Award has come late: Bapu`s brother

Chennai: Sattiraju Shankaranarayana, sibling of veteran Telugu director Sattiraju Lakshmi Narayana aka Bapu, is happy his elder brother has been chosen for the Padma Shri honour but says it has come very late.

"We are extremely happy for our brother. He is also delighted for the recognition he has received finally. But we are equally sad that the award has come too late," Shankaranarayana told IANS. "He (Bapu) is in Hyderabad with family and therefore isn`t available to comment," added Shankaranarayana, an artist who retired as the director of Commercial Broadcasting Radio (CBS) in All India Radio, Chennai. Bapu, 79, made his directorial debut with the 1967 Telugu film `Sakshi`, which featured Telugu superstar Krishna. In a career spanning over four decades, he has directed many Telugu films such as `Pelli Pusthakam`, `Mr. Pellam`, `Muthyala Muggu` and `Sri Ramarajyam`. Five of his Telugu films have won National Awards. He made films in Hindi too - `Woh Saat Din`, `Mohabbat` and `Pyaari Behna` among many more. An artist by profession, Bapu is the pen name he earned for his artistic work in Telugu. He started his career as an artist in a Telugu newspaper. The last film of the director was `Sri Rama Rajyam`, which released in 2011. It starred Nandamuri Balakrishna, Nayanthara and Meka Srikanth in the roles of Rama, Sita and Lakshman respectively. IANS