Noted Director Gutta Ramineedu (82) passed away today in Chennai. He was survived with a wife and three daughters. Ramineedu was born in Chataparru village near Eluru. He made many memorable movies in Telugu and he was the first director to make a film completly in Hyderabad. And that film was Maa Inti Mahalaxmi (1959) which was a big hit at that time. The film completed fifty years this year. 

kalimilEmulu (remember the famous song from # malaadi # about # sannaa sannani bulli eMDa #?). It was followed by anuraagam (Di. raamaanaayuDu's first film as a producer) with an excellent portrayal by bhaanumati and SVR (remember prEmaa picchee okaTE, nuvvoo, nEnoo...!) and then palnaati yuddham (NTR, bhaanuamti, gummaDi, raajanaala, baalayya, haranath, jamuna etc.), eagerly anticipated, but couldn't live up to the hype (bi.gOpaalam's
excellent rendition of pulupula venkata sivayya's palnaaDu velalEni maagaaNiraa! is one of the many gems in this movie).

The movie was followed by bhaktapOtana, another commercial failure. Then followed a string of strong sentimental movies of moderate success, baMgaaru saMkeLLu (music director pUrNachandraraavu -“chaand” debuted with this film.) Then
came moogaprEma (chakaravarti debuted as the music director with
this film) and talleekootuLLu (kraantikumaar's first film as a producer) followed later by chairman chalamayya, for which he brought Salil Chowdary as music director.
Much later, he filmed  kaaLeepaTnam raamaaravu’s famous story “yajnam .

But, raamineeDu really made his name with his first two films. His debut film, maa iMTi mahaalakshmi, made in Hyderabad in 1959 with gummaDi, haranaath and jamuna went on to win the best regional film award (the film was produced by another gentleman from chaaTaparru, navaSakti films pi. gangaadhara raavu). It was followed by civaraku migilEdi, a remake of the Bengali hit dil jal jalE with Sumitra Sen (later made in Hindi as khaamoshi
with Waheeda, dharmEndra and raajEsh khannaa). saavitri played the central role of a psychiatric nurse caught between her profession and her love and the fine line that distinguishes the two. Many consider it the finest among many fine performances by saavitri. The film marked the debut of prabhaakar reDDi as a film actor.

By late 70s, he was not making many movies, but was looking after a successful business and enjoying his life with children and grandchildren. In middle eighties he made two films Raajkumar and prateekaram with Shoban babu (remember the song janaki kalaganaledu ramudu pati kagaladani , Illayaraja music in Rajkumar) Prateekaram has Girija's daughter in pivotical role.

Regardless of commercial success, raamineeDu’s films were infused with rare sensitivity, sensibility and innovation. His films usually had great music. The early films had music by
aSwatthaama and lyrics by mallaadi; Haranaath, Jamuna, Baalayya,
GummaDi,  Chalam and PrabhaakarareDDi were kind of part of his repertory company.

It would be exaggerating to say that his death is a great loss for Telugu films; he has stopped making films a while ago. However, he was an important film maker in Telugu and his death closes another remarkable chapter in Telugu film history. 

We at Telugucinema.com praying for peace to be bestowed upon his soul and for the speedy recovery of the bereavement to the family members.