continued from part 4

aamani cheeralu chuTTukuni kougili illuga kaTTukuni
Sarada rAtrula jAbili mallelu pagalae sigalO peTTukuni
chiru chiru navvula puvvula meeda seetAkOka chilakallaaga
uyyaaloogae vayyaaramlO sayyaaTaaDae SrungAramlO ||ae vasantamidi evari sontamidi||

valapu kOyilalu pADae vasantam nee sontam
mallelu manTalu raegina greeshmam naa sontam
punnami puvvai navvina vennela nee aanandam
aa vennalatO chiti ragilinchina kannulu naa sangeetam ||evariki telusu chitikina manasu||

Many will scarce believe, to quasi-quote Einstein, that such soulful songs and meaningful melodies were borne out of the same mind that weilded the baton with such gay abandon in the later years, that the name became synonymous with everything that stood repetitive, and even degenrative, about telugu film music - Chakravarthi. Along side Veturi, Chakravarthi was probably the most used and abused artist during the 80s, forced to tread the path of mediocrity, much against their creative wills, and on those rare occasions, when left to their natural bests, produced such gems as

telusA neeku telusA
praemanTae oka manishi nivasinchae bhuvanamani
okae muraLi palikae gOkulamani
okae keraTamuppongae yamanu ani

panTa chaelO pAla kanki navvindi
pallakeelO pilla yenki navvindi
poota rellu chaelu daaTae yennelA
laeta paccha kOna seema yenDallaa

For an entire generation that had its early awakenings to telugu film music, the phrase 'sangeetam - Chakravarthi, saahityam - Veturi' was imprinted on the same lines as a 'M.S.Subbulakshmi suprabhaatam' or a 'Ghantasaala Bhavadgeeta'. During the heyday of commercial telugu cinema, which churned out an average of 100 films in any given year, the combination of Veturi-Chakravarthi shouldered the majority of responsibility (Veturi more than Chakravarthi), with the result that the output proved true of an age old Vemana padyam 'gangi gOvu pAlu gariteDainanu chAlu, kaDiveDaina naemi kharamu pAlu' (in short, quality is in indirect proportion to quantity). What made Chakravarthi wildly popular, despite the monotonous orchestration (heavy on percussion and light on strings), was his ability to churn ut foot-tapping folksy tunes at as great a pace as Veturi padded catchy pallavi's and passable charaNams to them, and the combination marked the onset of 'jet-age' aesthetics. And the result was pure junk food for the hungry appetities - quite filling, for the moment, but found largely wanting, after the taste washes over. The songs are nothing to write home about, except for a brilliant flourish here and an occasional flash there.

vaedam nAdam mOdam mOksham annee neelO choosaanu
Silpam nATyam geetam lAsyam choosae neelO mecchaanae
andalO janma gandhAlO rAga bandhAlO
Sakuntamai vasanta geeta mAlapinchagA

Sree lakshmi peLLiki chirunavvu kaTnam
mAlakshmi peLLiki mamatae paeranTam
chigurulaesae siggu cheenAmbarAlu
taDisae kurisae kaLLu nee talambrAlu

The flipside, however, is too painful to broach, as two artists at the height of their individual prowesses were made to trade their wares on the sub-standard side of creative artistry. If all this could traced back to one single event that changed the face of telugu film/music forever, it is the introduction of dance moves for the songs; and the laughable aspect of this unnecessary exercise was that at the time of rise of this calisthenic action, none of the players were 'dancers', in any liberal sense of the word, and one competed with the other in lowering the bar on this sheer buffoonery. But that didn't change the fact that Chakravarthi had to come up with the staple of 5/6 'Dappu' songs that had to accommodate the clumsy exercise on the screen. And along was dragged Veturi into the muddle, and this era was what that downgraded his status as the next 'scholar poet' (panDita kavi) since Devulapalli to a mere 'vikaTa kavi', whose words suited both sides of the cause with equal ease.

kooDaballukkuni kannaaraemO mee yamma mA yamma
naa amma nee attO naa amma nee atta

bangAru bAtu guDDu
bandAru tokkuDu laDDu
chakkera chilaka kikkuru manaka
vaddaku vastae teerustaa nee mOju - gADida guDDu

attamaDugu vAgulOna attakooturO
nee andamanta taDisi attakooturO
aDigindi icchikO icchindi pucchukO

Veturi's job became tougher with each inane song, as he started to lean more and more on the flashy aspects of language with delightful play on grammar, 'chandassu', syntax and semantics, as there was neither scope nor patronage to focus on anything that would constitute as a 'noble idea' (udaattamaina bhaavam) in these aerobics songs. A bird's eye view of Veturi' commercial lyric oeuvre might not reveal the true rot of telugu music that started during the 80s. The devil is in the details. Here is a partial listing of the album of the movie 'donga' - a fair representation of telugu cinema back then

gOlimAr..kashmOra kougilistae aem chaestAvO
naepALee mantramaestae aemavutAvO

donga donga muddula donga
dOchADae bugga kOSADae mogga
vattiLLannee dOpiLLaayae ee urrootalO ee sayyATalO

tappanaka oppanaka tAkAlani undi bugga tAkAlani undi
palagalanka raeyanaka peTTAlani undi muddu peTTAlani undi

Observe how each of these song had a scarcity of context and a paucity for pretext, which is the worse thing that could be presented for a poet to pen a song, causing a disinterested mind to scribble something about an uninteresting topic. And this was just one movie. How about song after song, movie after movie, year after year of uninspiring contexts. It is said that Kalidasa, when blessed by the Goddess with unmatched poetic prowess, pleaded Her to not put him in a situation, where the audience is tone-deaf and unappreciative of any poetic beauty. Unfortunately, there was no such luck for Veturi. His greatest strength, his amazing pace, was turned against him, as he stood among the ruins of fallen standards alone, beaten, jaded and tired, like a modern day Samson (of the old testament fame). And before the benefit of hindsight prepares to cast the first stone from its high pedestal, please spare a thought for these two fallen angels (Veturi and Chakravarthi), as their artistic deterioration is a direct reflection of the changing times and falling standards and their only sin was lacking the discipline to put their step down from succumbing to mediocrity and monetary gains.

in the next part - Veturi - Bapu - Ramana