GUNTUR: Sculptor Katuri Venkateswara Rao has got the opportunity of making statues of the late DMK chief M Karunanidhi. The statues made by this Tenali-based sculptor, who along with his son Ravi Chandra, has followed this ‘profession’ for generations, are to be displayed today at Chennai during the remembrance day (Dinam) programme.
Venkateswara Rao has, till date, made hundreds of sculptures and established Surya Silpa Sala at Tenali in Guntur district. “I have curved more than 500 statutes of NT Rama Rao alone and other statues include those of Mahatma Gandhi, BR Ambedkar, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi,” he told TNIE.
The Katuri family has won numerous awards and felicitations, including the coveted ‘Shilpa Ratna’ award presented by a voluntary organisation. The earliest known Katuri family member was a renowned sculptor of the 19th century hailing from Bitragunta in Prakasam. “My son Ravi Chandra is also interested to continue with the family tradition of carving sculptures of great personalities. He is the seventh generation of his family to take up this profession,” said the Tenali-based sculptor.
Speaking about his son Venkateswara Rao said that he had carved the 2.5 ft statue of Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya in his younger days and after that he encouraged his son to follow his ‘interests’ and later he (Ravi) went on to complete his Master’s degree in Fine Arts.
Speaking to TNIE, Ravi Chandra remembered how in his younger days he had made a series of paintings on Gautama Buddha and held an exhibition during the Kalachakra in 2006 at Amaravati in Guntur district. Venkateswara Rao, while talking about the process that goes behind the making of a statue, said, “Each statue takes between two to four months of effort (to be made). The duration varies according to the statue - whether it is made of cement, bronze, fibre or panchloha.” He said these days people were going for fibre statues more because those were more affordable.