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Ram
Gopal Varma wanted me to write lyrics using conversational language
for his films. He did not want me to use any bookish language.
When I was pondering over the technique of writing lyrics in natural
conversational Telugu, I came across a mentor. He is none other
than Sri Kosaraju garu. Though Athreya garu writes
lyrics with simple Telugu, you can see that he uses the style
of bookish Telugu at times. Sri Kosaraju garu wrote lyrics like
'Ayyayyo Jebulo Dabbulu Poyene' etc. I have taken Sri Kosaraju
garu as an inspiration and wrote lyrics for Ram Gopal Varma's
films.
As
I told you earlier, when I was a kid I did not bother to learn
English and channeled all my energies to mastering Telugu. I don't
prefer to converse in English, as I don't know the difference
between 'have' and 'had' or present tense or past tense. If I
speak in English, people would laugh at my sentence construction
and I can't take that humiliation
Likewise,
whenever I watched films, before entering the film industry, I
used to laugh at most of the lyrics in the films. After entering
the industry, I developed a strong conviction that I should never
ever write such kind of lyrics, which would become laughing stocks.
I wrote even the most sensuous (srungara) lyrics in Telugu
like 'Sangaminchu Angaanga Madanudi Simhasanam' in a decent
manner. I made sure that everybody in the family could listen
to my lyrics and enjoy them without getting offended.
An
underlying poetry is always an inherent part of all my songs.
One of the main hurdles I faced when I entered the film industry
was that the producers and directors did not accept poetry in
lyrics. They treated poetry like AIDS. Whenever, they saw something
poetic in lyrics, they would immediately remove it. In a bid to
retain poetry in my lyrics, I used to always induce it in an obscure
manner into all my lyrics. But now, because of my seniority and
acceptance of my work by public, producers are willing to accept
poetry in my lyrics.
On
an average I used to write 20 versions for each song. There were
some instances where I even wrote 150 versions for a song. The
only problem with my writings is that I cannot write lyrics in
a jet speed manner and I have a marvelous competitor in form of
Veturi garu who is extremely fast at penning lyrics. To compensate
that, I used to ask the producers to give me the concept and context
of the song in the evening so that I could write the lyrics at
night and give them to the producers by the following morning.
I usually don't sleep at nights. I start my work at 8 pm in the
night and continue till 8 am in the morning.
If
I ponder over my past, I still wonder how I ended up being a lyricist.
As a kid, I wrote good stories and essays. Each essay ran into
100 to 150 pages. Those essays represented the philosophical thoughts
and rationale objectives I had as a kid. From a thought-provoking
writer to a movie lyricist I have come a long way. Even now, whenever
I get a chance I strive my best to come up with thought-provoking
lyrics in songs like 'Chilaka ye todu leka' (Subhalagnam)
and 'Niggadeesi agudu' (Gaayam).
Nowadays,
the standard of Telugu lyrics is degrading. In the future, I fear,
a time would come where the entire lyrics would revolve around
30 - 40 stock words. But I want to preserve the tradition of writing
lyrically rich songs. Hence, I have decided to write 'Sivoham',
just to make sure that I exploit all my knowledge in literature
and to preserve my style of writing. My final aim is to write
1000 songs on Lord Shiva. 'Sivoham' is all about symbolizing
the way of Indian living though Lord Shiva. I completed 354 songs
so far and released a book titled 'Siva Tarpanam'.
Lyrics
in the songs of recent films cannot be termed as lyrics. They
are just an array of words weaved into a song to satisfy the tunes
of music directors. The music director gives a tune along with
his 'tana tanana' kind of humming and the lyricists replace
that 'tana tanana' humming with suitable words. Hence words
have become a part of orchestra just like any other musical instrument.
The perspective of writing lyrics these days has taken the form
of joining words irrespective of whether they make sense or not.
In an attempt to write lyrics to as many songs as possible in
as little time as feasible, lyricists are least bothered if they
are conveying the true emotions of the characters or not.
As
I told you earlier, the language of lyrics and the language we
speak belong to two different spaces though they appear similar
because of the usage of same words. Nowadays, producers want us
to change certain words in the songs and replace them with catchy
words. They should realize that a song does not mean compilation
of thoughts. A song is a lyrical thought that conveys a feeling.
Veturi
garu brought a revolutionary change in Telugu Lyrics just like
the way Sri Sri garu brought a revolution in Telugu literature.
I am an extension of Veturi garu. I am not a pioneer. Veturi
garu is the trendsetter and I am just a follower of his trend.
But most of the people disagree with me on this statement.
