continued from part 3

The biggest boon that can be bestowed, the greatest gift that could be handed down to a poet is a carte blanche on his creativity, a license to be himself without any rules imposed upon his ideas and restrictions set up as parameters on his expressions In film speak, on a lyric writer, that translates to bland situations that cannot (do not deserve to) be rendered poetically, and jaded contexts that call for a song if only for a head count. There is a common misconception that a great writer is one, who can choose great words for any given situation; but that could make any great writer be only good at best, as he tries to sidestep the potential landmines (no poetry, not enough punch, not racy enough - the list is endless) laid down in his path to best service the situation. But all this, in a hostile situation that isn't conducive for the blossoming of the poetic expression. On those rare instances, when a tasteful producer gives the writer the free reign, the aesthetic director creates the right situation where poetry pours on (or at least, has enough common sense to not come in the way of rich ideas) and the music director composes a tune, where the notes give way to the words in deference

himamulA rAli sumamulai poosi
Rutuvulai navvi maduvulai pongu
nee praema nA praema
SiSiramaina Sidhilamaina
viDichipObOkumA virahamaipOkumA ||chinukulA rAli||

The late 70s laid a fertile ground for low budget family fares which couldn't afford established music directors, a vacuum that was quickly filled in by a brothers-duo from the Kannada land, who had already made a name for themselves back home - Rajan-Nagendra. Though the majority of the tunes that they have scored for telugu were originally composed for Kannada films, that didn't take away the great melody and superb orchestration from those compositions - original or re-used. And the greatest asset that the tunes had to add to their fame - Veturi. Usually the situations that warranted songs even in the low budget ones were no different from the ones dubbed as star vehicles. But the biggest advantage for the poet was that, he didn't have to prop his lyric by the way of 'elevations' and 'exaggerations' (mukha shuti - atiSayOkti) to cater to any perceived image of the star and hence could fall back upon his strongest suite - 'bhaava kavitwam' - and this is where Veturi comes close to Devulapalli.

tolakari kOrikalae tondara chaesinavae
ee viri Sayyakae aaviri teeragA
sogasari kAnukalae soda peDutunnavilae
ae tera chATunO aa chera veeDagA
andina pondulOne andalaeni vinduleeyavae ||mallelu poosae||

edalO andam eduTa eduTae nilichina vanita
nee rAkatO nA tOTalO velisae vana daevata
kadilae andam kavita adi kougilikocchae yuvata
nA pATalO nee pallavae navatA navya mamatA ||veeNa vaeNuvayina||

chiru gAli darakhAstu laekunTae karimabbu
merupanta navvunA chinukaina rAlunA
jaDivAna darakhAstu laekunTae selayaeru
varadalle pongunA kaDalinTa chaerunA ||kAstandukO darakhAstandukO||

janTanae eDabAsina OnTari nA bratukuna
mallela sirivennela manTalae raepagA
vayasula nulivecchani valapula manasicchina
nA chelI chali vaeNuvayi vaedanaloodagA ||rAgam teesae kOyila||

The amazing thing about these lyrics (and many more like them) is that almost everyone has been written to a set tune. And none of them had Veturi resorting to his usual tricks of the trade, involving twisting and skewing the language and inventing expressions that were really reaching. These are as chaste, pure, imaginative and perfect as they can get - 'daSa diSantAla Sata vasantAla suma sugandhAla bhramara nAdAla kusuminchu nee andamae virisindi aravindamayi kurisindi makarandamayi ||mAnasa veeNa madhugeetam||', 'viraha veeNa nidura rAka vaegae vaeLalO, SRtini minchi rAgamaedO palikae vaeLalO' (what a fantastic expression - viraham palikae veeNa mrOgae rAgam SRti hecchu).

Compartmentalization comes natural to any seasoned lyricist. The initial exuberance of penning nothing but the best settles down on experience, channeling their best only when the conditions are perfect, and in other situations, choosing to play within themselves. A great lyric isn't reflective of not just the lyricist's prowess, but tells upon the tastes of the powers that be (producer, director and music director), who let the lyric soar. And the converse is equally true. Following up on the golden period of telugu cinema, the 50s and 60s, there was a fabled era that lasted about 6-7 years in the late 70s and early 80s (which could be considered as golden age for 'lalita geetalu'), that saw an incredible run of delectable tunes and lilting lyrics. And standing tall and proud with their heads held high are Veturi and Rajan-Nagendra, among a few others.

The bygone era is certainly fabled (fictitious) as words and situations that warranted a

meghamA daehamA meravakae ee kshaNam
merisinA kurisinA karugunae jeevanam

is impossible to come by again.

(On a side note, try comparing the above with a similar 'O pApA lAli' in 'geetAnjali' (particularly the lines - O maeghamA uramakae ee pooTakee, gAlilO taelipO, veLLipO) written for a similar situation for a dying character, and see how much Veturi's poetry let go of itself in the former and how much it contained itself in the latter, indicating the changing times)

in the next part - the slide that started it all - Veturi - Chakravarthi

Cont'd in part 5.