Telugu Filmmaker Bapu Dies: Tollywood Shocked By His Death

Updated: Monday, September 1, 2014, 18:27 [IST]

Renowned Telugu filmmaker Sattiraju Lakshmi Narayana aka Bapu died at his residence in Chennai on Sunday (August 31), his family said. The 80-year-old director is survived by two sons and a daughter. His last rites will be performed on Monday.

Addressing the media, Bapu's brother Sattiraju Shankar Narayana confirmed the news about his death. He said, "He passed away following a cardiac arrest. He was struggling with illness for the last few months."

Born Dec 15, 1933, Bapu started his career as a cartoonist for Telugu newspaper Andhra Patrika. His filmmaking career started with 1960 Telugu film Sakshi, whose story and dialogues were by his best friend Mullapudi Venkata Ramana. Bapu and Ramana worked together in several memorable Telugu films such as Mutyala Muggu, Mister Pellam, Pelli Pusthakam and Seetha Kalyanam.

An ardent devotee of Lord Ram, Bapu's stories were mostly inspired from the Ramayana. Some of his best films on Lord Ram include Sampoorna Ramayanam, Ramanjeneya Yuddham and Seetha Kalyanam. Bapu's last directorial was 2011 Telugu mythological drama Sri Rama Rajyam.

Ramana passed away a few months after the film's release. Since Ramana's demise, Bapu was not in his pink of health. "The death of Ramana came as a shock to my brother. He was shaken from the inside because it was the end of over 60 years of friendship," Bapu's brother said.

Bapu had also directed a few Hindi films such as Hum Paanch, Seeta Swayamwar, Woh Saat Din and Mera Dharam. In his over four-decade-long career, Bapu directed 51 films. He was honoured with the Padma Shri in 2013. He won the national awards twice and the Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Awards six times.

The sudden death of Bapu has shocked many celebrities in Telugu film industry. Soon after they heard about his sad demise, several stars took to their Twitter pages and shared their shock and sadness. We bring you their comments as wells some rare photos of Bapu. Continue to see them in the slideshow.

Nagarjuna Akkineni

Bapu garu will always live with us through his paintings and beautiful movies. God bless #Bapu Remember spending wonderful times with bapu garu on the Godavari during the making of andala ramudu. May his soul rest in peace.