Telangana to honour cine legends with Gaddar awards in April

Hyderabad: To honour cinema legends Paidi Jairaj and T Kantha Rao, the state govt will present two special awards in their name at the Gaddar Film Awards ceremony to be held in the city in April. Paidi Jairaj, who was born in Karimnagar, was a well-known producer, director, and actor in Hindi, Telugu, and Marathi films. For his contribution to Indian cinema, he was awarded the prestigious Dada Saheb Phalke Award in 1980. He passed away in 2000 in Mumbai.Actor and producer T Kantha Rao, who hailed from Kodad (now in Suryapet) in erstwhile Nalgonda district, acted in nearly 400 films before he passed away in 2009. Addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Telangana Film Development Corporation chairman and producer Dil Raju said that for the first time since Telangana became a separate state in 2014, film awards would be given away at a programme to be organised in the city. He mentioned that all the awards previously given during erstwhile AP would be presented, with the exception of a few minor changes. A best film award would also be given to recognise Urdu cinema.To acknowledge the best cinema since the formation of the state, he said a best film award would be given for all the years from 2014 (released after June) until 2023. The guidelines for the 2024 awards would be provided to producers to apply for the awards. For the Gaddar Film Awards committee, the state govt has appointed well-known film director and producer B Narsing Rao as chairman and Dil Raju as producer. Dil Raju stated that the jury to select films in each category would be formed in a week.When asked about the film awards that the film industry also announced, he said anyone can give awards, but the state govt awards were a recognition from the govt. Dil Raju mentioned that the chief minister asked him to come up with a proposal and plan to develop Hyderabad into an international filmmaking hub and that he would present a report to the CM on that.