Hyderabad: Well-known director, scriptwriter and producer of Tollywood Vijaya Bapineedu today passed away due to old age related ailments here. Vijaya Bapineedu, whose real name was Guttha Bapineedu Chowdhary, was 82.
Born in 1936 in Chaataparru village near Eluru in Andhra Pradesh, Bapineedu had a fruitful stint in popular magazines like Bommarillu and Vijaya He initially worked in the Public Health Department after his graduation. Later, he strayed into filmdom and produced several block busters like Khaidi No 786, Gang Leader, Big Boss, Magadheerudu in a career spanning nearly half a century. Top cinema stars like Chiranjeevi and Sobhan Babu featured in his directorial ventures.
The film fraternity in both the Telugu States expressed grief and conveyed their condolences to his family. The director had been suffering from Alzheimer’s disease for the last four years and was getting treated at the Apollo Hospitals here. However, earlier today, he finally took his last breath in the presence of his family members at his residence in New MLA Quarters, Banjara Hills.
According to family sources, Vijaya Bapineedu’s last rites will be performed on February 14 at Mahaprasthanam in Film Nagar. When asked why the delay of two days, a member of his family revealed that they are waiting for his elder daughter to arrive from the US, where she lives.
Bapineedu was also credited for Chiranjeevi’s successful career in films. The two collaborated in the 1982 film “Patnam Vachina Pativratalu”. They went on to work together in several films like Maga Maharaju (1983), Magadheerudu (1986) and Khaidi No. 786 (1988) among others. However, their most memorable collaboration was in the 1991 film “Gang Leader”, which wasn’t just a huge blockbuster, but also became a cult classic in Telugu cinema since. (NSS)
