Ravinder - Leading Art Director In Telugu Cinema

Ravi, as he is known looks so much like a regular bloke, in the way he is, the way he dresses and behaves. And when you speak to him you realise he is pretty much like that. He is passionate about what he does but that does not define him entirely. Tall, slim and with eyes that are always smiling Ravi came to 'Golconda High School' as the Art Director straight from the highs of Magadheera, just as Senthil had.

Ravi, as you would normally find him

I met Ravi briefly in the initial days of the cricket shoot. He was always polite and easy to talk to. Someone who laughs easily. One day we got to spend sometime together and that is when I realised he also shared his life easily. Ravi told me his entire journey in about an hour. How he grew up in a well to do family in Nellore. How he got into a situation where he needed to earn money rather early in life and joined the Nippo battery company in a menial job. How he used his creativity and hardwork to excel and receive the best worker award in his category. He always seems to have had this passion for excellence. How he moved from Nellore to Hyderabad and joined the JNTU School of Fine Arts. How he was so self sufficient that he never asked hs parents for money to fund his studies. How he and his friend actually delivered milk to make some money. He even recounted a time when he and his friend took a job of painting a farm fence in the outskirts of Hyderabad. And then how he got admission at IIT, Delhi to learn design but did not take it up. And how from there he joined some companies and started doing good commercial work which earned him much money.

From designing brochures and stuff like that to joining Ganga Raju Gunnam's 'Just Yellow'. How he excelled in the design work there - specially since 'Just Yellow' had more creative avenues than other places. How he was the only one who was paid during the making of 'Aithe'. And how he grew from strength to strength after that based on his work. Ravi gets especially passionate when he describes his masterpiece - the creation of helicopter for the last scene in Magadheera. You can see the pride in his eyes when he speaks of it.

The sets for Golconda High School were done in the style he adopts - an elaborate scoreboard which has its own distinct character in the movie, an arch that leads into the school, the huge school bell, the logo and stuff like that. He thinks quickly on his feet and has the uncanny ability to size people and resources up. For example when he needed a table tennis table for the dressing room shot he checked his resources and then looked at me and asked me out of the blue if I knew of someone who could lend one. Why he chose me of all the people i don't know but I knew two people - one Koni who had a table at his Shamshabad farmhouse and Kiran who had one at his home. Kiran was away at the US and Koni agreed. Only one needed to transport it carefully to and fro and the job was done. I was impressed with Ravi for his quick sizing up of the situation and getting things done.

Ravi belongs to the elite band of technicians who worked on this movie. He joins Mohana Krishna Indraganti, the director, Senthil the cinematographer, Kalyani Malik, the music director. Of the four, save Mohan Krishna, the other three made their debut with 'Aithe' a small landmark film. And now they are all on their way to success and fame and bigger things. I asked him if he ever wanted to direct and he said 'No'. He is happier in this area of design. Good luck Ravi in your future endeavours. It is really nice to see this young, committed, band of men who are passionate about their work and also bring certain values that will do any industry proud.