Telugu producer RR Venkat passes away aged 57 due to kidney-related ailments

Telugu film producer RR Venkat, also known as JV Venkat Phanindra Reddy, breathed his last early morning today, 27 September. The 57-year-old was reportedly hospitalised for kidney-related ailments at a private hospital in Hyderabad. Several prominent celebrities in the Telugu film industry took to social media to pay tribute to the Poola Rangadu producer. Actor Ravi Teja paid tribute to Venkat, calling him “one of the best producers” he had worked with. Telugu director Gopichand Malineni also took to social media to express his condolences, calling Venkat a “passionate film-maker” who always encouraged him. Venkat was the producer of Malineni’s first movie Don Seenu. Director Sreenu Vaitla said that Venkat “ was a man of guts and ambition”. The Dookodu director said that he had met the producer a few times and always found him to be very passionate about films. Director Surender Reddy also paid tribute to the producer. Venkat had produced Reddy’s 2009 film Kick, which was later remade into a Hindi film of the same name. Venkat had produced a number of hit films under the banner of RR Movie Makers. He had produced several super-hit films such as Kick, Autonagar Surya, Bahumathi, Don Seenu, Hungama, Samanyudu, and Andhrawala. His production credits also include the movies Mirapakay, Dhamarukam, Lovely, Gundamma Gaari Manavadu and Poola Rangadu. Venkat had also produced a number of Hindi movies including James and 2004 Urmila Matondkar and Saif Ali Khan starrer Ek Hasina Thi. He had also produced a Hollywood film called Divorce Invitation. The film starred Jamie-Lynn Sigler and Jonathan Bennett in the leads and was the remake of Telugu director SV Krishna Reddy’s Aahwanam. The Telugu movie had Srikanth and Ramya Krishnan as the leads. The Hollywood movie was directed by Reddy as well and co-produced by MSP Srinivas Reddy and Venkat. In 2011, the producer was also the recipient of an honorary doctorate for his social work from the Open International University for Complementary Medicines at the University of Colombo.