D.Rama Naidu

06 Jun, 1936 | Karamchedu, Madras Presidency

Producer/Actor

Biography

Daggubati Ramanaidu was a multilingual Indian film producer. He was the founder of Suresh Productions and held the Guinness Book of World Records for the most films produced by an individual, having produced more than 150 films in 13 Indian languages. He has also served as a member of parliament for the Bapatala constituency of Guntur District in the 13th Lok Sabha from 1999–2004. In 2012, Ramanaidu was conferred with the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, the Padma Bhushan, in recognition for his contribution to Telugu cinema. In 2009, he received the Dada Saheb Phalke Award for Lifetime Achievement in the film industry for his outstanding contribution to the growth and development of Indian cinema. Ramanaidu had contributed a substantial part of his earnings to numerous philanthropic purposes, including the Ramanaidu Charitable Trust that was founded in 1991. Family Ramanaidu married to Rajeswari Daggubati, with whom he had 3 children (two sons and one daughter). One of his son Venkatesh has become an actor in the Telugu film industry. His other son, Suresh Babu, is a producer and grandson Rana Daggubati has made his debut in Leader and he sems to have a great career ahead in Telugu cinema. Early Life D. Ramanaidu was born in Karamchedu, a remote village in Andhra Pradesh, on 6th June 1936. His father Sri. D. Venkateswarlu and mother Smt. D. Lakshmi Devamma were from an agricultural family. He spent 6 years in Ongole with B. V. L. Narayana. During his vacations, he worked in the hospital as a compounder to familiarize himself with the field. However, never strong at school work, he failed once before he passed and joined Loyola College in Madras. As he was more interested in extra-curricular activities such as drama, he dropped out of Loyola and returned to Chirala to finish his education there. Again, he wasn’t able to keep up with his studies and decided to quit and start working instead. He took to taking care of a rice mill business and a bus transport business in Karamchedu. Soon after, his interests shifted and when someone from his area started Shambu Films, a production agency, he forced his father to become a partner and began to work for and invest in this company. During this time, he became more and more involved with the production process by taking care of on-set shoot arrangements. It was at this time that he became acquainted with and was very close to Akkineni Nageshwara Rao. Death   D. Ramanaidu died at his home in Hyderabad at the age of 78. He was suffering from prostate cancer.