Many have written and many more would be writing about the great poetic qualities of Veturi Sundara Ramamurthy. When compared to their writings on this great poet, my humble tribute will pale into insignificance. I know it. Yet I do attempt because he touched the chords of my heart with his lyrics, which were taut till then.
Veturi can well stand in comparison to the epic Mahabharata. As Mahabharata is the embodiment of the four Vedas and was called Panchama Veda, Veturi embodies the poetic qualities of great film lyricists. He is Malladi Ramakrishna Sastri in his choice of chaste Tanjurian Telugu words, Devulapalli in romanticism, Acharya Athreya in sentiment and Arudra in clarity of images. This way he represents the finer qualities of his comtempories.
Among his great movie lyrics which can well be compared to the lyrics of any Indian and Western poet in rich imagination is Kokilamma Pelliki Konantha Pandiri. I attempt to translate the same into English.
A huge canopy for the wedding of nightingale
The air from the festoons of
Sprouting leaves form the wind pipes
The woods are in a festive mood
As the god of spring is the bridegroom
The talambras form the flowers
On the nuptial night, a full moon day
The girl who wandered about like a bumble bee till Yester day,
Now assumes bridal looks
When all thoughts embody love,
the lover casts radiant smiles like arrows
The pollen stirred by the breeze on flowers
Become the parani of the bride's feet
The song of the parrot and the dance of the peacock
Together form the dance of the courtsans
All women are guests for this beautiful wedding
All the streams of the woods rise in waves of joy
The meeting of the lover's eyes and the grasp
Of the virgin's mind become the tale of love
The beauty in the cheeks colours the shyness,
It makes the budding love flower into marriage
Two hearts in one body and two bodies in one wedlock,
The love thoughts in the mind become the bed of jas mines
The togetherness of hundred years and the dream of a thousand years
The mangala sutra makes the hearts flowery bowers
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Talambralu : rice mixed in turmeric and ghee. The bride pours the rice on the bride groom's head and the bride groom follows suit.
Parani : A paste of turmaric and lime, smeared on the feet of the bride and the bride groom, ward off evil influence.
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His pen moved deftly when he extolled the greatness of the tribals. Look at the lyric.
When effort is placed, man becomes a saint, a great person
They become undying light of inspiration
Look!, he is Valmiki, a hunter and bandit
Who turned a sage and author of Ramayana
Look! he is Ekalavya, the great archer
Though wronged by Drona and lost his thumb
He persevered and learnt archery
Look! the frail, old woman, she is Sabari, a great devotee of Rama
They are tribals, you should be proud of
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When Veturi penned a teasing lyric, he embodied the lady love who laments (in a lighter vein) the loss of her saree. He sings in the lady love.
I tried to dry my saree, but lost it, alas!
The mountain breeze stole my saree
Now your mischievous look, oh God,! What can I say
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In a lyric the hero asks his lady whether she heard the musical notes of sa ri ga ma when the stringed instrument Veena became the flute. The lyric was set to a sweet tune and was an all time hit. But a friend of mine was seized with a doubt as to how Veena could become a flute. When he happended to meet Veturi at a wedding function, he raised his doubt. He asked whether it was misnomer. Veturi replied that what he wrote was quite correct and he would explain it in detail if my friend visited him at his residence. But, unfortunately Veturi passed away before the meeting took place.
Veturi's unfulfilled desire was to have a cottage on the banks of river Krishna at Peda Kallepalli, Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh.
May be, if he lived longer and fulfilled his desire, great lyrics on mother river Krishna would have emerged on the lines of Kinnerasani Patalu (Songs on the stream of Kinnerasani) by Viswanatha Satyanarayana, the great icon of Telugu literature.
All of Veturi's lyrics are gems. Only one has to dive deep into the fathomless ocean to get the gems out and enjoy them to one's heart's content.
వేటూరి పాటల పెన్నిధి....
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