If
you observe the Hindi songs of early 70's, all of them have in-depth
philosophical thought. During those days, Telugu cinema had dry
songs. After the arrival of Veturi garu, good lyrics came into
existence in Telugu film industry. On the contrary, there is not
a single song that has excellent poetry after 70's in the Hindi
field. There might be a couple of songs here and there but not
a bunch of them. Nowadays hindi songs are filled with a few stock
words like 'Maine Dil Diya', 'Chain Khogaya', 'Neend Khogaya',
'Pagal Hogaya', 'Deewana Hoyaga' etc. This might anger a few
people belonging to Hindi film industry, but I can confidently
say that the standard of lyrics these days is much better in Telugu
than in Hindi. But there is one good quality in Hindi songs. Right
from the beginning, they avoided vulgarity in their lyrics, which
is not the same in Telugu. The Srugaram of Hindi song is
very much related to Dil (Heart). All Hindi songs have
lyrics like 'Main Tujh pe mar jaaonga', 'Main Mar Gayi'
etc. I don't understand how death comes in love. Again, it has
something to deal with Urdu tradition. In Telugu, Srugaram
lingers more on body. But, Srugaram is not related to the
body alone. There is chemistry between body and mind. One has
to understand that chemistry to write Srungara song in
Telugu.
I
make sure that I inject my personal philosophical experiences
into all my lyrics. If you write a song with beautiful words without
really experiencing it, it would become an exhibition of your
knowledge in Telugu thereby not serving the main purpose. People
appreciate my lyrics because somewhere the listeners can relate
their own experiences to the lyrics. That's where the success
of lyric writer lies. For me, life is a school and time is a teacher.
By academic knowledge, you just gain information and not the experience.
Experience has to precipitate in the form of the feeling. If you
can convert that precipitated feeling of experience as a song,
it is bound to touch the hearts of the listeners. Sri Sri garu
once said 'Naa Paata Jaati Janulu Paadukone Geetam Kaavali'.
It means that when somebody sings that song, they should forget
that it's written by Sri Sri garu. They should sing it
as if it's their own song.
Checkout
our Telugu Samethalu (idioms). Each Sametha is like
a bullet in a gun. When it comes out, it does with a force that
leaves its impact. Each Sametha is a totality of an excellent
poem. Can you tell me who wrote those Samethalu? Nobody
knows about that! But they are all very dear to us. When you write
something that is very near to the life of a common man, he would
adapt it in no time. This is the secret of success of Sirivennela
Seetarama Sastry. Why do people accept me? I am no way superior
to any body among my contemporaries or elders. There is a touch
of reality in my songs. Somebody or the other would identify themselves
with the feelings in my lyrics.
'Nuvvemi
chesaavu neram
Ninnekkada antindi paapam, chinabokuma!
Cheyutanandinchu sayam
Yenaadu chesindi sangham, gamaninchuma!!'
After
listening to these lyrics [from the movie Pellichesukundam],
every person will immediately identify himself with those lines.
He would start questioning himself - 'did the society help me
when I was in trouble?'
'Nigga
deesi adugu ee sigguleni jananni'
When
I acted in that scene [in the movie Gaayam] and pointed
my fingers towards the audience, nobody felt offended thinking
that why is this person referring me as 'sigguleni janam'
(shameless people). Everybody, in his or her heart, knows that
we are like that. Whatever might be the reason, none of us are
take the responsibility for the happenings in the society. Everybody
appreciated me for those lyrics. Nobody cursed me.
'Ye
Charitra Nerchukundi Pachhani Paatham
Ye kshananna marchukundi chichula maargam
Rama Baanam aarpinda Ravana Kaastam
Krishna Geeta aapinda Nitya Kurukshetram'
Above
words don't just form a simple poetry. They are the facts of life.
'Sthreela
Tanuvulone Seelamunnadante
Purusha sparsatone Toligipovunante
Illala dehalalo Seelame Vundadanaa
Bhartannavadevvadu Purushude Kaadana?'
In
the above sentences [from the song 'Nuvvemi Chesaavu neram'
of Pellichesukundam], 'Seelam' is nothing but 'Gunam'.
People
are accepting my lyrics, as there is 'Satya Sparsa' (Touch
of Truth) in my writings. That's the reason why I study life a
lot. I don't really have respect for scholars who amass knowledge
without imparting it to anybody. If you take 100 years as the
lifetime of a human being, in this time a person has to understand
and relate himself to the society. Millions of intellectuals have
born prior to us. What happened to the information and knowledge
gathered by them after their death? What is the contribution they
have made to the society and to their life? What is the use of
gathering all that information if it's not useful to the people
of future generations? What are we doing to our kids now? We are
making every child a robot. Robot also has enormous information.
The real knowledge that is useful to a person would be taught
by time and life. The knowledge learnt through books is not useful.
That's what I have written in the song 'Bodi Chaduvulu Waste'
(in Manasichhi Choodu).
[With
that we conclude Idlebrain exclusive feature - 'The
Making of Sirivennela'. Sirivennela garu agreed to have another
session with Idlebrain later. Interested visitors can send
in their questions to us at [email protected]
so that we can pose them to Sirivennela garu on your behalf]
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