I miss ‘ban babu’….Vanisri

Vanisri: Many film personalities are surrounded by psycophants but Shoban Babu never encouraged them, he even chose friends. In the beginning my interaction with him was less and he would speak at length to my mother, address her as pedamma, tell her that he had brought a new home, that he was planning to buy one more , that he purchased jewellery for his wife etc etc and I would know more about him through her, their frequency matched. 

When we were shooting and it would rain he would talk about the world from the newspapers and books, I would give him a patient listening but I understood what he said only later, I was not well read when I joined the industry. Once I got married and had two children he started addressing me as Vanisrigaru.He would drive his own car, never would visit temples or pray to gods but you’d see a huge idol of Buddha at his home. I can find 50% of Jiddu Krishnamurthy’s qualities in him.

I would call him ‘ban babu’.  There were many musical hits with ANR and Shoban Babu. Enki Naidubava, Jeevana Jyoti. Sinni O sinni became very famous, so did endukante emi cheppanu…He would have only one idli for breakfast and a glass of juiceor coconut water. Would eat non veg only when he had guests at home or when someone forced him to. He never got the cinema habits while still working in a cinema industry (like smoking, playing cards, cracking adult jokes etc. ).

Never used anything that came free on the sets or outside. There are many people in the industry who did their BAs and MAs but would use profane language but this man stayed away from them. He once told me that he liked the line …. teeraina sampada ye chutunundi from muthyamantha pasupu mukhamantha chaya. He appreciated Bapu’s work so much and explained the meaning of the line..that some people have a lot of money but there is no labham or nastam from it. We should have homes that should look welcome.

He hated working in summers and said that he would work as long as he ensured four lakhs per month of income for his four children and retire…evaru padtharu ee endallo ee baadha, how does your daughter work so many shifts without getting tired Pedamma he would ask my mother.
Once all of us were chatting and I asked him why people called him a pisinigottu. He showed me the list of people to whom he sends money. One man tells me that he requested Shoban Babu to construct a kalyana mantapam in the village and within two months it was ready with the cooking vessels and all. He even gave scholarships for his sister’s relatives.

I realized that he was getting lonely in his last few days. Oka joke chepte navvadaniki evaru leru, he has distanced himself from his friends and he felt very lonely. He called me once to tell that he had read an article abt me praising him.