Rajamouli Has Reached Enviable Heights, Says Kona Venkat
Kona Venkat praised Rajamouli for becoming a source of inspiration to lakhs of young filmmakers, crediting his consistency, vision, and creativity.
Popular writer-producer Kona Venkat has come out in strong support of ace filmmaker S S Rajamouli, calling him a director par excellence and asserting that online trolls are no match for his stature. “These trolls are nothing but toxic and meant only to demean his achievements, which are truly enviable in Indian cinema. Probably, some are envious of his meteoric rise,” he said.
Kona Venkat praised Rajamouli for becoming a source of inspiration to lakhs of young filmmakers, crediting his consistency, vision, and creativity. He added that the director is set to scale even greater heights with his upcoming magnum opus starring Mahesh Babu.
Rajamouli recently unveiled the first look of Prithviraj Sukumaran from the film, in which the actor plays the antagonist Kumbha. The poster, featuring Prithviraj in an all-black outfit seated in an automated wheelchair, received immense attention online — both praise and criticism. While many fans applauded the look, some netizens drew comparisons to characters like Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2, Suriya’s Athreya from 24, and Vivek Oberoi’s villain in Krrish 3.
Responding to these criticisms, Kona Venkat said, “These comparisons are baseless. You cannot judge an entire character or story based on a single poster. It’s unfair to undermine the creativity of a director of Rajamouli’s caliber just by drawing comparisons for crippled villain look. We have seen films with drug smugglers, corrupt politicians and gangster villains, does it mean that we should not use them again. But how director plays out the character in the script as refreshingly as possible is the key, ”
He further argued that social media negativity has become rampant and often targets major Tollywood names. “It’s disheartening to see how a few vested interests have turned social media into a toxic space. If someone cannot reach Rajamouli’s level, they try to pull him down to theirs — that’s a disgusting mindset,” he remarked.
Kona concluded by saying that Rajamouli’s collaboration with Mahesh Babu is one of the most ambitious projects ever attempted in Indian cinema. “Rajamouli is immensely talented and continues to set benchmarks for filmmakers across Tamil, Hindi, and Telugu industries. He will rise above this social media noise and make Tollywood proud once again,” he affirmed.
