D. Ramanaidu to get Dada Saheb Phalke Award

NEW DELHI - Telugu film actor-producer D. Ramanaidu, credited with making films in several languages, has been chosen for the Dada Saheb Phalke Award for 2009 for his outstanding contribution to Indian cinema, it was announced here Thursday.

Ramanaidu, 74, will receive the award at the National Films Awards function scheduled to be held in the capital in October. He will receive a Swarn Kamal, a cash prize of Rs.1 million and a shawl, a statement from the information and broadcasting ministry said.

The industry veteran, who entered the film world in 1963 with “Anuragam”, is listed as the most prolific producer with 110 films by the Guinness Book of Records. He has the distinction of producing movies in Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi and Bhojpuri.

He has received several awards from the Andhra Pradesh government and his film “Surigadu” was selected for the Indian Panorama in 1993. His Bengali film “Asukh” had also won the National Award for the best film in 1999.

Some of his well-known films are “Premanagar”, “Dildar” and “Bandish” in Hindi, “Srikrishna Tulabharam”, “Preminchu” and “Ramudu Bheemudu” in Telugu and “Asukh” and “Sudhu Ekbar Bolo” in Bengali.

Ramanaidu has worked with big names like N.T. Rama Rao, A. Nageswara Rao, Sivaji Ganesan, Pandari Bai, Jamuna, Padmini, Sobhan Babu, Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi, Rajnikanth, Rajesh Khanna, Hema Malini, Rekha and Jeetendra.

His son D. Suresh Babu is a popular producer down south and his grandson Rana Daggubati is a young Telugu actor.

On his grandfather’s achievement, Rana posted on his Twitter page: “My Granddad won the Dada Saheb Phalke award!! I’d like to thank on his behalf all the audiences, actors and technicians for making this happen. Thank you for all the wishes!”