Dr Dasari Narayana Rao’s 62nd birthday celebrations were held in a grand style in the presence of top celebrities of Tollywood on May 4th. The function was organized by Vamsee International a 36 year old reputed international non-profit organization. The founder of the organization is "Siromani" Vamsee Ramaraju. On this eve, 108 producers were felicitated by Dr. Dasari at Lalitha Kala Thoranam. Chief Minister Y S Raja Sekhara Reddy graced the function and gave away his wishes to Dasari.

Also top film personalities like Raghavendra Rao, D Rama Naidu, Mohan Babu, Allu Aravind, Jaya Pradha, Jaya Sudha, Dr C Narayana Reddy, M S Raju, Trivikrama Rao, D V S Raju, Y Lakshmi Prasad, Sekhar Kammula, Vadde Ramesh, K S Rama Rao, Dasari Padma, Editor Mohan, Pradeep Sharma, Nitin Kapoor, Prasanna Kumar etc attended the function.

All the film stars praised Dasari on the dias for his interest and dedication that he has for the telugu film industry.

Chairman of the function, Tamma Reddy Bharadwaj addressed Dasari as his guru and said “I take this opportunity to show my happiness in celebrating my guru’s birthday in a very splendid way. Also I thank our Chief Minister for attending this function in spite of his busy schedules.”

Dr C Narayana Reddy said “I’ve penned lyrics for 3 songs in Dasari’s first film ‘Thatha Manavudu’ and also have written lyrics for atleast 50 songs amongst all Dasari’s films. As a senior to him, I observed the growth of his carrier in the film industry.”

Dr Mohan Babu said, “I address my Guru (Dasari) as a library. He is the role model for many directors of today’s generation as he was the trend setter for short dialogue deliveries. Still there is lot more to be learnt from him for the young directors as they are not aware of his abilities. Dasari garu also promised to educate the grand children in my educational institution of those producers who produced his films.”

Later, Mohan Babu presented Dasari the golden crown, the directors’ unity presented a silver crown and hindi producers Nitin Kapoor, Pradeep Sharma and Prasanna Kumar gifted him a silver throne.

Sensational young director Sekhar Kammula received Dasari’s best director award for the film Happy Days. P Rama Rao and Prabhu received the best journalist award. Senior actor Murali Mohan and TV anchor Jhansi hosted the show.

I was educated with the donated amount – Dasari
Dr Dasari Narayana Rao’s 62nd birthday was celebrated in grandeur with many top shots of teludu film industry gracing the function. Dasari’s aggressive speech evoked the audiences who were present at the function. He described how he struggled to come up in his life right from his childhood. He also criticized those heroes who neglect the producers and directors with whose support they have come up.

Speaking on the dias Dasari said, “I belong to a small village called Palakollu. Since I hail from a very poor family, my parents had the capacity to educate me only till 6th grade. But the marks that I scored made my teacher think of my further studies. So he insisted other children to donate money for my fee. I use to attend my school in the day and sell bananas in the evening for our living. That was how I completed my degree course. My life can be taken as the best example to tell that anyone can reach their goal if they have self-confidence in them.”

“I never had the capacity to celebrate my birthday during my school days. Whereas I remember that in 1975 on the sets of a film shoot by Vijaya Madhavi Pictures, my birthday was celebrated by some prominent producers. I thank all those producers who were celebrating my birthday from past 34 years.Though I stepped into the industry with the dream of becoming an actor, initially I was a writer, then turned in to director and then an actor. Later I also played the roles of producer, distributor and executor and finally turned into a politician.”

“As I’ve already mentioned in many occasions, I wanted my life to end as a director. I thank all my producers for making me a successful director. Today’s producers are not considered as part of the industry. But one should realize that the producers too struggle a lot by mortgaging their properties for investing in the films.”

“I wanted the heroes and directors to realize that without the producers, films cannot happen. There are many occasions where the directors and heroes have neglected the producers without even involving them for the story sitting. These heroes and directors should recollect the days when they use to wait for hours outside the producers offices to get their chance. I request the heroes and directors to realize that these benz cars, bunglows, name and fame that we are enjoying is only with the help of producers.”

YSR nods for Dasari’s wishes
On the eve of Dasari’s 62nd birthday, Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy graced and inaugurated the function by lighting the lamp.

Speaking on the occasion Dasari Narayana Rao said, “Chief Minister Rajasekhara Reddy is known to me from my younger days and is also a good friend to me. The Congress government had contributed a lot to the telugu film industry. Taking this as opportunity I wanted two boons from the Chief Minister. Some time back there was a request from film fraternities that the cost of the ticket should be hiked in the first two weeks from the day of release of big budget film. Though I supported them initially later I realized, that small films are getting affected due to that. So as a first boon, I request the cancellation of the above demand. Regarding that we have already submitted a memorandum to the government.”

“Some time back there was a formal request from our film association members regarding the allotment of land for the workers of film industry. Though HUDA granted permission recently, we were asked to pay 22 crores to HUDA. Indira Gandhi who belongs to Congress had constructed houses for many poor. So I request you to consider the film workers too as poor and cancel the amount to be paid to HUDA. I wish that you will fulfil my two boons that I’ve asked you on my birthday.”

Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy said, “Dasari is a good friend of mine so that made me attend this function. Otherwise I’m generally away from these birthday functions. Dasari is not only a great director but also a great politician too. He had worked very hard for the betterment of Congress Party. I still remember those days we campaigned during elections. He had worked in 148 movies not just as director but as producer and actor too and made his own mark in the hearts of the people of Andhra Pradesh. So I wish him all good health and prosperity throughout his life.”

“I consider the two requests that Dasari had asked on his birthday. Whatever the decision we have taken before, regarding the hike in movie ticket prices was on the request by the film association members and for the welfare of the film industry only. Now after coming to know that small films are getting affected due to the hike in prices, we will go through the past records and then come to the conclusion of how to cancel the past memorandum. Next is regarding the construction of houses for the film workers. It’s difficult to cancel the whole amount that has to be paid by the film association to HUDA, because that will affect the welfare of HUDA activities. So I’ll try to make it as 20-30% less from the actual amount that has to be paid to HUDA. I conclude my speech by saying that our government’s support would always be there for the growth of telugu film industry.”