continued from part 7

Strange was the work ethic of Ramesh Naidu, who defied the standard definition (back in those days) of a music director, in that he was never formally trained in the ways of his profession, and he resisted, at every given opportunity, from composing a tune questioning the very need for one, for a majority of situations that came his way throughout the length of his career. That defiance (foolhardiness, in some books) drove him away from the regular commercial fares, which at that moment were using songs more to promote tourism and stimulate local economies than for any other purpose, and endeared him to low budget quality movies, which relied, among other things, the strength of their music to draw the audiences in. One look at his career - 'tAtA manavaDu', 'toorpu paDamara', 'meena', 'swapna', 'kaLyANi', 'mudda mandAram', 'maegha sandaeSam', 'Ananda bhairavi', 'swayam kRshi', with a completely bizarre 'hemAhaemeelu' thrown in the mix once in a while just to keep things interesting - and it becomes fairly apparent which side of the road - artistic or commercial - he rather preferred to be seen on. And that worked just as well for everybody (makers and the audiences), whose idea of film music was a little more than beats, jazzy orchestration and even STEPS. Probably the only other career that mirrored Naidu's, in terms of aesthetics and selectivity, and not to mention, the unsurpassed quality of the output, was Madan Mohan's - both of them naturally gifted, both of them extremely choosy, and lastly, both of whose compositions transcended tastes and boundaries to last for generations...That said, what more can a lyricist ask for, than a composer who refuses to be dictated by the business and instead insists on the lyric to motivate and father the tune. And out of such freedom are born words like

Never has been two careers, equipped equally in the languamadhuvanAntamula maru vasantamulu chiru latAntamulu vedajallagA
daSadisAntamula jata Sakuntamulu gaLa marandamulu yeda jallagA
gumulu gumulugA yedala medalu tummedalu rodalu palikinchigA
toDima toDimalO tolakarintalaku kaDimi poolu vikaSinchigA
rAdhavai valapu gAdhavai maruni pAli maryAdavai
kRshNa muraLivai aaDa nemalivai rAga saraLivai rA taralirA kadalirA

was Veturi's fitting reply to the Hindi classic 'aadhA hai chandramA raat adhee' (from V.Shanta Ram's 'Navrang') in the little heard remake 'suvarNa sundari' by Beeram Mastana Rao. Just read the lyric up above and notice the inherent rhythm in it, and this was what Naidu meant by the words spurring the notes. As legend had it, he never let the lyricist get away delivering anything less than a rightful and appropriate lyric to any situation, be it a classical situation or even a 'club' song (his sparring with C.Narayana Reddy for 'anubandham aatmeetyata antA oka booTakam' for 'tAtA - manavaDu', is one for the books). Veturi, who used to be a little lax in his standards, particuarly when dealing with forgettable contexts, turned in nothing but respectable lyrics, even in situations that dealt with skimpily clad women gyrating in smoke filled rooms.

ningilAga naelaku vangi neerulAga mabbula dAgi
merupistae urumai vastA jarigistae piDugaipOtA
varadostae vantena vaestA saradAgA sankela vaestA
ae vooru ae vADa andagADa
mA vooru vachaavu sandekADa

But this was just a side show. Naidu's forte was melody that relied so little on the orchestration, that the final output could as well had been two melodious voices belting out the dulcet against a completely silent background. This primarily is the difference between the standards of those periods and now, that film music meant arrangement of words in a lilting pattern, as against the current trend of merely filling the orchestral blanks in the compositions with words. It almost always worked wonders in the case of the former, and in the latter's, the effort was akin to catching the lighting in a bottle. And Naidu's career was a testament to the longevity of the tunes that breathed life in the warm womb of the words.

navami nATi vennela neevu, daSami nATi jAbili naenu, kalusukunna prati raeyi kArteeka punnami raeyi
yaeru pakka mA ooramma, ooru pakka mAgANamma, yaeru kALindi, ooru vraepalle, venna dAchakae kanne gOpemma
merupulA merisAvu, valapulA kaliSAvu, kannu terichi choosaelOga, ninnalO nilichAvu, ninnalO nilichAvu
(again, a fantastic reworking of the Hindi classic 'yaad aa rahaa hai, teri yaad aa rahaa hai' from 'Love Story')

But the two seminal albums, apart from a scintillating others, that cajoled the best out of Veturi by Naidu, was Jandhyala's 'aananda bhairavi' and Dasari's 'maegha sandaeSam' - steeped in the rich semi-classical/classical mould, provided the perfect platform for Veturi's prowess both in the traditional literature and the free-spirited kind.

Sareera panjara swara prapanchaka madhuragAna SukavAnigA
pADanA vANi kaLyAnigA swararAni pAdAla pArAnigA

vAnakAru kOyilanai tellavAri vennalanai
ee yeDAri dArulalO yeDada naenu parichAnani kaDimivOle nilichAnani
uramani taramani oosulatO ulipiri chinukula bAsalatO
vinnavinchu nA cheliki praema sandaeSam ee maegha sandaeSam

pilichina muraLiki valachina muvvaki
edalO okaTae rAgam adi aananda bhairavi rAgam
murisina muraLiki merisina muvvaki
edalO praema parAgam madi aananda bhairavi rAgam

SayyalalO kotta vayyAra molikae SaradRtu kaavaerilA teegasAgi
jalada ninAdAla paluku mRdangAla vASuka jalageetilO taeliaaDi
chali rutuvae sarigamalau nAda sudhAmadhuvaniki chaitramu kusumAmjali

Usually, the output of successful lyricist-composer combinations is good news to producers, directors and even to the audiences, but very rarely does a combination come along, where the lyricist seemed to have got the better end of the deal, more than the producers, directors and even the audiences, in terms of artistic satisfaction, having been challenged constantly for creativity and quality, and the result of such goading, chiding, instigating and inspiring, is pure music to the ears. And Veturi (and the producers, and the directors, and the audiences) couldn't be more thankful for Ramesh Naidu.

Cont'd in the next part - Veturi-Illayaraja