Legendary director Bapu no more

Telugu people crestfallen at loss of versatile artist, cartoonist, painter & filmmaker

Hyderabad: Renowned director of Tollywood, Bapu is no more. He died of cardiac arrest after battling illness for past few weeks at Mallar Hospital in Chennai at 4.40 pm on Sunday. His last rites will be performed in Chennai on Monday.

Bapu's original name was Satthiraju Lakshmi Narayana . He was born in 1933 in Kanteru village and grew up in Narsapur in West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh. He began his career as a cartoonist and soon became a renowned designer and illustrator.

Bapu started his career as an artist and political cartoonist in the popular magazine `Andhra Patrika’ He later went on to illustrate funny side of everyday life in his cartoons. His art knew no bounds. The self-taught artist not only did cover designs and illustrations for stories, his cartoons, his colour drawings of Ramayana, Venkateswara Swamy (He was the official artist of TTD), Lord Siva of Kotappa Konda (one can see the colourful paintings enroute to Kotappa Konda), his meticulously illustrated script books; each one of his simple lines said a myriad things.

With his Budugu , the naughty kid who has endless questions to ask and is as much a menace as he is endearing; the fat aunty with a rolling pin and her hapless husband who look suspiciously familiar and remind one of the next door aunty and uncle; the sensuous sari clad women who with their large eyes, long plaited hair adorned with flowers and an inherent beauty (Bapu Bomma) that could only come from his effervescent brush

When Anu Graphics created 253 computer characters and launched Bapu Font, it was lapped up by the Telugu print world. From the erstwhile writers Dasarathi and Sri Sri (Mahaprasthanam) to popular writers of the new age like Volga, Sri Ramana and many young writers; a cover design by Bapu was much sought after and the publishers promptly used the prestigious tag “Cover Design by Bapu’ in their promotions.

Through his popular and hugely successful films like ‘Mutyala Muggu’, ‘Goranta Deepam’, ‘Balaraju Katha’, ‘Andala Ramudu’, ‘Samppoorana Ramayanam’, ‘Sreeramanjaneya Yudham’, ‘ Buddhimantudu’, ‘Toorupu Velle Railu’, ‘’Krishnavataram’, ‘Thyagayya’, ‘Pelli Pustakam’, he touched upon every genre with aplomb.

Together with Ramana, Bapu managed to create a canvas that reflected the Telugu culture, showcased his knack for quirky humour, his taste for soulful music and his amazing storytelling abilities, that made for a complete family entertainer. Telugu nativity breathed its last with Bapu’s passing away; bemoan millions of his admirers from across the world. The man unconditionally loved by the Telugus across the world will remain immortal through his films and drawings or just when one sees a traditional Telugu woman and thinks of the Bapu Bomma!

He was awarded with Padma Sri by the Government of India and Life Time Achievement Award by Indian Institute of Cartoonists. He was also honored with Rashtra Pathi Award from Academy of Fine Arts, Tirupati, and Raghupati Venkayya Award (1986). The legend was honored with 6 Nandi Awards and 3 Filmfare awards. He also directed several Hindi and Tamil films.

Governor ESL Narsimhan, AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Telangana Chief Minster K Chandrasekhar Rao and the entire Telugu film fraternity expressed their condolences over the death of Bapu.

Famous for his simple style

Hyderabad: Bapu introduced a style of painting that uses simple bright colours. His unique style of economy of strokes, freehand drawing and lack of background clutter makes his paintings simple, beautiful and popular. He specialized in Hindu mythological characters and has painted the Hindu epic Ramayana as a pictorial story. In his paintings, characters like Shiva, Bhima, Duryodhana look distinctly male with wide chests, bigger jaws and large biceps, while Krishna and Rama are more feminine in build. All his female characters (including the Hindu goddesses) have doe-like eyes, voluptuous bodies, long hair and a sharp nose. Bapu is also credited with introducing a new style of cursive writing in Telugu. The font is his own handwriting and reflects the same simplicity as his art.