Noted Telugu film lyricist Veturi Sundararama Murthy (74) died of cardiac arrest in a corporate hospital at Banjara Hills on Saturday night.
His family members admitted him to the hospital two days ago after he complained of chest pain. His condition got deteriorated on Saturday night and he died while undergoing treatment.
With his death, Telugu film industry lost a great personality who was known for his dexterity in using nuances of Telugu language in penning the songs.
Veturi ruled the Telugu filmdom and earned the distinction of being a writer who could write a song within 15 minutes, once the sequence was explained to him.
Music director M.M. Keeravani, dialogue writer Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao, director S.S. Rajamouli and others from Telugu film industry came to the hospital and paid tributes to the famous lyricist.
Hailing from Peda Kallepally in Krishna district, Veturi started writing lyrics with the film ‘Oh Sita Katha'. He penned lyrics for the recently released movie -- ‘Varudu'. He penned a variety of songs ranging from classic poetry to the folk and mass ones. He worked as journalist for Andhra Prabha and Andhra Patrika, before taking up the avocation of being a lyricist.
Amazing capabilities
Veturi, with his inimitable style of writing songs, left an indelible impression on the film industry with his amazing capabilities. Known for his abilities to turn meaningless words into most meaningful ones, Veturi got acclaims from the masses as well as literary persons.
He was considered as the best poet in the film industry by his competitors too. He got “National Film Award” for the song ‘Raalipoye puvva neeku raagalenduke' in ‘Matrudevobhava' film. He got Nandi award for best lyricist from the State government a number of times. He received Nandi awards for some songs “Shankara….” (Sankarabharanam), “Ee duryodhana dussaasana durvineeta lokamlo…” (Prathighatana) and “Uppongele Godavari…” (Godavari).
“We worked with Veturi from 1983, while shooting Abilasha. He is a yogi,” said popular novelist Yandamoori Veerendranth.
