Huccha Venkat () is the stage name of Venkataram Laxman, an Indian film producer, actor, director, politician, screenwriter, lyricist and playback singer. He is popular for his often delusional and attention-seeking behaviour; and for being involved in a few public and the media controversies.
He has so far worked in
Kannada Cinema
Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film '' Sati Sulochana'' directe ...
.
Career
Venkat made his acting debut playing a supporting role in the 2005
Kannada
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
film ''
Mental Manja''.
His next role was as the lead in the 2009 film ''
Swathanthra Palya'', which he also directed. In his 2014 movie ''Huccha Venkat'' that he directed and produced, he starred as the eponymous lead, which received negative reviews.
Up until his 2014 movie's release, Venkat was mostly a nobody. He soon rose to fame after media outlets released a viral video where he blamed
Kannadigas
The Kannada people or Kannadigaru IAST">nowiki/>IAST:_Kannadadavaru_or_Kannadigas_(English_term).html" ;"title="IAST.html" ;"title="nowiki/>IAST">nowiki/>IAST: Kannadadavaru or Kannadigas (English term)">IAST.html" ;"title="nowiki/>IAST">nowik ...
, not showing up to watch his film, being the main reason for its failure on the very first day of its release.
In the aftermath of the video, Venkat was catapulted to being a minor celebrity among regular social media users in their early 20s and 30s with access to the internet looking for comical content. He would later cash in on his social media celeb status and become a participant in reality shows such as
Bigg Boss Kannada (season 3)
The third season of the Kannada-language version of Indian reality television series ''Bigg Boss'' started on 25 October 2015 and ended on 31 January 2016 on Colors Kannada. Sudeep, the host of previous seasons remains as the host.
Among five ...
an
Super Jodi Season 2His constant lies and outrageous statements, including those where he claimed marriage to actresses despite being married at the time and alarming actions garnered negative responses and critiques from his audience and media alike. Unfortunately, Venkat fails to realize his audience is capable of intellectual thought and critical reasoning. With access to public information like never before, even the average social media user could verify the authenticity of Venkats bloated claims and in the end, see through Venkats stubborn lies. However and sadly, several media outlets have capitalized on Venkats behavioural issues by conducting Q&As with the basis being his lies; provocating the troubled star into outbursts much to the amusement of the audience leading to higher TRP ratings.
Following the debacle and subsequent re-release of his 2014 Huccha Venkat, Venkat has been a regular guest in television (mainly news) talk-shows such as ''Bengaluru Benne Dose'' and ''Divided''.
He often appears on news channels, drunk. In October 2015 he appeared as a contestant on the reality television series ''
Bigg Boss Kannada 3'' aired on
Colors Kannada
Colors Kannada (previously known as ''ETV Kannada''), is an Indian general entertainment channel, owned by Viacom18 that primarily broadcasts Kannada language entertainment shows. This channel is currently available in India and the United Sta ...
.
While on the show Venkat clashed with other participants, primarily due to his insistence that his female contestants were dressing inappropriately also he fought with Pratham even after the completion of the show.
This eventually led to his eviction from the house after he assaulted another contestant, Ravi Mooruru ''
'' ''
'' ''
'' ''
''. ''Venkat also challenged
Sudeep
Sudeep Sanjeev (born 2 September 1971), also known as Sudeepa, is an Indian actor, director, producer, screenwriter, television presenter and singer, who primarily works in Kannada films. He has also worked in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil films. He i ...
, later withdrew the challenge and didn't want to talk to
Sudeep
Sudeep Sanjeev (born 2 September 1971), also known as Sudeepa, is an Indian actor, director, producer, screenwriter, television presenter and singer, who primarily works in Kannada films. He has also worked in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil films. He i ...
ever
''. ''Ravi Mooruru praised Venkat, post his eviction from
Bigg Boss Kannada 3 house for Venkat's concern towards women.''
It is to be noted, Venkat was the most popular contestant in
Bigg Boss Kannada 3, celebrities such as
Raghu Dixit
Raghupati Dwarakanath Dixit (born 11 November 1974) is an Indian singer-composer, producer, and film score composer who is the frontman for the Raghu Dixit Project, a multilingual folk music band.
Dixit's music is an amalgamation of Indian et ...
,
Priyamani
Priya Vasudev Mani Iyer (born 4 June 1984), known by her professional name Priyamani, is an Indian actress and former model, who works in the South Indian film industry. She is a recipient of Several Awards.
