The man whose pencil etched what was universally accepted as the epitome of beauty is no more. Artist, cartoonist, film director, designer and painter, Bapu (born Sathiraju Lakshminarayana) leaves behind a legacy as one of the finest filmmakers on the firmament of Indian cinema.
Starting from ‘Sakshi’ in 1967, to ‘Sri Rama Rajyam’ starring Nandamuri Balakrishna, he wielded the megaphone for 51 films in all, including 12 in Hindi. His seven decades-old collaboration and friendship with writer, late Mullapudi Venkataramana was as well known as much as his works – be his cartoons, paintings and of course, his films. His cartoon character ‘Budugu’ is famous even today in Telugu households. The duo worked together in every one of the 51 films.
What people describe as a major loss to the Telugu film industry occurred in Chennai, following a heart attack. He was said to be battling illness for a few weeks now and the end came on Sunday at a hospital after he complained of chest pain.
Bapu was born on December 15, 1933, in Narsapur, West Godavari district in a ‘Niyogi’ family to Sattiraju Venugopala Rao and Surya Kantham. He worked as a political cartoonist for the newspaper ‘Andhra Patrika’ in 1945, after which he acquired degrees in Commerce and Law.
His films ‘Muthyala Muggu’ and ‘Mister Pellam’ won National Awards and Bapu was honoured with Raghupati Venkaiah and Padmasri Awards, apart from five Nandi Awards. His notable works include ‘Balaraju Katha’, ‘Andala Ramudu’, ‘Pelli Pustakam’, ‘Mr. Pellam’, ‘Seetha Kalyanam’, ‘Vamsa Vruksham’ and ‘Sri Rama Rajyam’. Among his films that could be termed ‘runaway successes’ was ‘Muthyala Muggu’.
Interestingly, ‘Oh ! My God’, a Hindi film that is being remade in Telugu now as ‘Gopala Gopala’ starring Pawan Kalyan and Venkatesh is similar to ‘Buddhimanthudu’ that Bapu directed, way back in 1969. The concept revolving around Gods and devotees, mythology and socio-fantasy actually began with him, many in the industry aver.
The first thing that people remember of Bapu is the lyrical, musical, seamless narrative style that was his trademark. His stories were known to be typically the ‘middle-class variety’ and came to be known as clean entertainers appealing to all audiences. Bapu will be sorely missed.