I feel very lonely: Dasari - TeluguPeople.com News

Hyderabad: Work has always kept Dasari busy. Be it his cinema, his stint with the newspaper or his political career, Dasari Narayana Rao, the ace Telugu movie director, has seen many a triumph and a few letdowns in his life.

The one person who was his strong support, his inspiration and an able guide was his wife Dasari Padma.

She had been in true sense his better-half, sharing his successes and helping him deal with the challenges. With a heart of gold, she helped many upcoming film personalities in their times of struggle, and the same people who are now successful directors and actors (Kodi Rama Krishna, R Narayana Murthy and several others) refer to her as Amma (mother) affectionately.

Dasari Padma (65) was undergoing treatment at Yashoda when she succumbed to illness during the early hours of October 28 and left the film industry in a state of shock. She was not just another member of the film fraternity.

Most of them remember her as an affectionate host who never let any Telugu film person leave Madras without having dinner at their place (this was when Telugu film industry was working from Madras , now Chennai). When struggling actors and directors gave up on films and wanted to return home, she gave them shelter until they got a break in films and could live on their own.

It has been 10 days since her demise and Dasari remains inconsolable as he shares with the revolutionary poet Vara Vara Rao, when the latter met him: 'I was so involved with my work that I never realised how much she took care of me.

She knew what I like to eat, when I sleep and what I need when I wake up. I am sensing her loss every second. I never made any decision or took any step without her support. I feel very lonely now.'

Dasari Padma was born in Sathupalli in Khammam District. She was never treated like a girl by her father, who was a teacher and a freedom fighter.

He taught her to be brave and aggressive. She shared with friends on one occasion, in a lighter vein, how her father taught her to first scold someone to get over the fear of speaking to a stranger and then shower affection.

Many, who knew her well, will agree that the trait stuck with her and she was as forthcoming with her reprimands as with her love.

A love marriage brought Dasari and Padma together in 1965. Dasari met her at Koti in Hyderabad when he was buying bangles for his sister. When the bangle-seller asked for the right size of the bangle, he indicated to Padma and said, 'Please give the ones that fit the lady.'

Padma saw his predicament and came up to him to help him buy the bangles and later one thing led to the other; she ended up at Ravindra Bharathi with friends to watch his play and later this friendship transformed into love.

It was an inter-caste marriage. It was the time when Dasari was working for HAL and was harbouring a dream to enter the film industry. He was also directing plays and scripting them as well. It was Padma who encouraged him to move to Chennai to try his luck. Both of them started living in Chennai and he worked as an assistant director and also as an actor.

Both of them used to frequent the famous Panagal Park in T Nagar (this park was a popular meeting place for many stalwarts of Telugu cinema during their struggling days) and they would sit on the same benches where people like NTR, Nageswar Rao were known to have sat - this remained one of the invaluable memories for the couple.

After the success of Thaata Manavadu (a silver jubilee film), Dasari made a series of films that she presented as a producer. Dasari believes that Padma brought him success with films.

Dasari had a series of 13 hits, a success that has not been emulated till date in Telugu films and Padma is the woman behind his success. She received nine Nandi Awards for their film Meghasandesam.

Even while helping him with his films, she made her foray into politics. She served as the president of Madras Women Congress and as the vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Women Congress.

She worked with seniors like Kamaraj Nadar and later with leaders like Vazhappady Ramamurthy and Tangabalu. She used to address them as Anna and the Congress Party, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi also regarded her as an important asset to the party.

P V Narasimha Rao, Chenna Reddy, Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy and several other Congress leaders enjoyed the legendary hospitality of the Dasari family.

Padma chose to be the representative of the poor and the marginalised. The sweepers who were all Telugu people in the composite Madras state elected her as their president and this brought her recognition throughout the state.

She established the Madras Film Drivers Association and was also the president of the association. She ensured that the drivers had a housing society and helped them build their houses. In gratitude, they named their colony after her.