Priyamani made her acting debut ...
supported him.
Venkat has since, been referred to in the media and social media platforms as "Youtube Star", "Internet Star", "Ban Star" and "Firing Star" "Phenol star".
Huccha Venkat fans have also created an
Android app ''Huccha Venkat'' to get latest updates of their favorite actor.
Senior journalist Ganesh Kasargod has written book ''"Huchcha Venkat...Huchchu Manasina nooru mukhagalu"'' which was released in January 2016.
Huccha Venkat and the 2018 Assembly Elections
In 2018, Huccha Venkat contested in the Assembly elections from Rajarajeshwari Nagar, Bengaluru as an
Independent candidate. Details for his candidature such as his age, assets and other mandatory information, are put up for public viewing as per law and can be looked up using his real name Venkatram in thi
Govt. of Karnatakawebsite.
Huccha Venkat was unsuccessful in first his political venture.
Filmography
Huccha Venkat Sene
Huccha Venkat claims to have formed an Army, Huccha Venkat Sene of which he is the main figure.
Since Venkat sports and loves blue shirts, his fans in the sene is said to wear blue shirts.
Venkat regularly gives messages to his sene through
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
by coming live periodically and even while at
Bigg Boss Kannada 3.
Venkat claims that his Sene is found all over the world and carries out peace keeping activities as per his commands. His claims remain unproven thus far.
Controversies
Venkat is frequently seen as a controversial person by news outlets.
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
Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...
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 and after that he started saying that he liked his partner, Sushma at a reality show. Sushma refused to love him so he drank phenol.
Venkat's rant, which was sparked by the poor opening turnout for his film, quickly went
viral on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
and spawned several
parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its sub ...
videos.
Venkat made other controversial statements in November 2015, in a television appearance where he allegedly made derogatory remarks towards
Dr. B. R. Ambedkar
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the Constituent Assembly debates, served a ...
while taking part in a
panel discussion
A panel discussion, or simply a panel, involves a group of people gathered to discuss a topic in front of an audience, typically at scientific, business, or academic conferences, fan conventions, and on television shows. Panels usually include a ...
.
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.
These complaints were followed by several protests and blackened Venkat's face.
Venkat was arrested on 19 November 2015, and was held in
judicial custody until 4 December 2015.
Venkat was sent to
Central Prison
Central Prison is a prison operated by the North Carolina Department of Public Safety in Raleigh, North Carolina. The prison, west of Downtown Raleigh, is on of land and is bounded by a double wire fence with a razor ribbon on top. The Departm ...
,
Bangalore
Bangalore (), List of renamed places in India, officially Bengaluru (), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan area, metropolitan population of a ...
where was held in
judicial custody.
Venkat's attorney has claimed that Venkat suffers from
schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social wit ...
.
As a growing concern, ''Venkat's remarks in TV channel'' is said to be discussed in
Karnataka Legislative Assembly
The Karnataka Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Karnataka. Karnataka is one of the six states in India where the state legislature is bicameral, comprising two houses. The two houses are ...
.
On 25 November, a Bangalore city civil court issued conditional bail to Venkat.
Venkat was not released until the
surety amount was paid and the
bail
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required.
In some countrie ...
formalities completed. He was released on 3 December with conditional bail.
The actor also engaged in several controversies in the third season of the popular Kannada TV Show "Bigg Boss". He took a rage at actress turned politician
Pooja Gandhi
Pooja Gandhi (born Sanjana Gandhi in 1983) is an Indian actress, who mainly works in Kannada, Hindi and Tamil films. Pooja Gandhi after starring in the commercially successful 2006 film ''Mungaru Male'', became one of the most popular and high ...
for wearing western clothes on the show which left her in tears not knowing what to do. Venkat was finally evicted from the show after slapping fellow contestant Ravi Moorur. This eviction was glamorized quickly by the Kannada press and lead to Huccha Venkat's popularity. Huccha Venkat has also claimed he will become
Prime Minister of India, one day.
References
External links
*
Huccha Venkat on Google Play App Store*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Venkat, Huccha
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
20th-century Indian musicians
20th-century male musicians
21st-century Indian male actors
Film producers from Bangalore
Indian male film actors
Indian male songwriters
Kannada film directors
Kannada film producers
Kannada male actors
Kannada-language lyricists
Male actors from Bangalore
Male actors in Kannada cinema