Dasari Yoganand

Dasari Yoganand shorty D. Yoganand (Telugu: డి.యోగానంద్) (b: 16 April 1922 - d: 23 November 2006) was a South Indian film director.

Early life

Yoganand was born in Madras under British India. His parents are Venkata Das and Lakshmi Bai. Venkata Das was estate manager under Nawaab Raza Ali Khan of Machilipatnam. He was the youngest of three children survived. His elder brother Koteswara Rao is a Sound Engineer. 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 came close to Tungala Chalapathi Rao and Yadavalli Nageswara Rao in Machilipatnam. He went to Bangalore, trained in Radiology, and he 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 has participated in the Quit India Movement of 1942. In the Indian Freedom Movement, he came close to great Congress leaders like Rajagopalachari, Tanguturi Prakasam and Bulusu Sambamurthi.