For the RECORD

The award,announced last week,will be conferred on him at the National Awards ceremony in Delhi. It is doubly significant to me because an Andhra producer is receiving the award after a gap of 20 years, says Ramanaidu,referring to the late producer B Nagi Reddi,who won it in 1986. Ramanaidu has received almost all State awards for his contribution to Telugu cinema in his 47 years as producer. In 2000,he received a lifetime achievement award called the NTR Millenium Award. I look at my awards every day and each is dear to me. But ever since I heard the news of the Dadasaheb Phalke award,I have reserved a special place in the living room for it, he says.

Ramanaidu was 26 when he left his village for Chennai with his wife and son in tow. I wanted a better life for us. I worked in the real-estate trade and,during my free time,I loitered around the Andhra Cultural Association building where I saw directors walking in to play cards and bridge, he recalls. One day the club secretary asked if I would help him in a Telugu film that was being shot. I jumped at the opportunity and assisted the director. The film was Anuragam (1963),which he produced with the help of his friends.

Ramanaidu set up a production house,Suresh Productions (named after his elder son) to promote Telugu cinema. Their first production was,Ramudu Bheemudu (1964),with NT Rama Rao in a double role. The film was a hit and remade in Hindi as Ram aur Shyam (1967). In the years to come,the friendship between him and NTR would grow stronger.

But the turning-point came when Ramanaidu produced the Tamil film Vasantha Maliga in 1971. Its runaway success convinced him to make the Telugu version,Prem Nagar. When a subject was a hit in one language,it was a norm to make it in other languages. I capitalised on that opportunity, he says. Soon after,he produced the Hindi remake,Premnagar (1974) starring Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini. The film gave me recognition outside Andhra Pradesh,he says. Though films remained a passion,Ramanaidu also flirted with politics,becoming an MP from NTRs Telugu Desam Party in 1999.

After 1974,Ramanaidu adopted the strategy of making films in multiple languages and occasionally playing cameo roles in them. He has made films in 12 languages,including the Hindi Hum Aapke Dil Mein Rehte Hain,starring Kajol and Anil Kapoor,and the Bengali Bombaiyer Bombete,a film by Sandip Ray based on a Satyajit Ray detective story. I will be making a Punjabi film by the end of this year. My aim is to become the number one producer of Indian cinema, he says. He is currently shooting for the Telugu film,Aalayasyan Amritam in Vizag. It will become my 131st… correction,135th film, he says. Clearly,it is hard to keep track after a point.