Dr. D. Rama Naidu conferred Dada Saheb Phalke award

Dr. D. Rama Naidu, the legendary veteran film producer from Andhra Pradesh, has been conferred the Dada Saheb Phalke Award for 2009. The award is conferred by the Government of India for outstanding contribution in the field of Indian Cinema. Last year the award was given to ace cameraperson V.K. Murthy. The award consists of a Swarna Kamal, a cash prize of Rs. 10 lakhs and a shawl.

The legendary film producer entered the Telugu film industry with Anuragam in 1963. In 1964, his biggest success came through Ramudu-Bheemudu starring NTR. Ramudu-Bheemudu was remade in Tamil as Enga Veetu Pillai starring MGR.

Dr. D. Rama Naidu was born in Karamchedu in Prakasam District of Andhra Pradesh in 1936. Over the last 47 years, he has been a prolific producer of more than 135 films in several Indian languages and even finds mention in the Guinness Book of Records. He has made films in Telugu, Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi and Bhojpuri.

A galaxy of artistes have worked in his films from N.T. Rama Rao, A. Nageswara Rao, Sivaji Ganesan, Jayalalithaa, Jamuna, Padmini, Hema Malini, Rekha, Chiranjeevi, Rajinikanth, Jayaprada, Jeetendra, Sridevi, Kamal Haasan and many others.

Dr. Rama Naidu also has the credit of introducing many film directors, artistes and technicians into films. Some of the famous artistes he introduced include Venkatesh, Harish, Vanisri, Tabu, Khushbu, Allari Naresh and Malasree. The legacy of the great man continues with his elder son Suresh Babu who takes care of his productions; his younger son Venkatesh and grandson Rana Daggubati are good actors.

Galatta.com congratulates D. Rama Naidu on being conferred this prestigious award.