Venky Atluri Urges Bollywood Actors To Respect Telugu Work Culture and Hours

Director Venky Atluri expects actors to embrace regional work cultures while working between different film industries.

Every artist must understand and respect the local work culture and mindset before starting a project in a new industry, the filmmaker said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Venky Atluri asks Bollywood actors to adapt to local culture

Atluri used himself as an example to explain cross-industry adaptation. He said he would take a three-month break to study Hindi film sets before directing a Bollywood project.

"If I want to work in Hindi, I will take at least a 3 months break and study the set. Similarly, when you come to Telugu, you have to work according to Telugu mindset," Atluri said.

He added, "If I’m doing a Bollywood film, I will learn the culture and working conditions there, only then, I will start. In the same way, if a Bollywood actor comes to Telugu, they have to adopt similarly."

Respecting Telugu working hours

Telugu cinema sets typically operate on long shooting schedules of 11 to 12 hours.

"We used to work for 11–12 hours on the set. Be it a Tamil, Malayalam, or Hindi actor, they should respect Telugu working conditions. Anybody coming here should have to agree to that," said the Lucky Bhaskar director.

He gave Raveena’s example who has worked in his new film who shot for 14 hours straight. "I requested Raveena ma’am. Her manager said, ma’am will be angry. She overheard me, and she shot from 10:30 in the morning to 12:30 at night," he said.

Atluri's upcoming projects

Atluri is currently awaiting the release of his upcoming film Vishwanath & Sons, starring Suriya, Mamitha Baiju, Radhika Sarathkumar, Raveena Tandon, and Anil Kapoor, among others. It is scheduled to hit the screens on August 14.

Vishwanath & Sons follows the story of a talented pistol shooter in his 40s who meets and falls in love with a younger woman.