Swami Ayyappa: Hyderabad boy plays the lead role in tele serial

By Syed Akbar
The popular TV serial on Swami Ayyappa will be extended by another 70 episodes with the Hyderabadi boy Kaushik Babu, who plays the lead role, creating a wave of sensation with his acting skills. The serial is being telecast in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu.
It took nearly one year for the makers of the teleserial to zero in on the boy to play the lead role of Swami Ayyappa. The directors were searching for a right boy who bore a close resemblance to an old painting of Swami Ayyappa. And the search ended on the Hyderabad boy.
"We went through hundreds of photographs but we were not satisfied. We came across the photograph of a boy from Hyderabad in a magazine. We decided that the boy would be Ayyappa we had been searching for. Kaushik's big eyes and his body features resembled the old photograph of Swami Ayyappa we had with us," observes Dr DV Nageswara Rao, producer of the Telugu version.
A child prodigy from movie land, a graceful actor, anchor, model and dancer, Kaushik took up the challenge seriously and the result was a masterpiece. Though Kaushik initially had problems with Malayalam, he successfully managed with his movements and emotions. The teleserial has talented actors including Gopalaswamy and Devan.
At the age of four, while his friends were humming nursery rhymes, Kaushik Babu went a step ahead to carve out a niche for himself in the glitzy and glamour world.
"I love acting and enjoy donning different roles. I have acted as Swami Vivekananda, Alluri Sitarama Raju, Duryodhana, Sri Ganesha and Karna. He has also acted in Hindi (Jai Sri Ganesh TV serial) and Julius Caesar (English).
With his pleasant looks and captivating voice, Kaushik became the favourite of the masses. With an increasing popularity of the television soaps, Kaushik saw himself on some of the popular shows aired on the various channels.
At a tender age, Kaushik has to his credit, the prestigious Nandi award as best child artiste for his outstanding performance in the film Takkari Donga.
Kaushik is recognised for creating a record for the highest number of episodes of his being telecast on the small screen.