security or assistants- just the man all by himself. He looked just like the rough and tough characters he portrays in movies- brazen look, rolled up sleeves and no nonsense look on his face. After hesitating for a good minute or so, I mustered up enough courage to walk down to him and ask him for an autograph, literally looking up to his solid 6 feet+ frame from my frail 5 feet+ frame.
But the guy was an absolute gem and a thorough gentleman. He gave me a warm smile when I asked him for an autograph, spoke very nicely to me and gave me an autograph. Having crossed the first hurdle, I chanced my luck and asked him for a photograph. He readily agreed and posed for one, with only a passing concern about how he is looking like a "duck".
All in all, it was a memorable encounter. He came across as a soft spoken and almost shy person. He spoke very good English and Telugu, and was an amazing contrast to his onscreen persona and appearance. I came out of the encounter being further impressed in his abilities as an actor, as I can only imagine the difficulty he would have in getting into on screen personalities so contradicting to his real life one.
-Phani
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