National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu - Mahanati (2018)
Chalasani Aswini Dutt (also spelled Aswani Dutt; born 15 September 1950) is an Indian film producer known for his work in the Telugu cinema.[1][2] He established the film production company Vyjayanthi Movies in 1974, one of the biggest production houses in the Telugu film industry. In a career spanning nearly five decades, he has produced over 40 films with a majority of them in Telugu and a few in Hindi and Tamil languages.[3][4][5] He is known for producing big-budget films that have lavish production values.[6]
Aswini Dutt was born into a well-to-do family in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. His father was a contractor and the sole distributor for Kalinga Pipes in the state for many years. He completed his graduation.[7]Jandhyala, who would later go on to become a noted film director and screenwriter, was Aswini Dutt's childhood friend. They were classmates from fourth standard till their graduation and lived in neighbouring houses.[8][9]
Dutt started his film career as an executive producer for the black-and-white film O Seetha Katha (1974) directed by K. Viswanath.[7][11] He wanted to produce a film with his favourite actor N. T. Rama Rao (NTR) and approached him.[12] Named by NTR after the garland which is in Lord Krishna’s neck, Vyjayanthi Movies commenced production, under the proprietorship of Aswini Dutt.[13][11] The logo of the production house contains the image of NTR as Lord Sri Krishna, with a Sankha in his hand and Earth behind him.[13][14] The first film produced under Vyjayanthi Movies banner was Eduruleni Manishi (1975) starring NTR and Vanisri.[11]
Vyjayanthi Movies also has subsidiary banners — Three Angels Studio, Swapna Cinema run by Aswini Dutt's daughters Swapna Dutt and Priyanka Dutt. Of late, his daughters take care of the production part of the films produced by their production house, while the music is handled Aswini Dutt.[17]
Vyjayanthi Movies had a successful run until it hit a rough patch with Sakthi in 2011. After this, Aswini Dutt took a seven-year hiatus. He produced Mahanati in 2018 which became one of the highest-grossing films of the year.[6]
After the success of Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari (1990), Dutt wanted to do fantasy film highlighting the CGI. So a film titled Bhooloka Veerudu was started in the direction of Singeetam Srinivasa Rao with Chiranjeevi in the lead role. After completing two schedules, they realized that they didn't have a proper story in hand and hence shelved the film.[7]
Ram Gopal Varma narrated a story to Ashwini Dutt which he liked. Varma was making Daud at that time and felt that the shooting of Daud might be stalled due to Sanjay Dutt's legal issues. So Varma narrated the story to Ashwini Dutt and Chiranjeevi which they liked.[7] Ashwini Dutt started the project with Chiranjeevi as the lead in the direction of Ram Gopal Varma.[18] After Sanjay Dutt's release, the shooting of Daud resumed. Then Aswini Dutt realized that the storylines for these two films are similar. As he was not comfortable in doing a film which had the same storyline to another film, he stalled the project.[7]
^ ab"Interview with Aswini Dutt by Jeevi". Idlebrain.com. 17 August 2002. Archived from the original on 3 September 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022. Aswini Dutt, the man behind Telugu Cinema's one of the prestigious banners - Vyjayanthi Movies, is a senior most producer of Telugu film industry. He has produced blockbusters with all the stars of Telugu Cinema ranging from NTR to Taraka Rathnaa.
^"Interview with Aswini Dutt by Jeevi". Idlebrain.com. 6 August 2003. Archived from the original on 18 November 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2022. Aswini Dutt, the man behind Telugu Cinema's one of the prestigious banners - Vyjayanthi Movies, is a senior most producer of Telugu film industry. He has produced blockbusters with all the stars of Telugu Cinema ranging from NTR to NTR.
