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Dasari Yoganand-16 April 1922 – 23 November 2006 was a South Indian film director.
Dasari Yoganand was a well renowned cinematographer in the Tollywood Industry. He has produced some phenomenal work that has inspired many generations of cinematogrpahers. Yoganand was born in Madras under British India. His parents are Venkata Das and Lakshmi Bai. His father, Venkata Das was an estate manager under Nawaab Raza Ali Khan of Machilipatnam. He was the youngest of three children who survived. His elder brother Koteswara Rao is a Sound Engineer, while D. Subbayya, a Photographic equipment businessman in Machilipatnam, adopted Yoganand. He was exposed to Photography and became an expert photographer. He was interested in playing and directing dramas and had close associations with Tungala Chalapathi Rao and Yadavalli Nageswara Rao in Machilipatnam. He went to Bangalore, trained in Radiology, and subsequently went to Madras in 1939 to help his father. Yoganand joined Jiten Benarjee of Newtone Studios after his father’s death and later worked with famous cinematographer M. A. Rehman.
He had also participated in the Quit India Movement of 1942. In the Indian Freedom Movement, he developed a good rapport with Congress leaders like Rajagopalachari, Tanguturi Prakasam and Bulusu Sambamurthi.
Yoganand has worked as an associate to Gudavalli Ramabrahmam and L. V. Prasad. He has worked in Samsaram directed by L.V. Prasad. In 1943, he joined as an editor, with Manikyam for the film Mayalokam and also worked as an assistant director to Gudavalli Ramabrahmam. He has worked for Bhakta Tulasidas by Lanka Satyam in Salem for three years.
His debut film was Ammalakkalu (Telugu) and Marumagal (Tamil) by Leena Chettiar in 1953. He became the in-house filmmaker for his Krishna Pictures and made many box-office successes including the iconic film, Madurai Veeran (1956). The film sowed the seeds for M. G. Ramachandran to be projected as more than a mere good-looking hero.
After working with Yoganand, N. T. Rama Rao offered him to direct for Thodu Dongalu (1954) for which he also wrote the story for .The film got many awards, including a merit certificate from the President of India and an award in China Film Festival. NTR gave him a second chance in his next film Jayasimha which became a blockbuster.
He has directed about 50 films in Telugu and Tamil languages; among them N. T. Rama Rao had the lead role in 17 films. His successful films include Thodu Dongalu, Ilavelpu, Kodalu Diddina Kapuram, Ummadi Kutumbam, Muga Nomu, Jai Jawan, Vemulavada Bheema Kavi, Kathanayakuni Katha, Dabbuku Lokam Dasoham, Jayasimha, Vade Veedu, Thodu Dongalu, Thikka Shankarayya and Pelli Sandadi. He had the unique distinction of directing all the top stars, both in Telugu and Tamil film fields such as Sivaji Ganesan, M. G. Ramachandran, Gemini Ganesan, S. S. Rajendran, K. Balajee, N. T. Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Relangi Venkata Ramaiah, Bhanumathi Ramakrishna, Savitri, Padmini, Vyjayanthimala, Jayalalitha, Pandari Bai, B. Saroja Devi and Devika.
He died of Heart attack in Chennai. He is survived by his wife Hanumayamma, two sons and three daughters.
