Huccha Venkat

Venkataram Laxman, popularly known as Huccha Venkat, is an Indian film actor, director, producer, screenwriter, lyricist working in Kannada cinema.^[2][3][4]

Personal life

Venkat was born in Bangalore into Kannada-speaking family of Vokkaligas, M. Laxman and Gowramma. He enrolled in higher education and sought a Diploma in civil engineering, but failed to complete his coursework.^[2][3] In 2007, he married his live-in girlfriend Reshma, whom he met while working on the film Swathanthra Palya. They separated after three years.^[5]

Career

Venkat made his acting debut playing a supporting role in the 2005 Kannada film Mental Manja.^[6] His next role was as the lead in the 2009 film Swathanthra Palya, which he also directed.^[7][8] In his 2014 Huccha Venkat that he directed and produced, he starred as the eponymous lead, which received negative reviews.^[9][10][11]

Venkat has since appeared as a guest in television shows such as Bengaluru Benne Dose and Divided.^[12][13] In October 2015 he appeared as a contestant on the reality television series Bigg Boss Kannada 3 aired on Colors Kannada.^[14] While on the show Venkat clashed with other participants, primarily due to his insistence that his female contestants were dressing inappropriately.^{[15][16][17][18][19]} This eventually led to his eviction from the house after he assaulted another contestant, Ravi Mooruru for insulting Huccha Venkat Sene.^{[20][21][22][23]} Venkat also challenged Sudeep, later withdrew the challenge and didn't want to talk to Sudeep ever.^[20] Ravi Mooruru praised Venkat, his post eviction from Bigg Boss Kannada 3 house for Venkat's concern towards women.^[24]

It is to be noted, Venkat was the most popular contestant in Bigg Boss Kannada 3, celebrities such as Raghu Dixit, Priyamani supported him.^{[25][26][27][28][29]}

Venkat has since, been referred to in the media and social media platforms as "Youtube Star", "Internet Star", "Ban Star" and "Firing Star" of Kannada cinema.^{[4][25][30][31][32][33]} Huccha Venkat fans have also created a Android app Huccha Venkat to get latest updates of their favorite actor.^[34][35][36] Senior journalist Ganesh Kasargod has written book "Huchcha Venkat…Huchchu Manasina nooru Mukhagalu" which is ready for release in January 2016.^[37]

Huccha Venkat started his singing career with Yograj Bhat's Parapancha movie by singing Huttida Ooranu song. This received positive response from fans and from Kannada film industry.

Filmography

Huccha Venkat Sene

Huccha Venkat claims to have formed a people's army, Huccha Venkat Sene to uplift poor and needy people in the society.^{[2][20][30][42][43]} Since Venkat sports and loves blue shirts, his fans in the sene is said to wear blue shirts.^[2] Venkat regularly gives messages to his sene through facebook and even while at Bigg Boss Kannada 3.^[44]

Controversies

Venkat is frequently seen as a controversial person by news outlets.^[3] Two of his most notable controversies center around things he said while promoting his 2014 film Huccha Venkat, where he made claims that he was married to the Kannada actress Ramya and gave an expletive-laden rant to a television interviewer. Ramya responded to Venkat's claims by filing a police report and publicly refuting his statements, to which Venkat did not issue any response - although he did stop claiming Ramya was his wife.^{[45][46][47][48][49][50]} Venkat's rant, which was sparked by the poor opening turnout for his film, quickly went viral on YouTube and spawned several parody videos.^[3][51]

Venkat made other controversial statements in November 2015, in a television appearance where he allegedly made derogatory remarks towards B. R. Ambedkar while taking part in a panel discussion.^{[52][53][54][55]} After the appearance several students viewing the discussion lodged complaints against Venkat and the news station, who they claimed provoked Venkat into making the offensive remarks.^[54] These complaints were followed by several protests and blackened Venkat's face.^[56][57][58] Venkat was arrested on 19 November 2015, and will be held in judicial custody until December 4, 2015.^[54][59][60] Ironically, Venkat's fame continues to grow. Venkat was welcomed by jail inmates in parappana agrahara, Bangalore where is held in judicial custody.^[61] Venkat's attorney has claimed that Venkat suffers from schizophrenia.^[62] As a growing concern, Venkat's remarks in TV channel is said to be discussed in Karnataka Legislative Assembly.^[63] On 25 November, a Bangalore city civil court issued conditional bail to Venkat.^{[32][64][65][66]} Venkat was not until the surety amount was paid and completed the bail formalities, he was finally released on 3 December with conditional bail.^[67][68][69]

The Times of India commented on Venkat's behavior, stating that he was a "sad reflection of our times" and that he "embodies all the drivel that is delivered as entertainment and news these days by our television channels."^[70] They criticized his remarks on the panel discussion, where they stated that he "lives in a world of fallacies and fantasies" and that he "believes in enforcing his ideas of morality, behaviour and attire on women."^[70]

The actor also engaged in several controversies in the third season of famous Kannada TV Show "Bigg Boss", He took a rage at actress turned politician Pooja Gandhi for wearing western clothes on the show, this resulted in the poor woman left to tears not knowing what to do. Also Huccha Venkat was finally evicted from the show after slapping fellow contestant Ravi Moorur. This eviction was glamorized quickly by the Kannada press and was what lead to Huccha Venkat's newly found fame. Huccha Venkat has also claimed he will become Prime Minister of India, oneday.^[71][72]

References

External links

• Huccha Venkat at the Internet Movie Database
• Huccha Venkat on Google Play App Store
• Huccha Venkat on Twitter