Stars : Star Profiles : Lyricist Veturi passed away!

Sree Veturi Sundararamamurthy (1936-2010)

Veteran lyricist Sree Veturi Sundararamamurthy (74) passed away due to excessive bleeding in lungs today, May 22, in Care Hospital, Banjara Hills at about 9:30 p.m. He has been sick for a while and had to be moved to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) two days back. Sree Veturi Sundararamamurthy is survived by his wife Seetamahalkshmi and three sons. Born in Pedakallepalli of Krishna district on January 29, 1936, Sree Veturi entered the film industry as a lyricist with the film O Seetha Katha (1974). Starting with maanasaveeNaa madhugeetam... from the film Panthulamma (1977), he won the Nandi Award for the Best Lyricist a total of 14 times, with the latest being for uppongelE gOdaavari... from the film Godavari (2006). He won the highly reputed National Award for Best Lyrics once, for raalipOyE puvvaa neeku raagaalendukE... from the film Maathrudevobhava (1993). Interestingly, he won the Manaswini Trust Award the same year for another song in the film - vENuvai vacchaanu bhuvanaaniki...; he won Manaswini Trust Award earlier for the song aakaaSaana sooryuDunDaDu... from the film Sundarakanda (1992).

Sree Veturi Sundararamamurthy ruled the roost almost single-handedly for at least 10-15 years, though he was a contemporary of stalwarts like Dr. C. Narayana Reddy, Acharya Aathreya, and Arudra during that period. Veturi's talent was that he excelled in all kinds of songs - philosophical songs, devotional songs, traditional songs, dance-/music-based songs, contemporary-styled club/pop/disco songs, love songs, "item" numbers, and a lot more genres! Apart from his award-winning songs in several films, his works such as the "kiraataarjuneeyam" in Bhakta Kannappa (1976), his songs in K. Viswanath's films like Sirisirimuuva (1978), Sankarabharanam (1979) and Saagara Sangamam (1984), Prathighatana (1985), Geethanjali (1989), Seetharamaiah Gaari Manavaraalu (1992), and many more films won high critical acclaim. His works for Yamagola (1977) created a rage among mass-oriented audience and similar trends continued for long later. In all genres of songs, he always was a trendsetter! With the death of Rajasri, Sree Veturi became the first choice for major films dubbed from Tamil, including Bombay (1995), Devaraagam (1995), Iddaru (1997), Adbhutam (1999), Sakhi (2000), and many more followed. Even very recently, his lyrics for Sekhar Kammula's films such as Anand (2004), Godavari (2006), and Leader (2010), and Gunasekhar's Varudu (2010) won high acclaim. His command over language is unequalled, and he was known to coin several compounded words through his lyrics. Having entered the filmdom in the mid-70s leaving his profession as a journalist, Sree Veturi was seen all over the place by the end of the decade! Even when his seniors, and juniors, in the field retired or took breaks voluntarily or otherwise, Sree Veturi did not take a break until the mid-90s and made a comeback with Choodaalani Undi (1998). His last film that saw an audio release and is yet to release is Mani Rathnam's Villain 2010 (2010). (However, there are more movies, which are in various phases of pre-production and production, for which Sree Veturi has penned at least a few songs each.)

Sree Veturi penned books related to music and literature, and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Acharya Nagarjuna University in 2007. A book titled "komma kommakO sannaayi", published by Veturi Sahiti Samiti, was quite popular among film audience and connoiseurs of literature alike, wherein Sree Veturi shared his association with various film personalities and even discussed some of his lyrics! He inspired many people to write lyrics, and even popular lyricist Sree sirivennela Seetharama Shastry considers Sree Veturi as his guru! We at TeluguCinema.Com pay our salutations with tear-filled eyes to the highly intellectual, efficient, and hardworking lyricist the redefined the film lyrics standards within a few years after his advent into the arena!

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