Cherukuri Ramoji Rao was born on 16 November 1936 in Pedaparupudi of Krishna District, in the erstwhile Madras Presidency, (currently Andhra Pradesh) India into an agricultural family. Cherukuri Ramoji Rao was born on 16th November 1936 to Shri Cherukuri Venkata Subamma and Cherukuri Venkata Subbaiah. He has two sisters Ranganayakamma and Rajyalakshmi.
His parents named him Ramayya and he changed his name to Ramoji Rao. In 1947 he joined Municipal High School in Gudivada in 8th class and studied up to 6th form (equivalent 5 11 th class) in 1951. In the childhood he was more interested in fine arts, politics, sports and cultural activities. Later he did his intermediate and B.Sc., in Gudivada College (this college was renamed later as Akkineni Nageswara Rao College). He belongs to agricultural family and hence gained deeper insights into agriculture and the problems faced by the Indian farmers. His zeal to learn new things, do something creative strengthened his resolve to work for the welfare of farmers.
His first job was at Delhi in an Ad agency as an artiste in the late 1950s. In August, 1961 he married Tatineni Ramadevi. In 1962 he came to Hyderabad from Delhi and started his first venture Margadarsi Chit fund. With the experience he gained in Delhi in the ad agency, he started Kiran Ads in 1965. He did fertiliser business from 1967 to 1969 in Khammam in the name of Vasundhara Fertilisers. In 1969 he started Annadata monthly Magazine for the farmers. To him personally, the greatest achievement in his professional career was when he launched ‘Annadata’ Magazine, the first one probably in India which includes the articles, news about the farmers, their work and development. Later he stopped the fertiliser business.
In 1970 Ramoji Rao set up Images outdoor advertising agency. In 1972-73 he started the construction of Dolphin Hotel in Vizag and it was inaugurated as a three-star Hotel on 21st June, 1980.
Eenadu
His flagship entity Eenadu daily news paper was started in 1974 with Vizag edition. Those days daily Telugu news papers were published in Vijayawada and by the time the news aper reached the people of Vizag it was almost afternoon or evening. The newspaper publishers were reluctant to come with Vizag edition of daily Telugu news paper fearing it may not get good circulation. Ramoji Rao not only took a bold step by starting his first Eenadu daily Telugu news paper from Vizag, he also proved his critics wrong by getting good response from the readers of Vizag. Ramoji Rao, who is known for his punctuality, had ensured that the newspaper reached readers before sunrise as against a delayed delivery to them. This tradition is followed in all the locations where Eenadu daily news paper is in circulation.
Gradually Eenadu daily newspaper editions were started in several cities in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and other states as well. According to ABC Eenadu is the Telugu daily newspaper with the largest circulation (around 1.5 million readers). Eenadu follows a unique tradition of giving importance to the local/ regional news along with the major national and international events. All the editions of Eenadu carry the news of local/regional events (under district editions) that are unique to those respective places.
In 1988 Eenadu started its Sunday special edition in which the news paper comes along with Sunday supplementary that carries news items and articles which appeal to all the sections of the society. Eenadu also adopted a unique and uniform style of language in all its editions that is not only simple to understand but also maintains a set of standards in the language. More importantly Eenadu is careful about the authenticity of the news and articles that are published to maintains its credibility and reputation. (This author has firsthand and personal experience as he has written 15 articles so far for Eenadu).
During 1993-94 Eenadu paper gave full support to the prohibition movement started by the women of Andhra Pradesh and dedicated exclusively one page to promote and support this movement. During Gujarat earthquake (2001) and tsunami in Indian Ocean (2004) Eenadu mobilised public contributions and also extended its financial assistance in a significant manner.
Ramoji Rao started Sitara film magazine in 1976. In 1978 monthly edition of Chatura was started to promote Telugu novels and Vipula monthly magazine was launched to publish stories of different languages in Telugu.
In 1980 Ramoji Rao started Priya Foods to promote Telugu cuisine across the globe. Priya Foods prepares pickles, savories, condiments, edible oils, and other confectionery to ensure that the people get these edibles throughout the year irrespective of the season.
Margadarsi Chit Fund
Margadarsi chit funds started in 1962 with just two employees has expanded into 113 branches with a team of 4,300 staff in the four states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka covering around 3,60,000 members having served around sixty lakh subscribers in the last six decades, with a turnover of Rs.10,687 Crores. In 2006, lawyer turned politician from Rajamundry, Andhra Pradesh Mr. Undavalli Arun Kumar went to court against Margadarsi Chit Funds contending that they have accepted the deposits from the people in contravention of the rules.
The matter finally reached Supreme Court who observed that Margadarsi is touted to be a business promoted by a Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) on one side and also shown as a proprietary concern on the other side and therefore this conflict in the claims need to be cleared in due course. Without going into the merits of the case, on 9th April, 2024 the Supreme Court asked Telangana High Court to do scrutiny of all deposits of Margadarsi Chit Funds and whether they have been returned to all depositors or not.
