Dil Raju on his success story
Filmmaker was awarded the B Nagi Reddi Centenary Memorial Award in Dubai for his film ‘Fidaa’
Thirty movies in 15 years with about 90 per cent success rate indicates the popularity of Dil Raju.
The producer/distributor, whose debut film title Dil became part of his name, has won several awards, including Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment at the Indian National Film Awards in 2017 for Shatamanam Bhavati.
The same year, he received the Nandi Award from the Andhra Pradesh state government and the Nagi Reddi-Chakrapani Award for the film, which deals with the problems faced by aged parents whose children have settled down abroad, visiting them once in a few years.
Winning awards has become a habit for Raju, with the latest trophy being the B Nagi Reddi Memorial Award for 2017 for Fidaa, produced under his banner Sri Venkateswara Creations.
Receiving the award from the Indian film legend’s daughter-in-law Bharati Reddi, Raju recounted when he received the Nagi Reddi Award in 2012 for his film Mr
Perfect at an event where the late Akkineni Nageswara Rao was present.
“I said at the time, ‘it’s not just an award, this bestows a responsibility upon me’,” he recalled.
Raju added that he was pleased to receive yet another award in Dubai, instituted by Vijaya Productions in memory of the producer.
Nagi Reddi’s son B Venkatram Reddi and granddaughter Rajini, Wave Resonance president Geetha, Ramesh Babu Ravella, Adibhatla Sharma and Uma Paddy joined in honouring Dil Raju on the occasion.
The critically-acclaimed Telugu film Fidaa is a romantic entertainer starring Varun Tej and Sai Pallavi in lead roles and directed by Sekhar Kammula.
Thanking Vijaya Productions for the award, he said this honour only “increases my responsibility to make more meaningful films.”
Speaking at the award ceremony presented by Wave Resonance at Indian Consulate auditorium on Friday, Raju said Vijaya Productions taught him how to balance cinema and family. “Cinema is business, but I also believe in upholding values. For many it’s not so. They see it as pure business — they calculate how much money they invested and how much they got in return,” he said.
Raju, who claims just two of the six films he produced last year were successful, continued: “We should make good, meaningful and socially relevant movies. Those values I have learnt from the great film personality B Nagi Reddi.”
LEGACY
Bharati Reddi, CEO of Vijaya Hospitals, which was instituted by her father-in-law, said that initially they planned to hold the Nagi Reddi Centenary Memorial Award ceremony in London, but the venue was moved to Dubai as “it is the best place and is one of the modern marvels of the world”. She said 2018 has been a memorable year for their group: “We had a commemorative stamp released by India’s Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu in honour of my father-in-law [B Nagi Reddi] and also a biography B Nagi Reddi, The Legend.”
Speaking about him, Bharati continued: “Cinema is a language of dreams produced by dream merchants. My father-in-law was one such dream merchants of India. He produced movies under the Vijaya Productions banner. He was also the manager of Vijaya Vauhini, Studios which was regarded as one of the largest studios in South East Asia at that point of time.”
Talking about the successful path taken by Nagi Reddi, Bharati said: “With the advent of talkies, the main source of inspiration for Indian cinema was mythological texts. In this context Nagi Reddi produced several mythological classics such as Pataala Bhairavi and
Maya Bazaar. He also made meaningful movies that included Missamma and Gundamma Katha.
“He also produced several Hindi films like Swarg Narak, Julie and Ram Aur Shyam in 1967 starring Dilip Kumar.”
She said the concept for all his films was rooted in the children’s publication called Chandamama, which was started by Nagi Reddi and Chakrapani, whom he considered his “friend, philosopher and guide”. The magazine drew heavily from mythological content, but the stories conveyed socially relevant messages. Chandamama was published in 17 languages and also four Braille editions in four languages, she said.
For his contribution to Indian cinema in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi, Nagi Reddi was honoured with Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1986.