Acclaimed director, producer and script-writer of Telugu cinema, Guttha Bapineedu Chowdhary fondly known as Vijaya Bapineedu
breathed his last
today at his residence in Hyderabad due to old-age related ailments. The 82-year-old
filmmaker
is popularly known for delivering several blockbusters like
Khaidi No 786
,
Gang Leader
, Big Boss and Magadheerudu with Megastar
Chiranjeevi in the 80s and 90s. In a career spanning for nearly two decades,
Vijaya Bapineedu worked with top movie stars like Sobhan Babu and Rajendra Prasad.
Hearing upon the news, Chiranjeevi was one among the first celebrities to visit the director’s residence in Banjara Hills and pay homage to his body. Remembering his association with Bapineedu, the veteran actor stated “I still cannot believe that Vijaya Bapineedu is no more. He is like a father, brother and mentor to me. Besides the director-hero relationship, we are extremely close in personal space. From
Patnam Vachina Pativrathalu
in 1982, we worked in a total of six films together”.
“I would persuade him often to helm films with other heroes, but he would insist that his comfort and sentiment level is way more with me than any of them. After I shifted to Hyderabad from Chennai, Bapineedu asked me to stay in his guest house and allocated two full floors to me. I would miss him terribly”.
Born in 1936 at Chataparru village near Eluru in Andhra Pradesh, Bapineedu had a fruitful stint as an editor for popular magazines like Bommarillu and Vijaya. According to reports, his last rites will be performed on February 14 at the Mahaprasthanam in Hyderabad.
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