Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu has extended his deepest condolences on the death of Padma Sri Bapu garu. The Chief Minister said that Bapu’s loss was immeasurable to Telugu people and to the world of arts and cinema.
Sattiraju Lakshmi Narayana famously known as Bapu was a great Indian illustrator, cartoonist, movie director, writer and a journalist.
The Chief Minister recalled how Bapu won international acclaim for his cartoons on Telugu women (Bapu Bommalu). In fact, the phrase Bapu Bomma (“Bapu’s painting”) has become synonymous with a beautiful Telugu girl. Through his unique style, he blended the Telugu culture with modern techniques. Bapu also had an enormous impact on contemporary Telugu arts, movies, etc.,
Born on 15 December 1933 in Narsapur, West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh he was awarded the Padma Sri in 2013 for his contribution to Indian art and cinema. He is an ace filmmaker in the Telugu film industry.
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. This font is his own handwriting and reflects the same simplicity as his art. Apart from being awarded the Padma Sri, he also won the Life Time Achievement Award from Indian Institute of Cartoonists in 2001, the President of India Rashtrapati Award from the Academy of Fine Arts, Tirupati, several National Film Awards and Nandi Awards. (INN)