Chalasani Aswani Dutt (also spelled Ashwini Dutt; born 15 September 1950) is an Indian film producer known for his work in the

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, Hy ...

. He established the

film production Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, casti ...

company Vyjayanthi Movies in 1974 which is one of the biggest production houses in the Telugu film industry. In a career spanning nearly five decades, he has produced over 40 films with a majority of them in Telugu and a few in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

languages. He is especially known for producing big-budget films with top movie stars and lavish production values on the Vyjayanthi Movies banner. He also contested for the Vijayawada Lok Sabha constituency in the year 2004 General Elections as a

Telugu Desam Party The Telugu Desam Party (; TDP) is an Indian regional political party operating in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana at the state and central level. Since its founding by N. T. Rama Rao (often referred to as NTR) on 29 March 1982, the party has foc ...

candidate.

Early and personal life

Chalasani Aswani Dutt is born into a well-to-do family, in

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises NT ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

. His father was an A-class contractor in Andhra Pradesh and the sole distributor for Kalinga Pipes in the state, for many years. He completed his graduation.

Jandhyala Jandhyala Subrahmanya Sastry (14 January 1951 – 19 June 2001), known mononymously by his surname Jandhyala, was an Indian film director, screenwriter, playwright, and actor known for his works in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre. He is popula ...

, who would later go on to become a noted film director and screenwriter, was Aswani Dutt's childhood friend. They were classmates from fourth standard till their graduation and also lived in neighbouring houses. He has three daughters

Priyanka Dutt Priyanka Dutt Chalasani (born 19 December 1984) is an Indian film producer known for her work in Telugu cinema. She is the daughter of C. Ashwini Dutt, a well known Indian film producer and the founder of Vyjayanthi Movies. Dutt studied film m ...

, Swapna Dutt and Sravanthi Dutt. Priyanka Dutt is married to film director

Nag Ashwin Nag Ashwin Reddy is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his works in Telugu cinema. He made his directorial debut in 2015 with the coming-of-age philosophical drama film ''Yevade Subramanyam''. In 2018, he directed the biographic ...

who previously directed the film ''

Yevade Subramanyam ''Yevade Subramanyam'' () is a 2015 Indian Telugu-language coming-of-age philosophical drama film written and directed by debutant Nag Ashwin. Produced by Priyanka Dutt, and Swapna Dutt, the film stars Nani, Malavika Nair, Vijay Deverakonda, a ...

'' (2015) under Vyjayanthi Movies banner.

Film career

Aswani Dutt started his film career as an

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

for the black-and-white film ''

O Seetha Katha ''O Seeta Katha'' () is a 1974 Indian Telugu-language film directed by K. Viswanath. The film won the Nandi Award for Best Feature Film (Silver), and the Filmfare Best Film Award (Telugu). The film was later remade both in Malayalam and Tamil lan ...

'' (1974) directed by

K. Viswanath Kasinadhuni Viswanath (born 19 February 1930) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor, known for his works primarily in Telugu cinema. He is recipient of five National Film Awards, seven state Nandi Awards, ten Filmfare Awards South ...

. He wanted to produce a film with his favourite actor

N. T. Rama Rao Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (28 May 1923 – 18 January 1996), often referred to by his initials NTR, was an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for seven years over three terms. He starred ...

(NTR) and approached him. Named by NTR after the garland which is in Lord Krishna’s neck, Vyjayanthi Movies commenced production, under the proprietorship of Aswani Dutt. The logo of the production house contains the image of NTR as Lord

Sri Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one o ...

, with a Sankha in his hand and

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

behind him. The first film produced under Vyjayanthi Movies banner was '' Eduruleni Manishi'' (1975) starring NTR and Vanisri. The production house went on to make films with the top movie stars of

like NTR,

ANR People * Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Great Telugu film actor. Places * Akkineni Nageswara Rao College, sometimes called ANR College * Antwerp International Airport (IATA code) Entities * Agence nationale de la recherche, a French funding agency f ...

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

Sobhan Babu Sobhan Babu (born Uppu Sobhana Chalapathi Rao; 14 January 1937 – 20 March 2008) was an Indian actor known for his works in Telugu cinema.Bangaru Panjaram in Venditera Paatalu, Krishnasastri Sahityam, third volume, Vishalandhra Publishing House ...

