Noted Telugu film publicist-journalist B.A. Raju passed away today (22nd May) in Hyderabad. He had contracted the Coronavirus but died of a cardiac arrest.
Raju had handled the publicity of more than a thousand films in a long career which saw him work closely with most of the top stars, producers and directors. Leading lights of the Telugu film industry like S.S. Rajamouli, Mahesh Babu, NTR Jr., Prabhas and Chaitanya-Samantha expressed shock over Raju’s demise and paid rich tributes to him. People who had worked with him described him as a very fine human being. He was also a journalist and much later in his career, Raju turned producer too. Among the films he had produced are Premalo Pavani Kalyan, Chantigadu, Premikulu, Lovely and Vaisakham.
Raju is survived by two sons. His elder son, B. Arun Kumar, is a VFX artiste in the Telugu film industry while the younger son, B. Shiva Kumar, is on the threshold of a career in film direction.