Bapu

Sattiraju Lakshminarayana (15 December 1933 – 31 August 2014), known professionally as Bapu, was an Indian film director, painter, illustrator, cartoonist, screenwriter, music artist, and designer known for his works in Telugu cinema, and Hindi cinema. In 2013, he was awarded the Padma Shri, for his contribution to Indian art and cinema. He has garnered two National Honors, two National Film Awards, seven state Nandi Awards, two Filmfare Awards South, a Raghupathi Venkaiah Award, and a Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South.

Bapu's directorial venture Sakshi (1967) was showcased at Tashkent International film festival in 1968. Seeta Kalyanam (1976) was screened at the BFI London Film Festival, Chicago International Film Festival, San Reno and Denver International Film Festivals in 1978, and is part of the course at the British Film Institute. Tyagayya (1981) and Pelli Pustakam (1991) were premiered at the Indian Panorama of the International Film Festival of India. Bapu's 2011 film, Sri Rama Rajyam, had a special screening at International Film Festival of India on 28 November 2011.In 1996, he appeared in the Doordarshan Documentary Eminent Cartoonists of India, and was awarded Lifetime Achievement from Indian Institute of Cartoonists in 2001. He gained international recognition through his art works viz., Bapu Bomma, The Navarasas, and the Indian Dances etc., which were held at the National Film Theatre, London, in 1978 and at the innumerable Telugu Conferences in the United States. He has worked as a graphic artist for J Walter Thomson, Efficient Publicities and F. D. Stewarts, Chennai.In 1964, he was a delegate at the UNESCO sponsored seminar in Bangalore on Children's Books. The same year, he gave demonstrations for the training course programme on book illustrations and cover designs sponsored by UNESCO in Chennai. In the 1960s he has served as art Consultant for Ford Foundation sponsored The Southern Language Book Trust. He has designed and illustrated several books for leading publishers in South India out of which, five received Government Awards. He has also done the same for innumerable works drawn from Puranas and folklore.