Media baron and chairman of Ramoji Group, Cherukuri Ramoji Rao passed away early this morning at a private hospital in Hyderabad after prolonged illness. He was 87.

The founder of the largest Telugu daily Eenadu and television channels under the banner of ETV Rao is survived by his wife, Rama Devi and his son Ch Kiran following the passing away of his younger son Ch Suman, a decade ago.

Rao was awarded a Padma Vibhushan for his contribution in the fields journalism, literature and education.

Following his demise, Telangana chief minister A Revanth Reddy directed officials that his last rites slated for Sunday should be conducted with state honours. The Telugu film industry will observe a day of mourning tomorrow in his honour and all shoots have been cancelled for the day.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his condolence message said,“The passing away of Shri Ramoji Rao garu is extremely saddening. He was a visionary who revolutionized Indian media. His rich contributions have left an indelible mark on journalism and the world of films. Through his noteworthy efforts he set new standards for innovation and excellence in the media and entertainment world.”

Rao was born on 16 November, 1936 in Pedaparuudi village of Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh in an ordinary farming family belonging to the powerful Kamma community. He had started off Margadarshi chit funds in 1962 to finance his massive business empire dabbling in media, film production and distribution and then proceeded to build the Ramoji Film City with state-of-the-art facilities for film production.

He diversified into food sector through Priya Foods, entered the hospitality sector through the Dolphin group of hotels and dabbled in sarees and artefacts through a chain of Kalanjali showrooms.

He revolutionized the media business by launching Eenadu and its sister publications and then a bouquet of 24×7 television channels in vernacular languages using technology to reach out to his readers and audience.

Annadatta, a magazine on farming gained massive popularity among the farmers, particularly with televised episodes. He openly supported the Telugu Desam when NT Rama Rao launched it in 1982 and then extended it to his protege Chandrababu Naidu. His open support for TDP and Naidu earned the ire of both YS Rajasekhar Reddy and in recent times of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Last year, the octogenarian was interrogated by CID, the chit fund offices in districts were raided and sealed.

However, he refused to cower down to the political threats and urged people to vote against the undemocratic government a day before the poll.

Andhra Pradesh chief minister in waiting N Chandrababu Naidu said “The death of Mr Ramoji Rao who was born in an ordinary family and achieved extraordinary feats caused great grief… His death is a great loss not only for the Telugu people but for the country as well… I was associated with Sri Ramoji Rao for four decades. His way of saying good is good and bad is bad, brought me closer to him. He was an inspiration to me in fighting problems. Sri Ramoji’s suggestions and advice were always high in providing good policies to the people.”