AVS Death News: Director Bapu Remembers His Natural Comedy

By Ians English

Updated: Sunday, November 10, 2013, 16:13 [IST]

Director Bapu aka Sattiraju Lakshmi Narayana, who introduced actor AVS aka AV Subrahmanyam into Telugu films, says his biggest strength was making people laugh effortlessly. Subrahmanyam, who died due to liver-related problems on Friday, made his cinematic debut with Subrahmanyam's Telugu family drama Mr. Pellam.

Bapu told IANS, "Writer Indraganti Srikanth Sarma introduced Subrahmanyam to me. He was doing a comedy show on Doordarshan at that time and was also working as a journalist. I still remember him for his ability to make people laugh effortlessly and that was his strength." He added, "He was extremely talented and had a great knack for mimicry and it didn't take me much time to like him. His early death is industry's loss."

Mr. Pellam was AVS's first Telugu release, but he had donned the greasepaint for the first time for Telugu historical film Srinadha Kavi Sarvabhowma, which was also directed by Bapu. The director said, "He was first cast for my film Srinadha Kavi Sarvabhowma alongside NTR (Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao), but it released few years later. Meanwhile, I roped him in for my next film Mr. Pellam. He even won a Nandi Award for his role in that film. I'm sure thousands of movie would remember his catchphrase from the film."

AVS starred in nearly 500 films in a career of over two decades. His sudden demise is a great loss to the Telugu film industry. Continue to read what other celebs has to say about the actor.