The mere mention of his name is enough to bring a smile on the faces of his audience. Short in stature, Tatwaprakash Satapathy today is indeed a big name in Odisha’s entertainment industry. Better identified as Pappu Pom Pom, he is the undisputed comedy king of Odisha.
A science graduate with distinction in chemistry, Pappu is a trained Hindustani vocalist. This student of Udala Mahavidyalaya, Mayurbhanj, wanted to become an IAS officer. “Since I was doing so well in college, my parents wanted me to take up the civil services exam. I also dreamt of getting into the civil services but somehow, music gained precedence over education,” he says.
Pappu has some fond memories of his college days. Five days after he joined Udala Mahavidyalaya for Class XI, Pappu stood for the college’s dramatics society secretary. “I campaigned for many days before being informed by some students that freshers are not eligible for the post. The same year, I participated in student union polls for assistant dramatics secretary and won uncontested,” he recalls.
In Class 12, he became the dramatics secretary and president of the drama society. “There was not a single state-level or national-level drama, debate or singing competition where I have not participated and won. In fact, by the end of Class 12, I had three gunny bags full of trophies and my mother did not know where to place them in the house,” Pappu smiles.
He, however, made sure that amid the drama, debate and singing, he never missed out on any classes. “My teachers loved me because I used to devote equal time to academics and excelled with distinction,” he says.
He was lucky as he was not ragged. In fact all the seniors were his friends and thought he was a ‘super-talented individual’.
His interest in performing arts was such that he decided not to opt for any government or private job. Rather, he decided to venture into the Odisha music industry to try his luck at singing and fortunately, he did get offers to sing in video albums
diana@newindianexpress.com