Veteran film director-producer-actor Dasari Narayana Rao has been selected for the State Government’s NTR national award and another veteran film producer Tammareddy Krishna Murthy for the prestigious Raghupati Venkaiah award for the year 2007. A three-member committe comprising Balayya, Arjun Raju and Giribabu selected the winners. The NTR award carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh, a memento and a citation whereas the Raghupati Venkaiah award carries a cash prize of Rs 50,000, a gold medal, a golden Nandi and a citation.
AP State Film Television and Theatre Development Corporation Managing director Parthasarathi said in a press release on Wednesday that the awards would be given away at a function to be held at Lalitakala Toranam on Feb 14. Dasari Narayana Rao made his debut with Pratap Art Productions’ `Tata- Manavadu’ in 1970 and is a Guinness Book of World records holder for directing the maximum number of films, and introduced several actors and technicians to the film industry. He is a versatile genius _ writer, director, distributor and editor_ all rolled into one.
Tammareddy Krishna Murthy, father of director and producer Tammareddy Bharadwaja, made his debut as producer with `Palleturu’ in 1950. He was intrumental in the Telugu industry getting established in Hyderabad and in the setting up of Sarathi Studios. He won several Nandi and Filmfare awards for his popular films `Lakshadhikari’, `Zamindar’, `Bangaru Gajulu’, `Dharmadata’, `Dattaputrudu’ and `Doctor Babu’.
