Dada Saheb Phalke award for filmmaker D Ramanaidu

Movie moghul D Ramanaidu, a veteran producer with 130 films in a dozen languages in five decades, has been conferred the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke award for 2009 for rendering outstanding contribution to the world of Indian cinema.

64-year-old Ramanaidu, the legendary and prolific film maker from Andhra Pradesh who has worked with a galaxy of actors, will be presented the honour during the International Film Festival of India to be held in Goa in October, it was announced on Thursday. The award consists of a 'Swarn Kamal', a cash prize of Rs 10 lakh and a shawl.

Some of the well-known films produced by Ramanaidu in various languages are Prem Nagar, Dildar, Bandish in Hindi, Srikrishna Tulabharam, Preminchu Ramudu Bheemudu, Bobbili Raja, Ahana Pellanta, Andhra Vaibhavam, Kathanayakudu in Telegu and Asukh, Sudhu Ekbar Bolo in Bengali.

Born in Karamchedu in Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh in 1936, Ramanaidu entered the film world in 1963 with his first film Anuragam followed by the superhit Ramudu-Bheemudu starring legendary actor N T Rama Rao in 1964.

Over the last 47 years, he has produced over 130 films in several Indian languages and has found a mention in the Guinness Book of Records. Apart from Telugu films, he has the distinction of producing movies in Hindi, Bengali, Oriya, Assamese, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi and Bhojpuri.

His film, Surigadu was selected for the Indian Panorama in 1993. Asukh, a Bengali film, won the National Award for the Best Film in 1999. Apart from this, his films have been honoured with several awards from the Andhra Pradesh Government.

The galaxy of artistes who have worked in his films include N T Rama Rao, A Nageswara Rao, Sivaji Ganesan, Pandari Bai, Jamuna, Padmini, Sobhan Babu, Kamal Haasan, Jayaprada, Chiranjeevi, Rajnikanth, Rajesh Khanna, Hema Malini, Rekha, Jeetendra and Sreedevi. Ramanaidu has built an envious track record in the film world for having introduced numerous film directors as well as artistes and technicians.

Prominent artistes introduced by him include Venkatesh, Harish, Vanisri, Aryan Rajesh, Tabu, Khushboo, Allari Naresh and Malasree. He has also produced a film titled Hamari Beti in Hindi which focuses on how handicapped people can lead a normal life and achieve their goals.

The protagonist in the film is a girl who is severely handicapped in real life. This film has been screened in International Film Festivals like Chicago and Venice.

Apart from this, Ramanaidu has set up studios, recording, preview and dubbing theatres and laboratories in Hyderabad and Vishakapatnam.