Kona Venkat Calls Directors ‘Criminals’ Over Budget Wastage
Kona believes poor planning and a lack of clarity among directors are putting an unnecessary financial burden on producers
Writer and producer Kona Venkat has sparked a debate in the film industry by strongly criticising directors who overshoot budgets and shoot excessive footage, only to discard a substantial portion of it during editing. The writer, who has backed several successful films, is currently associated with Sree Vishnu’s Comrade Kalyan, which is performing decently at the box office.
Kona believes poor planning and a lack of clarity among directors are putting an unnecessary financial burden on producers. He questioned the practice of shooting films lasting over three hours and subsequently removing more than an hour of footage to bring the final runtime down to around two hours.
“Why shoot so much content only to discard it later? Whatever gets trimmed is a huge waste. It also means wasting the producer’s money, which belongs to him. Such situations arise because of poor planning. There are several such instances, and I call those responsible criminals in the film industry,” Kona Venkat said.
According to him, some filmmakers lack clarity about what they want to convey and how they intend to translate their vision onto the screen. Consequently, they shoot excessive material and decide what works only during the editing process, resulting in a waste of time, effort and money.
However, Kona was quick to praise a few directors known for their disciplined approach to filmmaking. Citing the examples of his former assistants Bobby, Harish Shankar and Shiva Nirvana, he said they make a conscious effort to plan their projects efficiently and complete shoots within the stipulated time.
“Take Shiva Nirvana, for instance. During the making of Ninnu Kori, we shot nearly 70 per cent of the film in the USA in just 31 days, with a unit of 35 members. Shiva plans his films meticulously,” he said.
Kona argued that such an approach should serve as an example for other filmmakers, stressing that unnecessary footage and avoidable expenditure cannot be justified in the name of creative freedom. He maintained that better planning and greater clarity before going on floors would help producers control costs and improve the overall efficiency of film production.
