Babu Krishnaswamy A film maker with passion for history

 The news of Babu Krishnaswamy`s demise on this Sunday came as a surprise to me. I knew he was ailing for some time, but did not expect the news so soon after receiving a telephone call from him just a few weeks ago. He said it was just a courtesy call, wanting to know how I was doing and that he would be happy to meet me during my next trip to Chennai. During the earlier two trips to Chennai, I could not meet him as he was not in a condition to see me. His wife Mohana also came on the line and said that they would be happy to see me during my next trip, scheduled any time during January 2026. I feel bad that I will not be meeting my good friend of 55 years anymore.

 I was introduced to Babu by another good friend, Desikan, who was then with Reader`s Digest. It was the early seventies when Babu was still associated with Jaishree Pictures, in which his two elder brothers were partners, producing ad films, documentaries and radio spots. I had moved to Delhi in 1971 to join ACIL, the sister company of Clarion McCann. A few radio spots produced by them for our Delhi clients brought me closer to Babu.

 Babu and his wife Mohana, accompanied by Desi and Nirmala, had attended my wedding on 26^th January,1972 in Chennai. Knowing my devotion to Venkatachalapathy, they had organised a car to take Prabha and me to Tirupati for a darshan the next morning. In the evening, Babu hosted a dinner at his house on MG Road, which his whole family, including all his brothers and his famous dancer sister Padma Subramaniam, attended. It was indeed a touching gesture by Babu, which brought us very close, a friendship that grew over the years.

 While I was still in Delhi, ACIL commissioned Babu to produce a film for our client CARE, an NGO headquartered in the US, which works in the areas of health and nutrition. We had recommended two alternative approaches — one ‘positive’ to be tested in the villages of Uttar Pradesh and another ‘negative’ to be tested in the villages of Andhra Pradesh. A benchmark study and a post-study conducted by CARE revealed that the negative approach, which used fear produced by Babu, worked better than the positive approach. That experience was also the beginning of my long association with Rural marketing

 That was also the time when Babu decided to part company with his brothers to pursue his dream of producing a documentary on the 5000 years of subcontinental history, under his own banner- Kishnaswamy Associates. While he was still fleshing out the idea and seeking funding for the mega project, including from the government, he and Mohana visited my home in Delhi and stayed with me for two days. I got to know more about his mega dream for which he had staked every resource at his command. After many ups and downs, including a mild heart attack caused by the extreme stress he was undergoing, his magnum opus, `Indus Valley to Indira Gandhi`, became a reality. The enormous success of the film made him undertake many other projects dealing with various aspects of Indian civilisation, and television serials on interesting subjects.

 I moved to Chennai in 1974 and built a house, close to his palatial home on the first main  road in Sastri Nagar. Like me, he also had two daughters and a son with similar age profiles, all of them studying in Sishya. The families became close thanks to the use of our family`s cars in rotation to take the children to school. Babu`s son Bharath was a classmate of my elder daughter Kavita.

 The years rolled on with both of us pursuing our businesses, meeting only during family get-togethers or special occasions. Later, my involvement with Consumer Association India started by our friend Desikan, in which Babu was also a part, provided  opportunities for us to meet more often.

 In all the years that I have known Babu, he has been a dear, caring friend. I found him to be a scholar and passionate about whatever he undertook. An excellent conversationalist, he was very articulate both as a speaker and writer. I had the privilege of extracting  the  abridged version of his  autobiography  published  in  the Madras Musings issue dated June 2018,

 His wife Mohana had been a pillar of strength to him in all his endeavours. Babu was always proud of his wife and her immense contributions to his achievements as a filmmaker. Blessed with talented children brought up with the right values, Babu lived a full life, winning many accolades and awards for his role as a filmmaker.

 I will always remember Babu for his encouragement and the moral support he extended to me, along with Desikan, when I was going through a turbulent period in my professional life, before I moved to Chennai.

 While offering my heartfelt condolences to the family, I pray to god that his soul attains Satgati!