Producer-director Vijaya Bapineedu, who made his presence with blockbusters in the 80s in Telugu cinema, passed away here on Tuesday due to age related illness. He was 82.
His cremation is likely to be held on Thursday as the family is waiting for his daughter to arrive from the USA. Hailing from Chataparru village in West Godavari district, he edited two magazines — ‘Vijaya’ and ‘Bommarillu’ — before handling the megaphone. He also penned a few novels.
Mr. Bapineedu was the one who gave Chiranjeevi the title ‘Megastar’ with massive hits like ‘Maga Maharaju’ ‘Mahanagram Lo Mayagaadu’, ‘Khaidi Number 786’ and ‘Gang Leader’ with the last one pushing Chiranjeevi into a new league and creating a cult status for him. The film was also remade in Hindi as ‘Aaj Ka Gundaraj’. Their combination was the most awaited one in the late 80s and early 90s. Apart from directing Chiranjeevi in those films he also produced six films with him. After ‘Gang Leader’ he failed to keep up the expectations in “Big Boss” with Chiranjeevi and after that failure he never produced a film with him again.
Though his first film as a director was in 1981 he started producing films in 70s itself and some of them include Yavanam Katesindi , Rambha Urvasi Menaka , Bommarillu , BottuKaatuka and Prema Poojari among others. After massive commercial hits with Chiranjeevi, he also directed Rajendra Prasad in a few comedy films. He also directed Shobhan Babu and Krishna in a few films.
CM condoles
Chief Minister K.Chandrasekhar Rao expressed his heartfelt condolences on the demise of veteran film director, journalist and story writer Vijaya Bapineedu. Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao recalled that late Bapineedu delivered several succesful movies besides running a magazine titled ‘Vijaya’ which eventually became his surname. He conveyed his condolences to the members of the bereaved family.
