The Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu Award is an award issued by the Indian state government of Andhra Pradesh, to recognise lifetime achievements in Telugu cinema. The award was introduced in 1981 in honour of Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu, one of India's film pioneers regarded as the "father of Telugu cinema". The winner is presented a Golden Nandi, a gold medal, a citation and a cash prize of ₹50,000 (US$630) at the Nandi Awards functions.

Akkineni Nageswara Rao, widely known as ANR, was an Indian actor and producer, known for his work majorly in Telugu cinema. He starred in many landmark films in his seventy five-year career, and became one of the most prominent figures of Telugu cinema. Akkineni received seven state Nandi Awards, and five Filmfare Awards South. He is a recipient of the Dada Saheb Phalke Award and Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian award, for his contributions to the fields of Art and Cinema.