Kona Venkat calls directors who waste producers' money 'criminals' of the industry

Writer Kona Venkat has called directors who shoot far more footage than their films need "criminals" of the film industry. He says the habit burns money that belongs to the producer.

In a recent interview, he asked why some filmmakers shoot hours of extra material, only to cut much of it away and bring the film down to about two hours. Everything that ends up on the editing floor, he said, is wasted effort and wasted cash, and it comes from poor planning.

He was blunt about who pays for it. Producers raise money from financiers, often putting their families at stake, and Kona asked how some directors could spend it so carelessly. Hits and flops are beyond a director's control, he said, but planning is not. He added that such directors should be banned.

Not every filmmaker drew his anger. Kona named Bobby, Harish Shankar and Shiva Nirvana as directors who always plan their films well. He recalled that on Ninnu Kori, the team shot 70 percent of the film in the USA in 31 days with a 35-member unit, and said Shiva plans all his films that way.