continued from part 6

Never has been two careers, equipped equally in the language of the purists and ways of colloquy, took off at just the same point and continued along similar paths, winning the minds of critics and regaling the hearts of commoners alike, intertwined like Veturi's and Jandhyala's. And the ease with which they both met the demands of the marketplace is one for the books. They played with 'sirisiri muvva'lu, together they adorned 'SankaraabharaNam', they reveled in 'aDavi rAmuDu', they lock-stepped with 'saptapadi', they made merry with 'vaeTagADu', and many many more....until Jandhyala took up direction, and took Veturi along, in an entirely different direction, rescuing him, of sorts, from being swept away in the tidal wave of commerciality. And the fact that Jandhyala himself was a great writer to boot, and seemingly sensitive one at that, reflected in the choice of situations that he presented Veturi with. And Veturi paid back his gratitude coming up with words that celebrated the ethereal aspects of love and beauty.

aaviri chigurO adi oopiri kaburO
swAti vAna laeta enDalO
jAli gunDe poola danDalO
alivaeNi aaNimutyamA nA paruvAla prANa mutyama

What a delightful mix of tender expressions - 'Aviri chiguru', 'oopiri kaburu', 'laeta enDalO swAti vAna', 'poola danDalO jAli gunDe' - to capture the innocence of adolescent love . If 'alivaeNi aaNimutyamA' is one side of the delicate feelings dealing with intimacy, 'manasA tuLLipaDakae atigA aaSa paDakae' is the second side of it expressing reservations of the same intimacy with the same softness.

ae nOmu nOchAvu neevani dorikaenu aa praema phalamu
ae daevuDistaaDu neekani arudaina anta varamu
manasA vinavae aa andagADu
tanugA jatagA manakandirADu
kalalApavae kanne manasA

The lyric has Devulapalli's 'lAlityam' (tenderness) and Aatreya's 'suniSitam' (poignancy). It is no hyperbole that there has been no movie since 'SrivAriki praemalaekha' that had such a perfect mix of 'hAsyam', 'sangeetam' and 'sAhityam'. Each of the songs, situational in their own right, had the inherent strength and beauty of standing on their own, without the crutches of the story or the situation. 'tolisAri mimmalni choosindi modalu', 'lipi laeni kanTi bAsa' and the pick of them all 'sarigamapadani swaradhAra, rasasAgara yAtraku dhruvatAra'.

The same dichotomy that plagued Veturi, vacillating between sublime and substandard, played out differently when dealing with Jandhyala, alternating between comely and comedic, in tune with the two prime emotions that dictated Jandhyala's movies. On one hand

chaitra kOyilalennO maitri vaeNuvuloodae
manasaina mATalakOsam mounAla aaSalu poochae
aeDaeDu rangula deepam aa ningilO harichaapam
aruNAla rudhiramtOnae ruNamainadi priyabandham
....
ee toorupu aa paschimam sangaminchina ee SubhaveeLa
paDamaTi sandhyA rAgAlaevO pArANi poochenulae

bridged the Eastern spirituality with the Western sanguinity, while penning a

innALLu illainaa tallainaa aapheesu (office)
ika nunDi illaalae istundi aa-pheesu (that fees) ||peLLaaDu peLLaaDu aananda rAya||

and in instances that called for both the emotions to share the same space

aakaaSa veeNallO naenu anurAgamae paaDukunTA
gongoora pacchaLLO naenu ullipAyae nanjukunTa
neerullipaayae nanjukunTA
mATivvu nAku manasicchukunTA
vadilaestae vankAya vanDinchukunTA
vankAya vanTi koorayu pankajamuki
seeta vanTi bhaaryAmaniyunu annaaru kadanDee
andukae alaa paaDananna mATa ||kobbari neeLLa jalakAlADi||

And that was just Veturi being modest. When situations called for extreme measures, as is the norm in Jandhyala's comedic universe populated with wacky characters, there he was, penning for what was the most bizarre of situations that came his way ever - seeta rAma sangrAmam - the epic battle of Sita and Rama (bickering over the 'mareecha - mAyalaeDi') set to a psychedelic tune.

seeta: laeDi laeDi (deer) laeDi laeDi
golden laeDini taerA golden chance idi pOrA
khAtAlu bangALA khAtAlugA mAra
dAruNa ruNA bAdha takshaNamae teera

rAma: sorry sorry sorry sorry
adi golden laeDi kAdae golmAl kaeDi pOvae
aa laeDi bangAramae kAki bangAramu
ee ruNa bAdha chalaka raNa bAdha aelakO

rAma: nOru muyyavae poobODi
seeta: nuvvanDangA naenA bODi?

When the pendulum swings to the other extreme, from silly to solemn, Veturi doesn't disappoint and comes up with what he always held as his personal best - chaitramu kusumAnjali - for 'Ananda bhairavi'

...which brings to the fore the next relationship, that insisted on the two things that would make any poet giddy with delight - a proper situation that warrants a song first, and the right words that go with the situation, all this before the tune is even composed - Veturi - Ramesh Naidu

Cont'd