continued from part 2

As incomprehensible as it was, this is where, it is claimed, that the true talent of Veturi really came to fore - penning pure commercial songs that have, arguably, no redemptive values whatsoever. Funny - yes, witty - yes, at times, cheap - unfortunately, but Veturi's words were never judgmental about the situation, just making best of whatever worse situation was handed down to him. As sad as it turned out as time went on, it didn't start off this way. Back in the age of late 70s, when commercial cinema was trying find its feet, the one department that held on its high ground despite the pervasion (and perversion) of escapist elements was music. What, for current standards, might sound high brow, even classical, was pretty middle of the road poetry, back then. The words that were turned in for 'aDavi rAmuDu' were good enough (his best, apart from Viswanadh's, he reserved for those low budget ventures of late 70s and early 80s), enough for the enthusiasts to sit up and notice Veturi's balancing act of being attentive to the business, while serving the purpose of art (with 'sirisiri muvva' in the same year).

poolagaali to raegina puppoDi paaraaNi gaa
chilaka paaTaa nemali aaTaa kalisi maejuvaaNigaa
andamaina peLLiki andaru paeranTaalae
aDavi lOni vaagulanni aanandapu keraTaalai ||kOkilamma peLLiki||

And helming the shift of priorities of telugu cinema from purposeful to mindless, from artful to pure commercial is a name that spawned a new wave of film-making - K.Raghavendra Rao.

When asked why a totally needless dance song was inserted in the movie that disrupted its natural flow in 'gunDamma katha', the producer Chakrapani coolly replied 'chooDDaaniki'. Raghavendra Rao's movies operate on that simple precept/tenet, that movies are mere eye candy, aimed at pleasing not more than a couple of senses at any given time, and if rich words sometimes got in the way, so be it. And the one way he chose, and mastered, to get at it was by concentrating, glorifying, enhancing, edifying and exploiting, beauty - rich, grand, stylish, at times, even simple, but beauty, nonetheless. Though sticking steadfast to that path led and left telugu cinema nowhere, something it has been struggling to find a way out of ever since, it has to be accepted that Raghavendra Rao was a trendsetter, changing the face and direction of telugu cinema, for better or worse. And locked in step along the way, was Veturi, who had a chance to touch the zeniths and explore the nadirs of ultra commercial lyric writing, trailing a new path in his wake, that like Rao's, set the standards to what constitutes a commercial movie song. Veturi's songs for Raghavendra Rao straddled both the beautiful and the inane at the same time, within the same movie, with equal ease. That Rao had a great ear for the words, not to mention a great eye for beauty, went without saying.

tAra tArakee naDuma aakASam endukO
pATa pATakee naDuma aavaeSam endukO
manishi manishikee madhya manasanaedi endukO
manasae guDigA, mamatae muDigA, mamata endukO ||oka udayamlO naa hRdayamlO||

nee toli choopulOnae
praemaku peLLi vantena vaesina
Subhalaekanae choosukOnA
vAkiTa panDina valapula kumkuma
tilakAlugA didukOnA

bhAva kavitala baruvulO
aa kRshNa SastrilA kavinaitae
hAyi remmala kOkilammaku
virula Rutuvu vikasinchadA ||andamA nee paeraemiTi andamA||

iddari manasula indhnam
enta kurinA kAdanam
aemi taDisinA vaddanam ee dinam ||vAna vAna vandanam||

and many many more

And on the other side of the road, equally popular, making no sense whatsoever

abbabbabba andam debba O yabba
tabbibbayyae ibbandabba chooDabaa
paDuchu yavvanam pagaTi Sobhanam
aDugutunnam aaganannadi

bantilAnTi battaayi vaarevaa
bannulAnTi ammaayi vaarevaa
doragundi boppaayi vareeva
donga muddulimmandi vaareva

ippaTikappuDu guppeDu muddula tappuDu buggallO
hattukunae mattulalO mettani vaTTiDilO
ippaTikippuDu chicchula kumpaTi peTTaku gunDellO
taakiDikO dookuDukO takkina chekkilikO

aggi pulla bhaggumanTadi
aaDa pilla siggulanTadi
aggi pulla cheekaTinTikee
aaDa pilla kougilintakee
cheekaTinTlO kougilintalO
naa chenta nae unDipO

and even many many more

What Veturi developed to meet the never ending demand to come up with commercial lyrics - devoid of any depth - was a new technique that could be termed as 'free association verse', similar to 'free association' tests that psychologists administer to guage the turbulence of the mind. In Veturi's improvisation of the same, the lyrics of the entire song do not answer to some higher calling. Instead, each word is cast only to serve the need of its predecessor and each line built only to make sense of its former - like a poor man's 'datta padi' (one of the skills in 'avadhaanam') That could be the only reason explanation why Veturi would reduce himself to

DhinakkutA kasakkurO
jhaNakkutA chamakkurO
taLukku tAra
minukku stArA
kadhakku aaTa pATa choostaarO

while soaring with a

telugu padAniki janma dinam
idi jAnapadhAniki gnAna padham
aeDu swarAlae aeDu konDalai
velasina kaliyuga vishNu padam

all for the same maker...

After all, new moon is as much a phase of the same moon as the full moon is.

Cont'd. in next part - Veturi - Rajan-Nagendra

Cont'd