The SC also directed to appoint a former judge of the high court to supervise the scrutiny process. Undavalli Arun Kumar’s main allegations are that Ramoji Rao’s Margadarsi invested the deposits collected from its chit funds subscribers into mutual funds and other subsidiaries which is a violation of the rules and Margadarsi is a HUF and his contention is that as per RBI guidelines a HUF entity cannot collect chit deposits from its subscribers. This matter is now sub judice.
The interesting thing to be noted in this context is that despite the above court case and one more case initiated by the Andhra Pradesh Government against Margadarsi Chit Funds when Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy was the CM, public trust in the Margadarsi is intact, which shows the enormous public confidence on Margadarsi and its promoter Ramoji Rao.
Films
Ramoji Rao acted in guest role (Judge) in the Telugu movie Marpu (Change) in 1978. Though it was a guest appearance, the film advertisement posters carried Ramoji Rao’s photo prominently. In March, 1983 Ramoji Rao started Ushakiron Movies to produce films. He also started Mayuri Film Distributors for the distribution of the films. Ushakiron Movies has produced so far 85 films in all major Indian languages such as Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali.
Multiple talented directors and actors were introduced or given a breakthrough by Usha Kiron Movies. Prathighatana, Mayuri, Mouna Poratam, Manasu Mamatha, Ashwani, Nuvve Kavali, Anandam and People’s Encounter are some of the successful films produced by Ramoji Rao. Ramoji Rao has a unique style of selecting the scripts for movies and bringing it to the audience. he produced content-driven movies with powerful scripts focusing on social issues and biopics of Mayuri, Ashwini. Sudha Chandran’s pursuit of dance with an artificial limb piqued his interest, reported The Indian Express.
He decided to make a movie about her. The movie titled Mayuri (1985), in which Chandran portrayed herself, had a huge positive impact on her career. Similarly, his Mouna Poratam (Silent battle, 1989) which was inspired by the story of a tribal girl who was used by an official and then dumped, was a singular triumph. The tribal girl had sat on a satyagraha outside the official’s house pressuring him to marry her.
Usha Kiron Movies is known for producing films with clean entertainment, social values conveying a good message to the society. Ramoji Rao strongly believed that films with good and powerful stories that have a social message will become successful rather than the image of the director or the hero of the film. He sticked on to this belief while producing the films and he was proved right most of the times.
ETV
In 1995 he started ETV. ETV was one of the first satellite entertainment channels in Telugu after the monopoly of Doordarshan came to an end and it became very popular very quickly. He started a group of 12 channels under the ETV network channel telecasting information with entertainment sourcing in different languages. ETV channel is one of the popular channels in telecasting daily TV series, TV shows in Telugu, Hindi, Bangla, Marathi, Kannada, Oriya, Gujarati and Urdu entertaining audience in different states of the country.
The channel started telecasting a morning show named Annadata portraying the life of farmers, methods of cultivation of different fields. This was the first TV show that started in the welfare of farmers and ranked the highest TRP during the time. Annadata program in ETV in various languages has succeeded in its objective of sharing with the farmers the latest and scientific techniques in cultivation. Similarly, Jai kisan program in ETV has highlighted the issues and challenges faced by the Indian farmers and also proposed several policy related suggestions to address those issues and challenges. E TV channel well known for producing popular shows Dhee, Jabardast, Abhiruchi, Pratidhwani and several other shows.
Pratidhwani is an echo of the common man’s feelings and contemporary issues with political, economic, and cultural dimensions. Experts, academicians, and qualified persons join on this platform and share their thoughts, suggest possible solutions and the required changes to the policies. Pratidhwani programmes are totally focused on the topics, taken part by the domain experts and professionals, conducted in a very dignified manner. (This author has been participating in ETV Pratidhwani programme since 2016 onwards).
Paadutha Theeyaga of ETV is a unique programme with the main objective of bringing out emerging singing talent into limelight. Launched in the year 1996 “Padutha Theeyaga” has so far completed more than 1100 episodes. During its journey across various seasons, Padutha Theeyaga has introduced many new talents to Telugu Film Industry. This show was hosted by the famous playback singer S.P. Balasubramanyam (1996-2000, 2007-2020) and after his death by his son S.P. Charan from 2021 onwards.
It was reported in January 2014 that Network18 Group had bought 24.5 percent stake in the Telugu channels ETV and ETV2 along with acquiring 100 percent stake in the regional Hindi news channels of the ETV Network. ETV now has a bouquet of 7 channels operating in Telugu — ETV (General Entertainment) ETV Andhra Pradesh and ETV Telangana (News & Infotainment) and the niche channels like ETVblack”> Plus – dedicated to comedy genre, ETV Life with rich content on health and well-being, ETV Abhiruchi – the food and cookery channel and ETV Cinema – Telugu cinema & entertainment channel.
