The man whose family owned the first cinema theatre of AP

Today, the name of Doondeswara Rao Potina aka Doondi would not be immediately or avidly recalled as many others. Yet, this iconic producer was responsible for some trendsetting times in Telugu cinema. Born on June 9, 1932, Doondi produced and directed close to 30 films in a career spanning two decades from the 1950s to the mid- 1970s.

The movies were made in Telugu, Hindi and Kannada. His father is reputed for constructing the first cinema theatre in Andhra Pradesh – Maruti Talkies in 1921 at Vijayawada. It screened movies right from the silent era. According to a website amaravativoice.com, it was also the theatre to screen the first colour film of Telugu – Lava Kusa.

Doondi gave a break to Sobhan Babu by launching him, worked with NTR and produced many hits. He also is responsible for the' Andhra James Bond' image for Superstar Krishna with his super hit film ' 'Goodachari 116' in which his heroine was Jayalalitha. In the 1970s, he also stabilized the careers of Hindi heroes like Jeetendra and Amitabh Bachchan with his successful southern remakes.