Chilkuri Sushil Rao

Balu and I: “Pardon me for my uncouthness,” politeness personified S P Balasubramanyam said as we were engaged in a conversation. He’d said nothing objectionable.   “Pardon me for my uncouthness,” politeness personified S P Balasubramanyam said as we were engaged in a conversation. He’d said nothing objectionable.  Balu was shooting for a film in Hyderabad and I was there to interview him. For the role he was playing, he had to change his dress and get into a lungi. This happened 23 years ago. He apologised for the fact that he had to change in front of me. A gentleman, as he was, he did not want to keep me waiting. Neither did he want the crew to be kept waiting for the shooting. But yes, I had to wait for some more time to carry on with the formal interview. “Have you got a tape recorder?” he asked. “I’ll take down notes as we speak,” I told him. For someone who believed in ‘recording’, Balu called an assistant and sent him to buy a cassette. It took some time for him to r...

“Did you discuss with your wife about your intention to undertake an indefinite fast?” I asked Y S Rajasekhar Reddy. This was in the year 2000 when he was CLP leader. He and Congress MLAs made a swift move and sat on protest at old MLA quarters, against the power purchase agreements that the then N Chandrababu Naidu government had signed with some companies. I went to the place the following day again and sat with YSR for a while, as he explained to me why they were forced to take to such a form of protest. The MLAs also had no idea he would announce an indefinite fast. And then I asked him about whether he consulted his wife on undertaking the indefinite fast. “Let me tell you something,” he said. “I did not have to consult my wife on undertaking the fast, but I did inform her. She is concerned about my health. But now even I am concerned about her. Because I am on a fast, she too is not eating at home and is fasting,” YSR told me. That was the bond the husband-wife s...