Media baron and Padma Vibhushan Cherukuri Ramoji Rao leaves behind a legacy
Dr Kushal Sanghvi, Business Mentor, National HRD Network, writes that Ramoji Rao was a man with several credits and it was his constant need to give back to society that made him a genius
Saturday morning was definitely not a happy one for a lot of us in the Indian/ global media industry. We have lost one of the country's biggest media barons: Ramoji Rao, and he was 87, many may not remember he was honoured with the second highest civilian honour in our country.
In the journey that he lived, it's the world's largest film production facility that he built called "Ramoji City" and that's one of his biggest accomplishments. While there are companies like Disney, Reliance, Yash Raj and many others in the country that have such facilities/ services it's the sheer scale and opportunities that Ramoji City gave that's been the ground where over 4,000-plus films and various pieces of content have been produced.
Creative at heart and not a typical businessman, he started his career in advertising and got into the media business, first with a magazine for farmers called Annadata in 1969.
He's also the Founder of the Eenadu Newspaper, one of the most widely circulated newspapers in Telugu. In fact, this is the 50th year of this regional publication. That is the most preferred way for thousands of families to get their piece of news each morning while probably having their favourite idli. The interesting thing about the paper is that it would reach most people's homes through their distribution network by 6am.
In fact, to promote journalism, media and advertising he launched and set up the Eenadu School of Journalism.
Not just a newspaper founder, but he also launched the ETV Network, which is the number one network in Telugu again. They now also have the channel in other languages like Hindi, Kannada and others.
While he had helped hundreds of films get created, he also had his own movie business under Usha Kiran Pictures that would have produced over 50 films.
He had his trademark style of dressing - always in white - and that's not changed in years. For many of us who may have had the chance to work with him, he was one of the few business owners who would even invite his business partners/ vendors into his personal cabin which was massive. I have lots of memories of meetings with him, many one-on-one and he would often talk about his journey and his vision for Ramoji City and some other projects. He was so terribly humble, down-to-earth and he treated all his guests who came to meet him with personal care. Very rare a trait to see in most leaders of his magnitude.
He was a voracious reader and was extremely fascinated with growing technology and had also created various projects under ETV and Eenadu Digital - one of his projects that he was really working hard on and wanted to create was in the Digital space. It would be an encyclopedia about our rich cultural heritage and stories from our various religious scriptures, a lot of these would not be known by the current generation and thus would be able to find ways to connect with them
A man with several credits, it was his simplicity and his constant need to give back to the society that made him the genius that he was and will continue to be in our hearts forever.
My tribute to him: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7205110184212357120/
