Show him a palace, street, a monument or any structure and find the replica of that construction in backyard of your house. Or just describe the environment that has to be presented; let him visualize, let him sketch, let him sharpen his nuances and let him hold your breath with sheer astonishment.He is Padmasri Thota Tharani.

Father's Name: Thota Venkateswara Rao (Director)
Date of Birth: Dec 16 th , 1949
Place of Birth: Chennai
Profession: Painter, Art Director, Photographer and Writer.

"Alphabets of all languages are beautiful. Expressing each letter especially "THOTA" meaning garden, was with which I began the "Script Series". It came to life like the creeper growing in a garden, each letter intertwining"- Tharani.

Tharani is the only art director to have bagged the Padmashri Award in addition to three state government awards and a Filmfare award for the unforgettable Kolkata street set in Choodalani Vundi. Over 35 years, he has designed for more than 100 films in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.

Thota Tharani's sets have always been the subject of discussion, ever since his work came to the fore in Mani Ratnam's Nayakan. The hallmark of Tharani's work is that his sets are close to reality. “I see that my sets look real. What's the point in erecting a set that looks artificial?” shrugs Tharani.

The recreation of the Madurai Meenakshi temple for Mahesh Babu's “Arjun”, the 320 ft x 200 ft x 125 ft edifice that cost Rs 4 crore has been put up at Gandipet and is complete with 1,000 statues and statuettes and hundreds of intricate mudras. The set that took six months to complete was the brainchild of the acclaimed art director, Thota Tharani. Crafting it and erecting it took 400 carpenters and 200 painters six months.

With a Post Graduate Diploma in Fine Arts (Painting) from the Government College of Arts and Crafts, Chennai, Thota Tharani has participated in the Design Symposium of the Crafts Festival "Living in Seasons", Toyama, Japan (1992); in the Print Making Workshop, British Council, Chennai, in the Print-Making Workshop at "Atelier 17", Paris; in the Fresco Painting Camp, Rajasthan, and in the Graphic Workshop at Garhi Village, New Delhi.In addition to receiving the Padma Shri in 2001, Tharani has won awards at the Mysore Dassera Art Exhibition, at the Mysore Pradesh Chitrakala Parishad, Bangalore and for Graphic Prints in the Regional Lalit Kala Akademi. “For me every award means more involvement in what I am doing. And an honour like this (the Padma Shri) is a bit scary only because it places a huge responsibility on you. You have to live up to it and you need to do something more, something extra in each and every project,” says the man who has won the best art director's award in three states, The Rajath Kamal (national award) twice, a Filmfare award, a Cinema Express award and the Kalaimamani award.

Thota Tharani has held and participated in numerous exhibitions in India and abroad - in Paris , Bordeaux , and Vienna and in Yugoslavia and Germany . His works were shown at Kanagawa International Print Exhibition (1983); at the III & IV Mini Prints Biennale, Barcelona (1983 & 1984).

Tharani seems very satisfied with the way he has been working so far - films by day and painting at night - and plans to continue in the same fashion. "I would like to concentrate more on painting. My aim is to set up a gallery here in the long run,'' he says.

Teams up…

He works together with contemporary artistes.

The autobiography of M K Gandhi

Audiobook of 'The Story of My Experiments with Truth' - the autobiography of M K Gandhi; with the brilliant narrative of Shekhar Kapur and Nandita Das accentuated with sensitive music, the essence of Mahatma Gandhi comes alive in this audio book.

A careful selection of Mahatma's much loved devotional songs adds emotions beautifully. Special thematic illustrations by Thota Tharani add life to the book, promising a powerful experience.

Telugu Culture & Heritage Museum on Kailasagiri, Visakhapatnam
Thota Tharani and eminent Telugu litterateur C. Narayana Reddy are involved in the preparation of the contents of the museum.This museum-cum-folk arts presentation centre, to be built on a five-acre-site atop the hill, will showcase the old and the new of the Telugu culture by preserving its symbols and vestiges. The front elevation of proposed.

A joint venture of the World Telugu Federation (WTF) and Visakhapatnam Urban Development Authority (VUDA), it will be completed within a year. The history will be featured in pictorial and other forms, from the Satavahana era to the present day, as the Satavahana rulers, by their benevolent reign, had carved a niche for the Telugus in the Indian history.