|
|
 |
Home > Articles > Bapu : A Multi-Talented Genius
Bapu is one of those very few gifted men, this
country should be proud of. None deserves more than
him, a higher order 'Padma' award - 'Padmabhushan' if
not 'Padmavibhushan'. He is a great illustrator,
humorist, cartoonist, film director and above all a
great human being. Request him to design a cover page for
you, you will have it soon. Such is his magnanimity.
His drawings on various dance styles in India and
then on ‘Navarasa’ (nine drawings each depicting the
mood of each of the nine rasas) adorn the huge walls
of cultural centers and university venues in Andhra
Pradesh. 'Radha Gopalam' is his latest film that ran
reasonably well, but has all the ingredients that Bapu
is made of - cartooning to tit bit jokes, plus an
entertaining story line to reflect all these various
facets of Bapu.
 |  |  |
| Andala Ramudu | Gorantha Deepam | Manavuri Pandavulu |
|
Perhaps no other artiste has a 'font' named after
him, except Bapu. There is a 'Bapu Font' in Telugu,
which is used by leading magazines and dailies. Bapu
has specially worked on this and gave it to Telugu
literary world. Andhra University awarded him with a
honorary doctorate.
He studied law but became the youngest illustrator.
He hails from Narsapur in West Godavari District.
Sattiraju Lakshminarayana is his real name. But he is
known as Bapu to millions of his admirers. He was
even enrolled as an advocate in Madras High court. He
worked as cartoonist for a daily and as an art
consultant to a government organization. Even before
he took interest in making cinema, he held umpteen
one-man shows including one in London. But his urge
to move his figures across screen with a plot resulted
in the film 'Sakshi'. He wanted to show everything as
real as possible. But this did not pay. But this
offbeat film took him to Tashkent film festival. By
now he must have made about forty films in Telugu,
including eight in Hindi and a few in Tamil. The latest
was 'Radha Gopalam'.
 |  |  |
| Rambantu | Seeta Kalyanam | Thyagayya |
|
Humor has been his strong point
and in this Mullapudi Venkata Ramana takes equal
credit. They came out with wonderful films like
'Muthyalamuggu' that won the best regional film award,
at national level. But 'Sita Kalyanam' drew world
interest. It was featured in Chicago Film Festival
and in London film festival as well in 1978. The
'Gangavataranam' scene drew great applause everywhere
it was screened. Ravi Nagaich's special effects added
beauty. 'Hum Panch' in Hindi directed by him drew the
attention of North. It was Bapu who put Anil Kapoor on
the Indian screen for the first time through his
'Vamsavriksham'. 'Manavoori Pandavulu' and
'Buddhimanthudu' ran well. 'Srinatha Kavi
Sarvabhoumudu' is a landmark film though this did not
do well in commercial market. NTR's last film was
that. 'Gorantha Deepam', 'Pellipustakam' and
'Mr.Pellam' are hilarious and purposeful films, all
heroine-oriented.
Another great achivement by Bapu and Ramana
combination was the production of video films for
primary school children from 1st to 3rd classes. This
was considered as great work for the cause of
literacy, during NTR's regime. They made 30-hour
video lessons. These are enough for the Government of
India to feel guilty of ignoring this honest genius in
not including him in the list of Padma Awardees, so
far.
 |  |  |
| Sampoorna Ramayanam | Sakshi | Radha Gopalam |
|
'cinegoer.com' salutes this great movie maker and
illustrator on the occasion of launching of this new
but versatile website.- KOUNDINYA
| |
|
