Hyderabad: Coming from an agricultural family, he went on to become one of Indian cinema’s most loved and respected producers — Daggubati Ramanaidu’s film journey, which lasted for five glorious decades, can inspire many generations to come.
Fondly referred to as a movie mogul, Ramanaidu lost his battle to prostate cancer and breathed his last here Wednesday. He was 79.
Ramanaidu, who was never a bright student in school, dropped out of college and joined his father’s rice mill and bus transport business at a very young age in his birthplace Karamchedu.His first stint with the cinema world was through a production agency called Shambu Films. He forced his father to invest in this company and subsequently got himself familiarised with the production process.
It was during this time, he befriended Telugu industry stalwarts such as Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR), S.V Ranga Rao and Gummadi.
Interestingly, Ramanaidu entered the filmdom as an actor by landing a brief role in 1959 Telugu drama “Nammina Bantu”, starring ANR.
Shambu Films didn’t make any project for the next few years and Ramanaidu got employed in the tobacco industry. But his heart was in cinema.
