D. Ramanaidu

Daggubati Ramanaidu was born on 6 June 1936 in a Telugu Kamma family in Karamchedu, a village in Prakasam district in the present day Andhra Pradesh. He completed his schooling in the village and had his college education in Chirala and later graduated from Presidency College, Chennai. He started his career as a rice-mill owner and later got into the transport business. During this time, his father joined with a relative and co-produced the Telugu film Nammina Bantu (1958), starring Akkineni Nageswara Rao and Savitri. He performed the dupe of Nageswara Rao in the film. Nageswara Rao advised him to go to Madras (now Chennai) and work with film-makers. He closed down his rice mill as he was not happy with it, and moved to Madras in 1962. He intended to start a brick business, but later switched to real estate. His frequent visits to the "Andhra Club" got him acquainted with the Telugu film fraternities. ==Film career==

In 1963, Ramanaidu partnered with his friends Tagirisa Hanumantha Rao, Yarlagadda Lakshmaiah Chowdary and co-produced the commercially unsuccessful Anuragam (1963). Following that, he established his own production house Suresh Productions, and produced Ramudu Bheemudu (1964). While frequently making films in Telugu and Tamil, he branched out into the Kannada, Hindi, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Oriya film, Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Assamese and Punjabi industries. His Hindi films include Dildaar, Tohfa, Anari, Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain and Aaghaaz. Ramanaidu also acted in a few films, mostly his own productions. He played a full-length role for the first time in the 2007 Telugu film Hope. The film, which dealt with teenage suicides arising out of educational stress among students, won the award for Best Film on Other Social Issues at the 54th National Film Awards. ==Family and personal life==

Ramanaidu got married in 1958 and had three children, two sons and a daughter. His elder son D. Suresh Babu is a producer and his younger son Venkatesh is an actor in Telugu cinema. ==Awards and honors==

presenting the Padma Bhushan Award to Ramanaidu, at an Investiture Ceremony, at Rashtrapati Bhavan, in New Delhi on 5 April 2013 Civilian Honors • Padma Bhushan - 2012 National Film Awards • National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Bengali – Asukh (1999) • Raghupathi Venkaiah Award - 2006 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards • Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film (Third prize) – Namma Kuzhanthaigal (1970) • Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film (Second prize) – Madhurageetham (1977) • Filmfare Award for Best Telugu Film – Soggadu (1976) • Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South (2000) Other Honors • Honorary doctorate from Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati ==Death==

In January 2014, it was reported that Ramanaidu had been diagnosed with prostate cancer. He died on 18 February 2015, at the age of 78, in Hyderabad, Telangana. All of the big Telugu contemporaries like Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Nagarjuna, Rajasekhar, Ravi Teja, K. Raghavendra Rao, Mahesh Babu, Pawan Kalyan, Ram Charan, Allu Arjun, and NTR Jr. paid their last respects to him. ==Partial filmography==

Telugu • Ramudu Bheemudu • Pratiganapalana • Prema Nagar • Jeevana Tarangalu • Chakravakam • Soggadu • Agni Poolu • Devata • Mundadugu • Sangharshana • Kathanayakudu • Kaliyuga Pandavulu • Ramu • Aha Naa Pellanta • Chinababu • Brahma Puthrudu • Prema • Indrudu Chandrudu • Bobbili Raja • Coolie No. 1 • Super Police • Dharma Chakram • Oho Naa Pellanta • Preminchukundam Raa • Ganesh • Preyasi Rave • Kalisundam Raa • Jayam Manadera • Preminchu • Nee Premakai • Nuvvu Leka Nenu Lenu • Hari Villu • Vijayam • Neeku Nenu Naaku Nuvvu • Malliswari • Soggadu • Nireekshana • Sri Krishna 2006 • Madhumasam • Tulasi • Kousalya Supraja Rama • Baladoor • Bendu Apparao R.M.P • Aalasyam Amrutam • Mugguru • Masala • Nenem…Chinna Pillana? • Bhimavaram Bullodu • Drushyam • Gopala Gopala Tamil • Vasantha Maligai • Thanikattu Raja • Kuzhanthaikkaga (1968) • Deivapiravi (1985) Hindi • Dildaar • Tohfa • Anari • Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain ==References==