HYDERABAD: The Nandi awards presentation ceremony for 2006, 2007 and 2008 was a low-key affair.
The NTR National award for the year 2007 was given to veteran director and former minister Dasari Narayana Rao, while Tammareddy Krishnamurthy received the prestigious Raghupathy Venkaiah award for his yeoman’s service to Telugu cinema.
“NTR is a perfect actor and is a legend in the history of Indian cinema. He would have bagged the Bharat Ratna award had he chose not to enter politics,” Dasari remarked about NTR at Lalitha Kala Thoranam here today, as he received the award.
He also recounted his association with the thespian as fans broke into a thunderous applause.
Breaking the long-standing tradition of Chief Minister presenting the awards on Ugadi, Home Minister Jana Reddy distributed the awards on his behalf. YS Rajasekhara Reddy is not in town due to prior commitments.
Stressing that small film producers should be encouraged, Jana Reddy expressed that cinema should not just be about entertainment. It should bring about social change. “Family oriented and less violent movies should be made for the good of the society as many youth take inspiration by watching movies,” he explained.
While Charmme Kaur won the Best Actress award for the year 2007, Venkatesh and Jagapathi Babu walked away with the best actor and best supporting actor awards for their performance in Adavaari Maatalaku Ardhale Verule and Lakshyam respectively.
Ram Charan Teja was given special jury award.
Information Minister Anam Ramanarayana Reddy announced that the Government is committed to encourage arts and films in the State.