Renowned Telugu film producer Dukkipati Madhusudhana Rao died on Sunday at the age of 90. He was ailing for some time and died of a heart attack this Sunday morning and was survived by a son and 4 daughters, all staying in America. He was a very close associate to Dr. Akkineni Nageswara Rao and one of the prominent film personalities who strived hard for the upcoming of the Telugu Film Industry. His last rights will be performed on Tuesday, his family sources informed.
Dukkipati Madhusudhana Rao was born on July 27th, 1917 in Peyyeru village, Gudivada Mandal, Krishna Dist. He completed his primary education in Peyyeru village and studied upto Intermediate in Mudinepalli, Gudiwada, Machipatnam. After completion of his intermediate studies in 1932, he got a medical seat in Madras Medical College but could not pursue his further studies in medicine due to financial backwardness. Besides this, due to his father's sickness, he left his studies and adopted agriculture as his livelihood. After two years, he joined Noble College in Madras and completed graduation. He acted as a student leader during his college days and also actively participated in independence movement. During this time only, he became a close associate of some famous communist leaders like Rajeswara Rao, Basavapunnaiah, Sekhar Rao, Vasudeva Rao, Gopal Rao. Even though he was influenced by communist ideas, he was a true congressman.
After he joined in Excelsior's Club in Mudinepalli, he got acquainted with the theatre and wrote his first play 'Asajyoti', in which Nageswara Rao acted as a hero. He helped Akkineni Nageswara Rao in getting a role in the film 'Mayajalam'. Both of them together laid down foundation stone for the renowned Annapurna Group, which had created many Telugu films. Afterwards, he entered film industry and founded Sarat Films along with M.R. Apparao, Kaja Venkata Ramaiah, Cherukuri Purnachandra Rao, Erreni venkateswara Rao and this institution got closed without producing any film. Once again they have founded another Institute named 'Annapoorna Films' with Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Katragadda Srinivasa Rao, Koratala Prakasa Rao, T.V.A. Surya Rao and it came into being from Sept. 10, 1951. The first film on Annapurna Films banner was 'Dongaramudu' having Nageswara Rao and Savitri in the lead roles directed by K.V. Reddy. The 2nd film Thoti Kodallu, which was made in both Telugu & Tamil was a massive hit and it was a hatrick for the firm. The credit of making the first dual role film in Telugu goes to Dukkipati only for his film Iddaru Mitrulu. He used to believe that for a good film story is the main ingredient and then only cast comes. Along with story, good music will also help - he used to say. He was only comparable to Rajkapoor in Hindi films to extract good music from the Music Directors - Sri once said.
He used to strictly stick to his words. He had given the remake rights of the Telugu hit 'Dongaramudu' to AVM Chettiyar in Hindi. After that, Gemini Vasan expressed his desire to make this film in Hindi, but by that time he said he had already given a word to Chettiyar. But, Vasan expressed his view that no agreement has been signed, so the rights can be given to him. But, Dukkipati denied and told him that without agreement also, his word will stand good.
He always encouraged new faces through his films. He had introduced Korrapati Gangadhara Rao in his film Iddaru Mitrulu, Yaddanapudi Sulochana Rani in Chaduvukunna Ammayilu, Gollapudi Maruthi Rao in Dr. Chakravarti and Ranganayakamma in Poola Rangadu. He had introduced K. Viswanath as a Director in his film Atma Gauravam. He gave a chance to Ashalata Mukherjee to sing two songs in his film Chaduvukunna Ammayilu and to singer Ramakrishna in the film Vichitra Bandham. He introduced Sarada and others to the Telugu film industry who later on turned into big stars on the silver screen.
Akkineni said - He was a very soft and efficient personality. He played a remarkable role in the development of my career. He was a very active person during his lifetime, but suffered towards the end of his life. I used to always think that it's better to die than experience the suffering, which Dukkipati had come across during the end of his life. It is very sad to loose such a talented person from the industry and personally I lost a good friend.
DVS Raju said - Dukkipati had given a true definition for the role of a Producer. Starting from the story, he used to take care of every minute aspect including the tunes, which made him a perfect Producer.
K. Viswanath recollected the encouragement given by Dukkipati by giving him a chance to direct the film 'Atma Gavuravam'. He said - Dukkipati observed my desire to direct when I was in Vahini and took me to studios along with him. I worked with him for 4 years and received a Nandi award for the film Atma Gavuravam.
K. Murari said - Dukkipati would continue to be an inspiration to the producers in the field. I know him right from my childhood as Navayuga firm distributed his films. His film Dongaramudu continues to be a subject in the Pune Film Industry. By encouraging his co-producers, he contributed a lot for the golden future of the Telugu film industry.
Padmanabham said - He was dynamic and his films produced on Annapoorna banner were big hits. He was one of the persons who had encouraged me and he was a well-versed producer. His death is a huge loss to the telugu film industry.
