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Lyrical team Shekhar Kammula and Vanamaali.

K.M. Radhakrishnan says what appealed to him in Vanamaali is his command over literature and the way his lyric gel with the situation and the tune. “You can find that in the song chengu chengu mantu thulluthunna thungabhadra (Chandamama) or in ’Kotha Pellikoothuru korukunna jeevitham (Manasu Palike Mounaraagam) where his poetic lyric is in perfect sync with the swarasthanam,” says the music director.

“During the course of an interview Radhakrishnan said Illayaraja is his favourite music director and started singing Premenantava…from the film, Time. It was a pleasant surprise for me. And he was shocked when he knew that I wrote the lyric. That’s how I got an offer from him to write for ’Manasu Palike…’ and now for Chandamama,” recollects Vanamaali.

When Radhakrishnan suggested Vanamaali’s name, a surprised Krishna Vamsy asked him, “Manigopal (Vanamaali’s real name) do you write lyrics?” And then he narrated a situation depicting village life and the lifestyle of its youth. It wasn’t a difficult task for a man whose childhood was spent in the villages of Chittoor to write the song chengu chengumantu.

“Mickey (music director Mickey J. Meyer) took me to Sekhar Kammula. I was apprehensive as veteran Veturi Sundara Rama Murthy wrote for his earlier films. To match that standard is not an easy task. So for four days I just couldn’t pen a word. On the fifth day Mickey phoned me for the lyric. I mustered enough courage and wrote the lyric Arere Arere Manase Jaare in just an hour. Even then I didn’t have the guts to give it directly to Sekhar. I gave it to Mickey. I felt light when Sekhar rang me up and said, ‘the lyrics are good, come in the evening,” And I ended up writing four lyrics for him for Happy Days, including O My Friend and ye cheekatee cheripeyyani…

A gold medallist in M.A. (Telugu) and a Ph.D from Madras University, Vanamaali started his career as a lyricist with dubbed films. “Friend and co-journalist B.S. Rao got me the first chance to write for a dubbed film, Mahaprabhu that still lies in cans. Mano and Swarnalatha rendered it. But my dream was that my first song should be sung by S.P. Balasubrahmanyam. It did happen with Time my first release, thanks to Geethakrishna. I wrote five songs in it. And the very first song, Premenantava neekai Innallu Vechanantava was rendered by SPB and Swarnalatha.” Vanamaali wrote for over 50 films and about 100 songs mostly for dubbed films. The song that won him instant recognition was chirugaali veechene chiguraaku lepene from Sivaputhrudu (dubbed from the Tamil Sethu) rendered by R.P. Patnaik. Vanamaali wrote all the songs for the film and like the film the songs were also a hit. It was again B.S. Rao who introduced him to director Chandu while he was making Note Book. Mickey was its music director.

“He wrote all the songs in that film. He is a wonderful lyricist. For Happy Days I gave him the tunes first and he came up with matching lyrics, simple words that convey a lot. In my opinion he is a Veturi in the making,” compliments Mickey. Vanamaali says his lyrics should touch one’s heart. “The life of the youth today is becoming more materialistic and mechanical. As a lyricist my mission is to bring out those tender feelings in them to the fore.”

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