Who is Dil Raju? Award-winning producer behind some of the biggest South Indian films

New Delhi: Telugu cinema’s celebrated producer Dil Raju found himself engulfed in a soup after Income Tax officials conducted raids on his properties, including his two houses and the office in Hyderabad. According to reports, the Income Tax department carried out raids at eight different locations, including his residence Ujas, another home in Jubilee Hills and his Hyderabad office. The officials have also raided the residences of the producer’s brother Sirish and daughter Hanshita Reddy.

For the unversed, he was recently appointed as the chairman of Telengana Film Development Corporation by the state government. As the producer faces legal trouble, let’s explore his cinematic achievements, his movies list, personal life and more.

Who is Dil Raju?

Born on December 17, 1970 in Narsingpally, Telangana as Velamakucha Venkata Ramana Reddy, is a celebrated producer and distributer of Telugu cinema. He owns a production house, Sri Venkateswara Creations. For his contribution to the Indian cinema, he has also been honoured with Nagi Reddy-Chakrapani National Award in 2013 and won two National Film Awards.

Dil Raju has been interested in films since a young age. After completing his education in Mudakpally and Mudakpally, he moved to Hyderabad and joined the automobile business with his brothers. He later ventured into film distribution in the 1990s with the film Pelli Pandiri and in 1998, he launched his production house. He has produced big-budget films including Ram Charan’s Game Changer, Venkatesh Daggubati’s Sankranthiki Vasthunam, NBK’s Daaku Maharaaj, and Thalapathy Vijay’s Varisu, among others. The next production venture of Dil Raju is Thammudu, which stars Nithiin.

On the personal front, Dil Raju was married to Anita, who passed away in 2017 due to a cardiac arrest. He later married Tejaswini in 2020. He has a daughter from his first wife and a son with Tejaswini.

More details about IT raid

Meanwhile, as per the ETV Bharat report, IT officials also raided the office and residence of Pushpa 2 makers, Mythri Movie Makers, on Tuesday (January 21) morning, apart from Dil Raju’s properties and the office. As per the report, the IT officials are conducting searches based on preliminary information on discrepancies in IT returns.