Velamakucha Venkata Ramana Reddy (born 17 December 1970), known professionally as Dil Raju, is an Indian film producer and distributor known for his works in

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, ...

. He has also financed some Tamil and

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

films and owns the

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, a ...

Sri Venkateswara Creations. Raju has won two National Film Awards and was honoured with the Nagi Reddy–Chakrapani National Award in 2013 for his contributions to popular cinema. He is also expected to make the next outing of Avatar the song of fire with James Cameron.

Early life and career

Dil Raju was born in Narsingpalli in Nizamabad district of present-day

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and ...

. He was educated in Mudakpally and Nizamabad, and was interested in films from a young age. He later moved to

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

and did automobile business with his brothers. He ventured into film distribution in the 1990s with the film ''

Pelli Pandiri ''Pelli Pandiri'' ( ''Wedding Pandal'') is a 1997 Telugu-language drama film directed by Kodi Ramakrishna. It stars Jagapati Babu, Raasi, Pruthvi with music composed by Vandemataram Srinivas. It was produced by G. Aswartha Narayana Babu, M. ...

'' (1997) and started '' Sri Venkateswara Film Distributors'' in 1999. Raju married Anita and has a daughter Hanshita Reddy. Anita died in 2017 due to

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...

. Raju later married Tejaswini in 2020. Tejaswini's name was changed to Vygha Reddy following her marriage as per

astrology Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that claim to discern information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects. Di ...

. They have a son born in 2022.

Film production

Sri Venkateswara Creations Collaborations Matinee Entertainments (subsidiary) Collaborations with other producers Dubbed films Other language productions

Awards

; National Film Awards * Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment – Golden Lotus (producer) – '' Sathamanam Bhavati'' – (2016) * Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment – Golden Lotus (producer) – '' Maharshi'' – (2019) ;

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are the awards that recognise the excellence in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre and Telugu television, and Lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. Presented annually by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the award is named af ...

* Best Feature Film (Gold) – '' Bommarillu'' (2006) * Best Feature Film (Bronze) – ''

Parugu ''Parugu'' (), titled ''In the Name of Love'' in the UK, is a 2008 Indian Telugu-language romantic action film written and directed by Bhaskar. The film stars Allu Arjun, Sheela Kaur and Prakash Raj. The film is produced by Dil Raju on Sri V ...

'' (2008) * Akkineni Award for Best Home-viewing Feature Film – '' Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu'' (2013) * Nagi Reddy-Chakrapani National Award for contributions to popular cinema – (2013) ; Filmfare Awards South * Filmfare Award for Best Film – Telugu – '' Bommarillu'' (2006) ; Santosham Film Awards * Santosham D. Ramanaidu Smarakam Award (2019) ;Other Awards * Nagi Reddy Memorial Award for the Best Telugu Family Entertainer of the year 2011 – '' Mr. Perfect''Mr. Perfect wins Nagireddy award
123telugu.com (1 January 1998). Retrieved on 11 May 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raju, Dil Film producers from Telangana Nandi Award winners Filmfare Awards South winners Telugu film producers Living people People from Nizamabad, Telangana Producers who won the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment National Film Award 1965 births Santosham Film Awards winners