Dil Raju won the prestigious B Nagi Reddi Memorial Award for Fidaa in Dubai

Thirty movies in 15 years with about 90 per cent success rate! That's just one part of the story. The producer/distributor, whose debut film title became his surname, has won several awards, including the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment-Golden Lotus Award at the 64th National Film Awards in 2017 for his contribution to popular cinema for 'Shatamanam Bhavati' "in appreciation of providing a feeling of jubilation by respecting family values in an unexplored manner". The same year he received Nandi Award presented by the Andhra Pradesh state government and the prestigious Nagi Reddi-Chakrapani Award for the film, which deals with the problems faced by old age parents whose children have mostly settled abroad, visiting them once in a few years.

 

Winning awards has become a habit for 'Dil' Raju. And this time he has won the prestigious B Nagi Reddi Memorial Award for 2017 for 'Fidaa' produced under his Sri Venkateswara Creations. 

Receiving the award from the Indian film legend's daughter-in-law Bharati Reddi, Dil Raju recounted what he earlier when he received Nagi Reddi award in 2012 for his film Mr Perfect



at a function graced by the late Akkineni Nageswara Rao: "I then said 'it's not just an award, this bestows a responsibility upon me'."

He said he was pleased to receive yet another award instituted by Vijaya Productions in memory of the great film producer for Fidaa in Dubai, which has a sizeable Telugu diaspora. The film was critically acclaimed. 'Fidaa' is a Telugu romantic entertainer starring Varun Tej and Sai Pallavi in lead roles; and directed by Sekhar Kammula. Pallavi essayed the role of a village girl and the story is set against the milieu of Telangana and the US.

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 well. "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 of the present-day film industry.