Rama Naidu: The prolific filmmaker with Midas touch

Naidu holds the record for producing the biggest number of films by an individual

D Rama Naidu, the recipient of Dadasaheb Phalke and other prestigious awards, was a prolific filmmaker, studio owner and politician.

The stalwart, father of actor Venkatesh and grandfather of young actor Rana Daggubati, holds the rare distinction of producing films in several Indian languages including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Oriya, Punjabi, Bengali and in English.

He holds the record for producing the biggest number of films by an individual.

Rama Naidu, who produced more than 130 films in a career spanning about five decades, had a Midas touch that made most of his films successful at the box-office.

His films like Prem Nagar, Srikrishna Tulabharam (starring late NT Rama Rao), Ahana Pellanta, Prema, Bobbili Raja (starring his son Venkatesh), Indrudu Chandrudu (starring Kamal Haasan), Malliswari (with Venkatesh and Katrina Kaif in the lead) were huge hits.

Rama Naidu's Prem Nagar (starring Rajesh Khanna), Dildaar (Jeetendra in the lead), Aaghaz and Anari were his most successful movies in Hindi.

His Telugu films Jeevana Tarangalu and Soggadu won awards and his Bengali film Asukh bagged National best feature film.

Born in a family of agriculturists at Karamchedu village in present day Prakasam district in Coastal Andhra in 1936, Rama Naidu dabbled in business for a while before taking a plunge into filmmaking.

He founded his production company Suresh Productions and started making films in 1963 with Anuragam. The producer went on to set up the state-of-the art Ramanaidu Film Studio in Hyderabad, besides another studio in the picturesque port city of Visakhapatnam.

Rama Naidu joined TDP and represented Bapatla Lok Sabha constituency in the 13th Lok Sabha though he stayed away from politics after that.

He set up a charitable trust that supports schools, colleges, old age homes and hospitals.

Rama Naidu was awarded an honorary doctorate by S V University, Tirupati.

His elder son Suresh Babu is a leading producer, while younger son Venkatesh continues to be a successful hero in Telugu. His grandson Rana Daggubati has a successful career as an actor in Telugu and he also did Bollywood films like Dum Maro Dum and Baby.