D. Suresh Babu is an Indian film producer and distributor, who is best known for producing the Telugu films such as Ganesh (1998), Kalisundam Raa (2000), Neeku Nenu Naaku Nuvvu (2003), Masala (2013), Drushyam (2014), and Gopala Gopala (2015).
Wiki/Biography
Suresh Babu , or Suresh Daggubati , or Suresh Babu Daggubati , or Daggubati Suresh Babu , was born on Wednesday, 24 December 1958 (age 64 years; as of 2022) in Madras, (now Chennai) Tamil Nadu, India. His zodiac sign is Capricorn. His hometown is Karamchedu, Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh. Suresh completed his schooling till matriculation at the Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Chennai. To pursue the Pre-University Course (substitute for Classes 11 and 12), he attended Loyola College in Chennai. Suresh enrolled himself at the College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai, where he pursued his first two years of mechanical engineering. To complete his remaining bachelor’s degree, he attended the University of Michigan, Michigan, USA in 1981.
Ramanaidu Daggubati (second from left) with his son D Suresh Babu (extreme left), wife Rajeswari Daggubati, daughter Lakshmi Daggubati and son Daggubati Venkatesh (extreme right)
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 10″
Weight (approx.): 65 kg
Hair Colour: Salt & Pepper (semi-bald)
Eye Colour: Black
Family & Caste
D. Suresh Babu is a Kamma, who belongs to a Telugu family.
Parents & Siblings
D. Suresh Babu’s father, Daggubati Ramanaidu, was an Indian film producer known for majorly producing Telugu films. Ramanaidu passed away on 18 February 2015, at the age of 78, after battling cancer for a long time. His mother’s name is Rajeshwari Daggubati.
D. Suresh Babu’s parents, Ramanaidu Daggubati and Rajeshwari Daggubati
He has a younger brother Venkatesh Daggubati, an Indian actor, who primarily appears in Telugu films, and a younger sister Lakshmi Daggubati.
D. Suresh Babu with his brother, Venkatesh Daggubati
Naga Chaitanya with his mother, Lakshmi Daggubati
Wife & Children
Suresh Babu’s wife’s name is Lakshmi Daggubati.
D. Suresh Babu’s wife, Lakshami Daggubati (second from right)
Together, they have three children, Rana Daggubati, an Indian actor, who is well-known for primarily appearing in Telugu films, Malavika Daggubati, a businesswoman, and Abhiram Daggubati, an Indian actor.
Rana Daggubati and Malavika Daggubati
Rana Daggubati with Abhiram Daggubati (right)
Other Relatives
Suresh’s son-in-law’s name is Bharat Krishna Rao.
Malavika Daggubati with Bharat Krishna Rao
His daughter-in-law and Rana Daggubati’s wife, Miheeka Bajaj, is an interior designer and owner of an event management company, Dew Drop Design Studio.
Miheeka Bajaj With Rana Daggubati
Suresh Babu’s sister, Lakshmi Daggubati got married twice. In February 1984, Lakshmi got married to the Indian actor Nagarjuna, who predominantly appears in Telugu films. Together, the couple has a son, Naga Chaitanya, an Indian actor, who is known for his appearance in Telugu films.
Naga Chaitanya with his father, Nagarjuna
In 1990, the couple got divorced and later, Lakshmi got married to Sharath Vijay Raghavan, an executive director at Sundaram Motors in Chennai.
Sharath Vijay Raghavan
Career
After completing his degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Michigan in the USA, Suresh came back to India to set up his business. Unfortunately, the business didn’t go well as planned and consequently, he joined his father’s film production business.
As a producer
In 1982, Suresh made his debut as a producer with the Telugu film Devata but he nevber put his name as a producer in the film’s credit list.
In December 1983, he inaugaurated the Indian film production and distribution company Suresh Productions Private Limited. However, in 1990, after the release of the Telugu film Bobbili Raja, Suresh started putting his name as a producer in the film’s credit list. Suresh produced a variety of Telugu films like Coolie No.1 (1991), Preminchukundam Raa (1997), Malliswari (2004), Baladur (2008), Avunu 2 (2015), Nene Raju Nene Mantri (2017), Venky Mama (2019), Drushyam 2 (2021), Dongalunnaru Jaagratha (2022), and many more.
As a presenter
Suresh presented a few Telugu films like Ashta Chamma (2008), Namo Venkatesa (2010), Eega (2012), Uyyala Jampala (2013), Thanu Nenu (2015), Mental Madhilo (2017), and Virata Parvam (2022).
As an actor
In 2016, Suresh made his acting debut with the Bollywood film Azhar.
Controversy
Booked for driving rashly
On 21 October 2018, Suresh Babu was booked by the Karkhana police for rashly driving his car at Sikh Village Road in Secunderabad, where his car collided with Satish Chandra’s scooter, who was accompanied by his wife Durga Devi, and their three-year-old son, Siddesh Chandra. Following the accident, the three victims sustained injuries and were rushed to a nearby hospital for further treatment. Boggula Sanjay Kumar, one of the victim’s relatives, registered a case against Suresh Babu following which a case was booked under Section 337 (causing hurt and endangering life or personal safety of others) of the IPC and a notice was issued under Section 41 of CrPC.
