Coming to notice of the carnatic elite, he soon peformed to packed public performances in music halls around the world.

Nevertheless, he was determined to make his name as a classical veena artiste and finally achieved his dream after decades of hard work. He even became a music director for films in Tamil and Telugu- Sri Raghavendra Vaibhava being one of his key productions. As a child artiste, Chitti Babu acted in Laila-Maju (starring Bhanumathi and Akkineni Nageswara Rao).He continued as a struggling instrumentalist with a long innings in playback (1948-1962). Interestingly enough, his first big break was in acting. Chitti Babu would honour Sastry garu throughout his later life, and even played at his guru’s final public performance. Together, they would virtually define the guru-sishya tradition among Telugu musicians, with both teacher and student taking pride in their mutual association. Nevertheless, Chitti Babu would forever remain associated with his Veenacharya, Emani Sankara Sastry garu, a renowned Andhra vainika in his own right.

He learnt first from his father, and then took basic training from his first teachers Pandarala Upmakkaya, Singaralu, and Eyyuni Applacharyulu. He gave his freshman public performance at age 12. From that day on, Chitti Babu the child prodigy was dedicated to Sarasvati’s vaadya. Inarguably gifted in the truest sense of the word, he stunned his father, who was playing the Veena, when at the age of five, young Hanumanlu corrected his mistake. Originally named Hanumanlu Challapally, his nickname became so popular his father legally changed it to Chitti Babu. His early childhood was spent in Pithapuram, and the family later moved to Chennai. We are of course speaking of none other than the divinely gifted Chitti Babu.īorn on October 13, 1936, this Andhra gandharva was born to Challapally Ranga Rao and Sundaramma in Kakinada. Our next musical Andhra Personality is a man who may be all but unknown to the younger generation, but to people of a certain age, is not only famous but is fondly remembered for his talent. We intend to take a small step towards setting that cultural record straight and give this vainika par excellence his due. Like many of our artistes, he too did not receive much deserved national recognition, while he was still living. He has campaigned for the Congress party by staging plays in Nalgonda in 2009.As a follow up to last week’s article on the Veena, it is only natural that we highlight one of Andhra’s greatest Veena players, and one of India’s greatest in the modern era.

His elder brother is well-known Telugu comedian Raja Babu and his younger brother, Ananth Babu, is also a Tollywood comedian. Chitti Babu was born in Amalapuram Andhra Pradesh, to Punyamurthula Umamaheswara Rao and Ramanamma as SuryaNarayana Murthy.

Baabu chitti gif