Lights, camera, farm

Pawan Kalyan, Prakash Raj, Naresh and producer Chintalapuri Srinivasa Rao have one thing in common apart from acting — organic farming. Though it is a revenue-generating business, the income they receive may not match the actor’s status, but no one’s complaining. These stars are using this as a platform to create awareness about organic farming.

Senior actor and Vijaya Nirmala’s son Naresh is actively involved in organic farming for the last few years. “As a child, I liked farming. Since my mother, too, is fond of it, during summer vacations she would send us to our farmhouse at Manimangalam village to learn about the occupation,” recollects Naresh.  

And now, the actor has a 20-acre farmhouse near Shadnagar where fruits are grown. “It’s semi-organic and we grow mostly mango and other fruits. This year, the yield looks good so far. Last year, the crop got completely washed out and the year before that, I earned nearly '3.6 lakh from the crop,” informs Naresh for who farming isn’t about the income.

In his house in the city, Naresh has a small patch where he grows vegetables. Catering to his 20-member health-conscious family, all the vegetables and fruits come from his own farm. “Krishna garu is very particular about the vegetables because the taste is completely different. He’d immediately know if it is not from our farm,” says Naresh.

Actor Pawan Kalyan, too, has personally been involved in organic farming at his farmhouse on the outskirts of the city. He also spends lot of time there.

“Whenever I have time, I spend it with plants and trees. It gives me peace of mind,” said Pawan in an earlier interview. He sends mangoes from his farm to his colleagues in the industry. And they don’t shy away from showing it off on social media that they got it from Pawan Kalyan.

“The crop is less and the people are more, so I adjust with whatever I have,” says Pawan. The vegetables cooked at his house too come from his farm and he sends them to his mother and sister as well.

Actor Prakash Raj too started organic farming a couple of years back. He asks every farmer in his adopted village Kondareddy Palle in Mahabubnagar district to do the same. He has even started a vegetable outlet at Chitrapuri Colony to create awareness about organic food.

“I come from the film industry, so I opened the outlet here as it is related to the film people,” said the actor in an earlier interview. Taking the venture to the next level, he plans to link the organic farmers to the gated communities to sell vegetables at reasonable prices. “If you attach few farmers to few gated community colonies, it benefits both ways,” says Prakash who also has a 50-acre farmhouse near Shadnagar where he lives.

Another producer Chintalapudi Srinivasa Rao, who is associated with the Akkineni family has also ventured into organic farming a while ago. Earlier, at his 100-acre land, he mostly grew fruits like mangoes, guavas and sapotas. Now, he also grows vegetables and turmeric.

“I just started it a couple of years ago and I give the produce to my friends. Once they use it, they know the taste between organic and the regular ones. From this year onwards, I want to start a few outlets,” says Srinivasa Rao.

He got inspired by Nageswara Rao, who used to personally do farming at his farmhouse in Moinabad. “More than the income, first I want to spread the message about organic farming. I want people to know that we can farm everything with natural resources without using chemicals,” says Srinivasa Rao.