Popular yesteryear actress B. Saroja Devi has been selected for the NTR National Award for 2009, while well-known film producer K. Raghava bagged the Raghupathi Venkaiah Award.
These are part of three national and one State-level awards instituted by the Andhra Pradesh government, which were announced here on Monday.
The NTR Award carries a cash prize of Rs.5 lakh, and the Raghupathi Venkaiah Award, Rs.2 lakh.
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Media baron and producer, Ch. Ramoji Rao was selected for the Nagi Reddy and Chakrapani National Film Award, while the B.N. Reddy National Award was given to veteran director K. Raghavendra Rao. Both awards carry a cash prize of Rs.2 lakh each.
The recipients were named after a five-member committee headed by producer G. Adiseshagiri Rao selected the nominees at a meeting here on Monday.
The committee members later met Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and submitted a report on the awards, which will be presented along with the Nandi Film Awards for 2009 at a function here on December 12.
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Hailing from Karnataka, Saroja Devi acted in nearly 170 films in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada, after making her debut in 1955 in the Kannada film Mahakavi Kalidasa .
She won a national award for her role in the Kannada film Kittur Rani Chennamma. She has served as chairperson of the Karnataka Film Development Corporation. She is also a recipient of the Padmabushan.
Starting his career as a gatekeeper in 1940, Raghava worked in all areas of the film industry and introduced well-known directors Dasari Narayana Rao and Kodi Ramakrishna to the cine world.
He started a dubbing and recording theatre in the city.
Ramoji Rao established the Ramoji Film City here, apart from the Eenadu group of publications and TV.
Raghavendra Rao has directed films in Telugu and in Hindi, and was the producer of films such as Annamayya and Ramadasu .
The other members of the committee are producer K. C. Sekhar Babu, cine artiste Giri Babu, and director N. Shankar.
K. Pardhasaradhi, Information and Public Relations Commissioner, is the member-convener.