The
first
things
that
strike
you
about
the
75-year
old
doyen
of
Telugu
cinema
d
ramanaidu
are
his
passion
for
cinema,
his
humility
and
practicality.
He
is
quite
thrilled
for
having
won
the
highest
honour
Dadasaheb
Phalke
from
the
Indian
government
for
cultural
activity.
Says
Ramanaidu,
“I"m
the
first
Telugu
filmmaker
to
win
the
Dadasaheb
in
20
years.
So
when
I
heard
about
it
I
was
naturally
elated.
But
there
are
no
fullstops
in
my
career.
I"ve
produced
over
130
films
in
12
languages.
Now
I"m
producing
a
film
in
Punjabi
for
the
first
time."
As
excited
as
a
schoolboy
about
film
production,
Ramanaidu,
who
started
producing
films
in
1963
is
realistic
enough
to
see
how
much
the
film
market
has
slumped.
He
admits
he
hasn"t
produced
a
film
in
Hindi
for
quite
a
while
because
of
the
slump.
The
softspoken
movie
baron
candidly
admits,
“Earlier
I
used
to
remake
my
Telugu
hits
into
Hindi.
But
none
of
my
Telugu
films
have
done
well
recently.
I"ve
recently
been
busy
producing
Gujarati
and
Bhojpuri
films.
But
now
I
will
definitely
produce
another
Hindi
film
very
soon."
Ramanaidu
says
he
keeps
up
with
changing
trends
in
world
cinema
through
his
children.
“My
son
and
now
my
grandsons
have
joined
me.
We
are
family
completely
consumed
by
cinema.
We
virtually
live
for
cinema.
I"ve
been
witness
to
many
changing
trends
in
moviemaking.
Our
production
house
keeps
abreast
of
these
changes."
For
this
diehard
filmmaker
movie-making
is
the
only
option.
“I"ll
never
retire.
If
I
don"t
make
movies
I
wouldn"t
know
what
to
do."