Ramoji Film City
In 1996 the dream project of Ramoji Rao, Ramoji Film City (RFC) was started at the outskirts of Hyderabad (Abdullapurmet). Spread over 2000 acres, Ramoji Film City is recognised as World’s largest integrated film city by the Guinness World Records. Around 200 films are made every year in this film city and so far, more than 2500 films in almost all Indian languages have already been shot here.
RFC attracts around 1.5 million tourists per annum from all over the country. RFC has six categories of hotels (Dolphin group of hotels operates all the hospitality activities in Ramoji Film City and in Visakhapatnam) and sets such as forests, gardens, hotels, a railway station, an airport, apartment blocks, mansions workshops, etc for film making. As a tribute to the glorious history of Indian cinema, Ramoji Film City houses a fascinating Film Memorabilia Museum.
The museum has a collection of iconic props, costumes, and memorabilia from legendary films. The museum stands as a testament to the enduring legacy of Indian cinema, preserving the rich cultural heritage for future generations. With cultural shows, dance performances, and art exhibitions, RFC is a hub of activities.
Kalanjali (A Division of Margadarsi Marketing Private Limited) was launched in 1992 that deals in the exclusive collection of Indian artefacts, handcrafted furniture, traditional sarees, ethnic ladies wear and hand-looms material. Kalanjali is a Retail chain store consisting of 5 showrooms with presence in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Education
Under Ramadevi Trust (his wife’s name) Ramoji Rao started in 2002 Rama Devi Public School. It is a is a co-education school with about 2200 students and 196 staff (Pre-Primary to Class XII) affiliated to the Council for the Indian School Certificate of Examinations, New Delhi. This 17.5-acre campus is located near Ramoji Film City, at Hayathnagar.
During Covid-19 pandemic he donated Rs. 10 Crores each to the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Chief Minister’s Relief Fund.
Ramoji Rao used to encourage new ideas and innovative thoughts that involved policy implications and provide a platform to the thought leaders to share their ideas with the policy makers. One such initiative was “Arthakranthi Seminar” conduced at Ramoji Film City on 1st December, 2012.
Arthakranthi is a novel model of comprehensive tax reforms pioneered by Mr. Anil Bokil (Pune based Mechanical Engineer, entrepreneur, economic theorist and activist) that also proposes to address the issues of curbing black money and corruption. Demonetization was a part of the suggestions of Arthakranthi model that also includes total financial inclusion, abolition of direct and indirect taxes in vouge in 2012, introduction of a turnover based nominal tax on all the bank transactions of the people, transparent mechanism for funding the political parties by the exchequer and withdrawing the high denomination notes.
Ramoji Rao invited several eminent people from all walks of life and domain experts to share their views on this Arthakranthi model. Ramoji Rao as the host of the seminar stood at the entrance of the conference hall at Ramoji Film City and personally greeted all the invitees with a warm welcome. This author was one of those invitees and that occasion was the author’s first meeting with Ramoji Rao. When NDA Government came to power in 2014, was impressed by this Arthakranthi model and it is believed that the demonetization done in November, 2016 was influenced by the proposal made in this model.
Ramoji Rao was a strong believer of the federal structure of democracy where the States play a very active role with functional autonomy in the governance of the State within the overall framework of the constitution with the support and cooperation of the Union Government. He had a strong view that one should not neglect one’s mother tongue and one should never compromise one’s self-respect.
No wonder, Eenadu was seen as the mouthpiece of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) when the party was formed in 1982 projecting itself as a regional party to protect the self-respect of the Telugu people and totally focus on the overall development of the state of Andhra Pradesh. Eenadu’s campaign ‘to restore democracy’ when TDP founder N T Rama Rao (NTR) was dislodged from power in 1984 in a bloodless coup which ultimately led to NTR returning to power is a milestone in the history of Eenadu daily newspaper.
The Eenadu success prompted him to launch an English version, Newstime in 1983. That, however, was an experiment ahead of its time and it closed later.
Awards:
- Padma Vibhushan (2016) – Government of India (for his contribution to journalism, literature and education).
- National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu (producer) – Nuvve Kavali (2000)
- Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu) – Pratighatana (1985)
- Filmfare Special Award – South for outstanding contributions towards Indian cinema (1998)
- Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu) – Nuvve Kavali (2000)
- Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South (2004)
- Best Feature Film – Silver – Kanchana Ganga (1984)
- Best Feature Film – Gold – Mayuri (1985)
- Best Feature Film – Silver – Mouna Poratam (1989)
- Best Feature Film – Bronze – Aswini (1991)
- Best Children’s Film – Gold – Teja (1992)
He was also the chairman of Editors Guild of India.
He built his own memorial “Smriti Vanam” at Ramoji Film City where he wanted his cremation to take place after his death. He passed away on 8th June, 2024 and he was cremated with state honours on 9th June, 2024. He left his legacy of dedication to work, punctuality and discipline which has shaped the work culture of the employees of his group. Hopefully his farsighted strategic vision, fighting spirit, determination and zeal to be innovative should inspire his family members who are his successors to take his empire to much greater heights.
