Actor Kamal Haasan paid tribute to producer Daggubati Ramanaidu, who died yesterday after battling cancer, via a video message. (Also Read: Daggubati Ramanaidu: Producer. Politician. Legend)
In a video message, Mr Haasan condoled the death of his 'garu' as he called him, a Telugu word as a mark of respect. He said, "It would be unjust to introduce Ramanaidu garu to another generation as a Tamil and Telugu producer, he's much more than that. He is truly a national producer."
Mr Haasan, who starred in several films produced by Mr Ramanaidu, said that he was the only producer who had made so many films in diverse languages. "I can take pride and say that India as the largest filmmaking country has its strength but the strongest point about South India is that national cinema sprang from here. It is not in the North that you found national cinema, not in Calcutta, not in Bombay, but it is here," Mr Haasan said.
"The beginning of his career started with super successes and continued all through his career," he added.
Mr Haasan, who won the Filmfare Award for Best Actor - Telugu in the Ramanaidu-produced Indrudu Chandrudu, said he admired the filmmaker's connect with the current generation.
Kamal Haasan also spoke about the legacy of filmmaking that Mr Ramanaidu left behind. "Instead of making him the last of the Mohicans, he has left us very effective producer, great entrepreneur with managerial skills - his actor son, his grandson. They are all looking up to him as a hero even though he is gone. That in itself is a major feat - to make the other generation look up to you as a hero. They always have differences of opinion but in this case they thought along with him as one. It's truly a film family and I have been a distant part of that family, all I can say is thank you Naidu saab and bye bye," Mr Haasan said.
Daggubati Ramanaidu died in a Hyderabad hospital yesterday. He was 78. He was the father of actor Venkatesh and producer Suresh. Actor Rana Daggubati is his grandson.
Mr Ramanaidu produced over 150 films in 13 Indian languages, a Guinness World Record.
Watch Kamal Haasan's video message:
