Opinion
For media mogul Ramoji Rao, money was always the means, not the end
Summary
All his businesses – from his media empire to Priya Pickles – were weapons for power in disguise, through which he built a vast empire of information and influence that would reshape the political landscape of south India.On a sultry summer afternoon, a well-known Telugu star was unceremoniously marched out of Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad because the producer of the film in which he was starring had not settled a minor invoice. Cherukuri Ramoji Rao had personally ordered the eviction because he believed that business is business.
The story may be apocryphal, but it sums up Rao perfectly. This was a man who dealt in control – control over narrative, control over outcomes, control over systems. A biographer said he didn't want to be famous, he wanted to be inevitable. He built invisible pipelines that linked his large, successful businesses in films, media, finance and hospitality.
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For the millions who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, his name was omnipresent. He was a parallel power centre and kingmaker. In the scorching heat of Andhra Pradesh, where politics burns as fiercely as the afternoon sun, Ramoji Rao, like Bollywood star Jeetendra, was mostly seen wearing a white shirt, white pants and white shoes. He had plenty of other idiosyncrasies, too: tea was always to be served in steel tumblers, chairs had to be in alignment, and meetings were timed to the second.
All his businesses – from his media empire to Priya Pickles – were weapons for power in disguise, and he built a vast empire of information and influence that would reshape the political landscape of south India.
The rise of a media mogul
Born in 1936 into a modest farmer’s family in Krishna district’s Pedaparupudi village, his journey began not with a silver spoon but silver screens. After completing his BSc at Gudivada, he changed his childhood name Ramayya to Ramoji. He then worked as a design assistant at an ad agency in Delhi before returning to Hyderabad and starting the Margadarsi Chit Fund in 1962. This became the source of capital for his future empire. In 1969 he set up Annadata, a magazine for farmers.
His strategic brilliance became evident in 1975, when he set up the Eenadu newspaper group in Telugu and Newstime in English. A slew of hugely popular magazines such as Chatura and Sitara strengthened his media credentials. The clutch of Eenadu TV channels later proliferated to include Telugu, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada and other languages.
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This loyal base of readers and viewers translated into political capital in the 1983 Andhra Pradesh assembly elections, when he chose to give the mercurial NT Rama Rao a voice of Telugu pride. Rao’s backing swept NTR into power on the Telugu Desam Party’s platform. The two heavyweights would later have a falling out, but Rao had already shown his power. His support of political figures aligned with his business interests, and he remained a kingmaker in the shadows.
The celluloid dream: Ramoji film city
Can you imagine a filmmaker walking into a studio with a script and walking out with a film? That’s what Ramoji promised filmmakers at the launch of his boldest venture, Ramoji Film City, a 2,000-acre studio complex that would become the world's largest integrated techno film studio.
Established in 1996, it revealed his grand vision and ability to execute at scale. He wanted filmmakers to stop running to Ooty or Switzerland, so he built both next to each other. Bahubali and RRR are just two of the recent blockbusters that were shot here, in addition to other global locations. Hollywood also came calling with movies such as Beeper and Crocodile 2: Death Swamp.
In 1983, he set up Usha Kiran Movies, which produced blockbusters such as Naache Mayuri in Hindi, Amma and Aha! Naa Pellanta!! in Telugu.
Micromanager with a vision
Obsessed with perfection, he scrutinised the pages of his newspapers himself and thought nothing of calling editors at 3 am about font errors. Ramoji Film City was run like an army base. Rao’s character was a complex mix of warmth and ruthlessness, micromanaging and broad vision. He did not like his son Suman’s views and, despite the successful serials he had produced with ETV, ordered him out of the group in 2008, saying ratings were falling in comparison to Gemini TV. Sadly, Suman died of leukemia in 2012, leaving Rao’s other son Kiron to manage the Eenadu group.
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Before he passed away in June 2024, Rao, called ‘chairman garu’ within the group, had also added Dolphin Hotels, Kalanjali Shopping Mall, and Mayuri Film Distributors to his vast empire, taking his net worth to an estimated ₹35,000 crore. But for Rao, money was always merely a score in the game of business. A recipient of the Padma Vibhushan and several other awards, he maintained the true reward was creating something that would outlive him. He can rest in peace knowing he achieved that.
