Satthiraju Lakshmi Narayana, popular as Bapu, introduced a style of painting of simple bright colours. His unique style consisted of economy of strokes, freehand drawing and a lack of background clutter.

It was this uniqueness of his art that fascinated Goddeti Nirmala Tejasri, an engineering graduate nurturing art as a passion, and she began to replicate the maestro’s illustrations using only black pen.

Replicas of Bapu bommalu dotted the auditorium on the premises of Bapu Musum on Bandar Road as part of ‘Bapu Chitra Kala Pradarsana’ on Thursday.

“Bapu focussed on Hindu mythological characters. I have done the same but without using any colour,” she explains pointing to the 300-odd illustrations exhibited in a neat row in the auditorium. “I share my birthday with Bapu, and that perhaps is the pull factor,” she says letting out a smile.

The illustrations include Radha enamoured by Krishna while he is playing the flute, Yashoda trying to put a playful Krishna to sleep, and of course myriad moods and postures of achcha Teluginti ammayi. The big eyes, a sharp nose, curvaceous waist and sensual body structure are all intact in the portrayals.

Father being an artist, Ms. Tejasri says she has inherited his talent. Besides participating in various art contests, she has achieved a unique feat and won recognition from the Limca Book of Records. When she was in 10th class, she took to calligraphy and wrote the entire Quran on a 999-ft-long single sheet of paper in a span of two months. In intermediate first year, she repeated the feat and wrote the entire Bhagawad Gita on an 899-ft single sheet and the next year, she wrote Bible on a 999-ft-long sheet of paper. “It was my small attempt to bring down religious barriers,” she explains.

Besides Limca Record Book, her feat has been acknowledged by several other record-registering organisations like India Book of Records, World Amazing Records, Telugu Book of Records and Global World Record. “Of the 16 such existing organisations, 12 have recognised my feat and I plan to apply for remaining four,” she says.

Tejasri has her next plan in place already. “I intend to visit Araku valley, spend time with the tribal people there and capture their lifestyle in my paintings,” she says.

Tejasri is not a trained artist and it is her innate talent that reflects in her works. She wants to crack civils and serve the society. “But art will always remain an important part of my life,” she declares.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> States> Andhra Pradesh / Vijayawada – December 15th, 2016