Hyderabad: Telugu filmmaker D Rama Naidu passed away at noon today after battling cancer. 

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. 

He was battling cancer for some months now and the end came around 2.30 PM today.

-Venkatesh, Rama Naidu’s son

His body will be kept at the Rama Naidu studio here from 9 AM tomorrow for his well-wishers to pay their last respects. The funeral will take place after 3 PM, Venkatesh said.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, his Telangana counterpart K Chandrasekhar Rao, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and several other leaders and film personalities condoled the death.

Who Was Dr D Rama Naidu?

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 most number of films by an individual.

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

His film production company Suresh Productions made films in 15 different languages. His films like Prem Nagar, Sri Krishna 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 Bengali film Asukh bagged National best feature film.

Born in a family of agriculturists in present day Prakasam district in Coastal Andhra in 1937, 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 set up a charitable trust that supports schools, colleges, old age homes and hospitals. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by S V University, Tirupati.

B-Town Condoles Rama Naidu’s Death on Twitter

Legendary filmmaker Daggubati Rama Naidu passes away-his contribution in building Indian Cinema is immense. Thank you sir. RIP.

-Riteish Deshmukh, Actor

RIP D Rama Naidu Sahab. Your contribution to Indian cinema will inspire all of us and many generations.

-Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri

Padma bhushana #Dr.Rama Naidu Garu... Thank you for enriching cinema.. We may never see the likes of you...Salute... RIP

- Prakash Raj, Actor-Director

 Sad to know Dadasaheb Phalke awardee, veteran producer of South and Hindi films, D Rama Naidu is no more. Heart goes out to the family. RIP, Sir

-Madhur Bhandarkar, Filmmaker