Doondeswara Rao Pothina

Doondeswara Rao Pothina, famously known as Doondi was an Indian film producer who was born on 9 June 1932 in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. He was the second son of the Maruthi Talkies exhibitor Pothina Srinivasa Rao and his mother Achchaayyamma. His elder brother used to look after the Maruthi Talkies. He had completed his studies at Rishi Valley School and Chennai Christian College in Madras. When Doondi visited Vauhini Studios with his friends, the owner of the studio Nagi Reddy Nagi Reddy is a South Indian sandalwood film produ >> Read More... asked him to watch the Tamil film Neelamalai Thirudan. Doondi was impressed with the story and he was given the chance to dub it in Telugu as Kondaveeti Donga Click to look into! >> Read More... which turned out to be a hit in 1958. Doondi had a reputation for being a sharp-witted producer.

He has produced Telugu films like Jayam Manade(1956), Gudi Gantalu(1964), Veera Abhimanyu(1965), Bandipotu(1963), and Rakta Sambandham(1962), Gudachari 116(1967), etc. He also worked as a producer for Hindi and Kannada films as well. Doondi established Mullapoodi Venkata Ramana(writer), Krishna(actor), Shoban Babu(actor), Vanishree(actress), and Jeetendra(actor) in the film industry. He is considered a pioneer of technicality in the Telugu Film Industry. In 2005, he was the Chairman of the Nandi Awards Committee. Doondi passed away on 1 January 2007 in Vishakhapatnam due to cancer at the age of 74.