Bapu
Sri.Sattiraju Laxmi Narayana , famous by his pen name Bapu, was born on 15th dec 1933 to sri venu gopala rao and smt suryakantham , in Narsapur, West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh .He set a new classical, social and comed trend in telugu literature and art fields. Bapu, is a man of many talents.Bapu began contributing story illustration, magazine covers, cartoons, comic strips to English, Telugu, Tamil periodicals from 1945. Bapu is a law graduate from Madras University in 1955. Bapu joined as political cartoonist for the newspaper Andhra Patrika in 1955. Bapu is also a proficient graphic artist and had worked in Advertising agencies as a senior artist in J. Walter Thomson, as Art Director in Efficient Publicities and F.D. Stewarts - Chennai. Bapu later went on to become a designer, movie director and a popular painter.
Bapu has also introduced a new cursive writing in Telugu. This font is his own handwriting and reflects the same simplicity he exhibits in his art. His main achievements are the production of an illustrated book of Ramayana for children, over a hundred exhibitions and ‘one-man shows' of his artwork were held all over Andhra Pradesh and also at the National Film Theatre, London in 1978 and at the Telugu Conferences held in the U.S.A. in 1978, 1985, 1989, 1992, 1995 and 1996. Many exhibitions and seminars held on his paintings till now have all registered an unforgettable memory to the visitors & viewers.
Bapu entered into cine field with Mr. Mullapudi Venkata Ramana and was an assistant producer of some movies. Bapu started directing in 1967 and the movies under his direction are famous for classical and lyrical charm. Bapu has so far directed 49 films, social and mythological; in Telugu and Hindi.The liveliness in his paintings are real portrayals of the artists in the movies directed by him. His debut film "saakshi" was screened at the Tashkent (ussr) film festival in 1968.
During 1986-1988 Bapu and Sri Mullapudi Venkata Ramana, designed and produced, for the Government of Andhra pradesh, Audio and Video lessons to be used in the Telugu medium primary schools.Bapu has also designed pilot lessons for Adult literacy.Bapu worked as the Asthana Chitrakar of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams(TTD), he has illustrated many works of Saint Annamacharya. Bapu has designed and produced the TTD Video on the Brahmotsavam Festival of Lord Venkateswara of the Seven Hills for the T.T.D. in 1992 and again in 2001.Bapu has also illustrated the 30 paasurams (devotional songs) of Andal (Tiruppavai).
Ramana
Mullapudi Venkata Ramana (born 1931) is a Telugu story writer. He is versatile in penning both heart-touching and rib-tickling dialogues. It is a known fact that Ramana's word and Bapu's line are made for each other.One whips the pen in broad strokes, the other wields the pen in sharp words. One infuses life through strokes while the other sustains it through words.They lead their life tied to each other through their natures. They are one mind operating in two entities.For a team of so many achievements and accomplishments, they go by a simple tag name Bapu-Ramana.
Ramana’s association with Bapu on a career plane completes 60 years. They first met in 1942 in P.S. High School, Madras. They studied there in standards V and VI and then continued schooling at Kesari High School.Ramana’s first short story Amma Maata Vinakapothe was published in 1945 in Bala, a children's magazine published by Radio Annayya (Nyayapathi Raghava Rao),he was 14 then. Bapu illustrated the story. That was the beginning of their career as a writer-producer -illustrator- filmmaker duo”.
While Bapu achieved much of his fame sticking to a subtle style of artistic elegance, Ramana announced his entry through a bunch of talkative characters, who try to make no sense out of the sensible world around them, because of their askew point of view. Ramana is the dialogue, story and screenplay writer for many of the movies that came as a Bapu-Ramana combination. He provided an able foil, providing script/dialogue that suited bapu's visuals and this celebrated friendship and professional associatioon gave many good cinemas.
Beginning as an illustrator-story writer team and then turning into a film-director-writer duo, they have contributed immensely to the enrichment of Telugu cultural ethos through literature and cinema. When one mentions Bapu, then one is bound to mention Ramana's name too and vice versa. If Bapu had received an honorary doctorate from Sri Venkateswara University last year his alter ego Mullapudi Venkataramana received the honours this year. All the other honours including the Raghupathi Venkaiah award the inseparable twins of Telugu cinema shared between them.
When ever the renowned duo of Bapu and Ramana come together for a project, viewers are glued to the screen. The celebrated team now has recreated their magic on the small screen with a mega serial Bhagavatham (mythological serial on ETV) which, in a very short time, has scaled the popularity charts.
For Such Cartoons and Info about the legendary Bapu - Ramana visit www.bapubomma.com