Summoned in a land acquisition case
In February 2023, Pramod Kumar, a local businessman, accused Suresh Duggabati and his son Rana Duggabati of allegedly sending six henchmen, who trespassed his property, intimidated him to vacate the property, and installed boards stating that the property belonged to Suresh Babu. According to his complaint, in 2014, Suresh leased the property, which was situated in Film Nagar Cooperative Housing Society, Jubilee Hills to Pramod, who wanted to run a restaurant. After the period of the lease ended, Suresh made a deal with Pramod to sell the property to him for Rs 18 crore. Pramod alleged that despite paying Rs 5 crore in advance to Suresh, he didn’t complete the registration process for sale. Pramod claimed that Suresh, without informing him, transferred the property to his son, Rana Daggubati. The Nampally criminal court issued a summon to Suresh and Rana in connection with the property dispute and booked them under IPC sections of assault or use of criminal force (352), punishment for mischief (426), punishment for criminal trespass (447), criminal intimidation (503) and punishment for criminal intimidation (506). Pramod in his complaint wrote,
On November 1, 2022 at around 4 p.m., six unidentified men barged into the place forcefully took possession by abusing my men and refusing to leave. They also threatened me when I intervened. I have reasons to believe that the men were sent by Suresh Babu to forcefully occupy the place,”
Awards
- 1998: Best Feature Film (Bronze) Award for the Telugu film Ganesh at the Nandi Awards
- 2000: Best Feature Film (Gold) Award for the Telugu film Kalisundam Raa at the Nandi Awards
- 2000: Best Feature Film Award for the Telugu film Kalisundam Raa (2000) at the National Film Awards
- 2003: Best Home-viewing Feature Film Award for the Telugu film Neeku Nenu Naaku Nuvvu at the Nandi Awards
- 2004: Best Home-viewing Feature Film Award for the Telugu film Malliswari at the Nandi Awards
- 2012: Filmfare Award for Best Telugu Film Eega at the Filmfare Awards South
- 2012: Nagireddy-Chakrapani National Award for his contribution to the Telugu film industry
- 2014: Best Feature Film Award for the Telugu film Uyyala Jampala (2013) at the Nandi Awards
- 2015: Best Film Award for the Telugu film Drushyam at the TSR-TV9 National Film Awards
Facts/Trivia
- In an interview, Suresh talked about how he joined the family business of film production despite having aspirations of becoming an engineer. He revealed that his parents never wanted any of their children to pursue careers in the film industry and said,
My dad wanted one of us (Me and Venkatesh) to become a doctor. At that time, Suresh Productions was not a big player. Some producers asked me to act in film when I was a child. I did not act. It was the same case with Venky. My parents did not want us to get into movie business as moviemaking was considered to be a risky business at that point of time. We have to gamble with money and the returns are not assured. That’s why I got into engineering. My uncle was an engineer. Hence, I also wanted to become engineer, start up an industry and serve the society.”
- In an interview, Suresh talked about his interest in sports and stated that cricket, football, and baseball are one of his favourite sports.
- Suresh served as the president of the AP Film Chamber of Commerce for the year 2011-12. In 2015, after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, the AP Film Chamber of Commerce was renamed to Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce. The same year, Suresh Babu was elected as the new president of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce.
- In 2012, Suresh was appointed as the vice president of Hyderabad Angels, an investment company, which primarily invests in early-stage technology-driven companies.
- Suresh’s son, Rana Daggubati, is blind in his right eye, and his left eye is a transplanted one.
- Some of the Telugu films acted by Suresh’s brother, Venkatesh and produced by Suresh Babu are Bobbili Raja, Chanti, Premichukondam Raa, Jayam Manade Raa, Kalisundam Raa, Malleshwari, Gharshana, Tulasi, Namo Venkatesa, Drishyam, and Gopala Gopala.
- In 2012, Suresh’s father, Ramanaidu was awarded the Padma Bhushan, the third-highest civilian award in India, in recognition of his contribution to the Telugu film industry.
- Suresh works as a director in a few companies such as- Asian Theatres Limited, Asian Cinema & Multiplexes Private Limited, Century Flour Mills Private Limited, Weatherstone Building Blocks Private Limited, Dynamo, Energy Trading Private Limited, Anthill Studio Private Limited, Daggubati Farms And Estates Pvt Ltd, Fibermite Composites Limited, and Southern India Depository Services Private Limited.
- Suresh Babu is the chairman of Ramanaidu Film School and Ramanaidu Charitable Trust.
- Suresh serves as a designated partner in a few companies like Victory Real Ventures Llp, Suresh Productions Entertainment Llp, Prasads Sp Entertainment Llp, Geetha Sp Entertainment Llp, Geetha Sp Entertainment Llp, and Deccan Dreams Animations Llp.
- As per some media sources, Suresh Babu was suspected of allegedly being involved in the evasion of tax. On 20 November 2019, the income tax department raided Suresh’s residence and his studio to investigate the tax evasion and seized incriminating documents.
- In 2020, Suresh, in an interview, revealed that after the emergence of OTT platforms like Amazon, Netflix, and Disney Hotsar, people stopped going to theatres, which eventually deteriorated the theatre business. Due to the declining condition of theatres, Suresh was not even able to pay the electricity bills of his theatre and said,
People are not coming to theaters as they are opting for Netflix and Amazon to watch all the latest movies. They are only watching the big spectacles like Sye Raa and Saaho in theaters. The situation is so worse that I am unable to pay even power bills, forget about staff salaries for my theaters.”
- On 4 January 2023, a clip went viral on social media in which Suresh Babu was spotted managing the traffic near Film Nagar in Hyderabad. When Suresh got stuck in the traffic, he stepped out of his car, and within no time he managed to clear the traffic.
Every citizen is police on birth and every police is citizen 👏👏👏
If each person feels like this our City our responsibility in needed time’s every city will be great 👏👏👏
Great job #Sureshbabu sir 👏@KTRTRS https://t.co/J0x9CKuKuR
— All India KTR Fan’s Association 🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 (@ProudHyd) January 3, 2023