Say Dr. Satyanarayana and nobody will know him. But say Dr. Bunty (he is more popular by his pet name) and there is a smile and song on the lips of Telugu television viewers. If in the evenings he is a doctor who is treating your aches and pains, in the mornings he is a musician creating tunes for television serials. We meet him at his Banjara Hills residence where Dr. Bunty is overseeing the painting work being done.
He gets nostalgic recalling his younger days. Apparently regular power cuts can bring out singing talent like it did in Dr. Bunty's case. He and his sister Alakananda used to spend their evenings in the balcony and gaze stars.
“Once during a power cut, my mother (G. Padmavathi) asked us to sing Balamuralikrishna's song Moodu naalu aayara …,” he recollects. That set them off and their musical journey began with Jawahar Bala Bhavan. He also credits his aunt G. Manorama as his mentor.
The brother-sister duo took part in musical competitions. “There was a sort of tug of war between us,” he remembers with a smile.
Sailaja Suman, the current director of Doordarshan (then a production executive) asked him to compose for a ballet Vishala Bharati for Doordarshan. While his sister handled the choreography, he created tunes for it.
Medicine was a reluctant though foregone career move. He reluctantly joined the Gulbarga Medical College; he says “I joined half-heartedly as my heart was in music. I wanted to take up a bank job so that I could concentrate on music. But since both my grandfathers were doctors, I simply had to do medicine.”
After finishing medicine, he opened a clinic (“I knew I would have the guilt if I didn't do service as a doctor”) and luck came in the form of P. Sudhakar (director Manjula Naidu's husband). “Their son P. Srikant had met with an accident and I was doing the dressing for him. We casually chatted and I got my break with Manjula Nadiu's serial Suseela , which dealt with artificial insemination,” he says. However, it was Manjula Naidu's Ruthuragalu's title song, Vasantha sameeranla , which catapulted him to limelight. “I consider Sudhakar as a Godfather. He gave life to many of us,” he says with a smile.
Thereafter Dr. Bunty became a regular with Manjula Naidu's serials including Kasturi, Chakravakam and the current serial Mogali Rekulu . He composed the background score for Hyderabad Blues, Toli Parichayam, Prema Saakshiga and Alex. “I am very particular about lyrics. I feel words should not be in bad taste. Look at songs like Maate mantramu, Eenade edo ayyindi or the recent Eto vellipoyindi manasu … They are all romantic numbers with rich lyrics,” he says.
Dr. Bunty also won the Nandi award twice, one for Chakravakam and the other for Maa Inti Aadapaduchu (the award is yet to be given). He is looking forward to composing for a play titled Indus produced and directed by Dr. Trinath and to be staged in UK.
Finally, he signs off with a thought on vegetarianism: “Don't make your stomach a graveyard. Make it a garden.”
On air
Here are a few serials currently on air on different channels with music by Dr. Bunty: Bhama Satyabhama, Auto Bharati (his idol SP Balasubrahmanyam sang for him), Mogali Rekulu, Maa Inti Adapaduchu, Gorintaaku, Aparanji, Muddu Bidda, Anna Chellelu, amongst others.
