Chairman of Videocon group, Mr. Venugopal Dhoot was honoured with the "Marathwada Bhushan" by Marathwada Lokvikas Munch in a glittering ceremony held in Mumbai's Yashwant Rao Chavan auditorium on April 2, 2005.

The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh and Home Minister Mr. R. R. Patil and Civil Aviation Minister Mr. Praful Patel presented the award. Setting aside their political differences, leader of opposition, Mr. Gopinath Munde also attended the programme to honour Mr. Dhoot. "He is a down to earth man who has created employment to thousands and thousands of people," said, Mr. Deshmukh about the Videocon Chairman. Almost all local and various TV channels carried articles about the Videocon Chairman and appreciated his work for the upliftment of the Marathwada region. Earlier the same award was presented to Mr. Shankar Rao Chauvan and Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Mr. Venugopal Dhoot is not only a successful businessman but he can play Flute the way he can crunch numbers of his balance sheet. He started learning Flute Interlude when he was in the college. Whenever he gets free time he plays flute, which gives him peace of mind. Not only flute, he also recites Bhagwad Gita fluently. "I believe Gita is a course of life. It's an ongoing phenomena,'' says Mr. Dhoot. "To know the core of Bhagwad Gita I learnt Sanskrit. Like this I started getting inspiration from it,'' he adds.

"I believe in Lokamanya Tilak, Vinobha Bhave, Mahatma Gandhi. It was they who believed in Bhagwad Gita. So I wanted to know what exactly make them to believe in it? So I started reading Bhagwad Gita,'' says Mr. Dhoot. "

Firstly let me tell you that I am extremely religious. I visit the temple every morning. Once I return home, I take time off for prayer where I recite two chapters of Bhagwad Gita. In fact I have learnt the Bhagwad Gita by heart. I do pray and chant along with my family members for about half-an-hour every morning. There are friends who come to me or sometimes I go to their homes to give a lecture. Afterwards, I relax by watching TV. I watch news based programs or discovery channel. However, On Sundays, I watch some family-based entertainment shows," Mr. Dhoot added.

For those of us who don't know, he is also an avid golfer. But then it depends upon the time he has at his disposal. Eight o'clock is the time for dinner and discussions with family members who are all in business anyway. "My reading habits are also linked to religion. I mostly read books relating to philosophies on life," says Mr. Dhoot. No wonder, with such a great leadership at the helm, the Videocon group has reached the highest peak in the Indian corporate sector.