, Krishnam Raju,

Chiranjeevi Chiranjeevi (born Konidela Sivasankara Varaprasad; 22 August 1955) is an Indian actor, film producer and former politician, who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. Chiranjeevi starred in over 150 feature films in Telugu language, Telugu, as ...

, and

Nagarjuna Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...

. Many of the films produced by Vyjayanthi Movies were directed by

K. Bapayya Kovelamudi Bapayya is an Indian film director. He has directed about 80 films in Telugu and Hindi languages. He is the cousin of noted director K. Raghavendra Rao and nephew of director and producer K. S. Prakash Rao. Early life Kovelamudi ...

and K. Raghavendra Rao. Vyjayanthi Movies also has subsidiary banners Three Angels Studio, Swapna Cinema run by Aswani Dutt's daughters Swapna Dutt and

. Of late, his daughters take care of the production part of the films produced by their production house, while the music is handled Aswani Dutt. Vyjayanthi Movies had a successful run until it hit a rough patch with '' Sakthi'' in 2011. After this, Aswani Dutt took a seven-year hiatus. He produced ''

Mahanati ''Mahanati'' () is a 2018 Indian Telugu-language biographical drama film based on the life of actress Savitri. It is written and directed by Nag Ashwin, and produced by Priyanka Dutt under Vyjayanthi Movies and Swapna Cinema. The film feature ...

'' in 2018 which became one of the highest grossing films of the year. Aswani Dutt mentions ''

Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari ''Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari'' (), also known by the initialism ''JVAS'', is a 1990 Indian Telugu-language fantasy film directed by K. Raghavendra Rao who co-wrote the script with Jandhyala and Yandamuri Veerendranath. The film stars Chir ...

'' (1990) as his most favourite among all the films that he produced.

Shelved projects

After the success of ''Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari'' (1990), Aswani Dutt wanted to do

fantasy film Fantasy films are films that belong to the fantasy genre with fantastic themes, usually magic, supernatural events, mythology, folklore, or exotic fantasy worlds. The genre is considered a form of speculative fiction alongside science fiction f ...

highlighting the CGI. So a film titled ''Bhooloka Veerudu'' was started in the direction of

Singeetam Srinivasa Rao Singeetam Srinivasa Rao (born 21 September 1931), commonly known as Singeetam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, composer, and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the most versatile directors of India. He is credited with hav ...

with

in the lead role. After completing two schedules, they realized that they didn't have a proper story in hand and hence shelved the film.

Ram Gopal Varma Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma (born 7 April 1962), often referred to by his initials RGV, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, known for his works in Telugu cinema in addition to Bollywood, Hindi, Kannada cinema, Kannada language ...

narrated a story to Aswani Dutt which he liked. Varma was making '' Daud'' at that time and felt that the shooting of ''Daud'' might be stalled due to

Sanjay Dutt Sanjay Balraj Dutt (born 29 July 1959) is an Indian actor who primarily works in Hindi cinema. In a career spanning over four decades, Dutt has won several accolades and acted in over 100 films, ranging from romance to comedy genres, though u ...

's legal issues. So Varma narrated the story to Aswani Dutt and Chiranjeevi which they liked. Aswani Dutt started the project with Chiranjeevi as the lead in the direction of Ram Gopal Varma. After Sanjay Dutt's release, the shooting of ''Daud'' resumed. Then Aswani Dutt realized that the storylines for these two films are similar. As he was not comfortable in doing a film which had the same storyline to another film, he stalled the project.

Filmography

Films produced under Vyjayanti Movies banner. Swapna Cinema Raghavendra Movie Corporation, Siri Media Arts, and United Producers (Aswani Dutt, Allu Aravind, and K. Raghavendra Rao) Sri Priyanka Pictures Roja Art Productions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dutt, Aswani Telugu film producers Living people Film producers from Andhra Pradesh Telugu Desam Party politicians Filmfare Awards South winners Nandi Award winners Hindi film producers 20th-century Indian businesspeople 21st-century Indian businesspeople 1950 births