Phalke nomination

Eminent producer Edida Nageswara Rao has been nominated to the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke award. A brief look at his career

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It is no small honour to be nominated for the most prestigious award in Indian Cinema, the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for lifetime contribution to cinema. This year Telugu film producer Edida Nageswara Rao has been nominated for that coveted award from south. Incidentally, he is also being considered for the Raghupathi Venkaiah Award, Andhra Pradesh's highest annual award in cinema, again for lifetime achievements and contributions to the Telugu film industry. Here's a brief look at the career of the man who put Telugu film industry on the world map.

Awards are not new to the doyen whose Sankarabharanam was the first Telugu film to win the national award Swarna Kamal for the Best film with mass appeal, wholesome entertainment and aesthetic values. It also earned innumerable state awards, and International film festival's Best Musical film at Besancon (East France). His Sagara Sangamam and Sitara also bagged national awards. Many of his films have participated in international film festivals; Swathi Muthyam was the first South Indian entry to the Oscars. Nearly all his films have been dubbed into Russian language and were released in USSR.

Apart from producing other films like

Swayamkrushi and

Aapatbandhavudu under the Poornodaya banner, which won both critical and popular acclaim, Nageswara Rao also served the film industry at both state national levels in various capacities: he was a jury member on the National film awards committee, jury member of the Shantharam Memorial awards, chairman of the Southern and Jury member in the Central panel of Judges for Indian Panorama (three times) , Chairman of the Nandi awards committee (in 2000), Honorary Treasurer for two consecutive years and Honorary secretary for three years in the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce, honorary Secretary of the Telugu film Producers Council for the last four years. At present he is the President of Telugu Film Producers Council, Chennai.