'Victory' Venkatesh's spiritual disposition is well-known. He has long been on the path of self-discovery. Known for reading mystics like Ramana Maharshi and Sri Ramakrishna, what many don't know about this versatile actor is that he wanted to retire voluntarily, just like Shoban Babu had done many years ago.

Speaking for the first time about his retirement thoughts, which were thankfully nipped in the bud by 'Soggadu' Shoban, Venky said that he had approached the veteran when he was alive. Venky said speaking at the 75th Jayanthi of Shoban, "I feel that Shoban Babu is with me. We talk about him at home every day. It is because I am following in his footsteps. If I am acting to this day, it is because of him. I wanted to go for voluntary retirement like him. I confessed to him that I want to travel to the Himalayas in his company. He advised me against doing that and asked me to do my work. That is why I am still acting."

But for Shoban, who advised our actor against premature withdrawal from professional life, Venky would have retired by now! It is said that when a spiritual person feels inexplicably intimate towards a person (living or dead), there might be a relationship already extant in the previous life. Does that mean that Venky and Shoban were somehow related in their last lives?

Whatever, one hopes to see Venky in roles as contrasting as Swami Vivekananda and the kind he is playing in Shadow.