Ganesh Patro, the writer, was known more as a man whose pen lent legendary director late K. Balachander’s Telugu films the nativity that was required to make them the hits that they were.
From Vizianagaram to Visakhapatnam and then to Chennai where he went to pursue his dreams, Ganesh Patro struggled hard all through his life. From ‘Athavarillu,’ his debut as a writer in 1976, he is known for all-time hits like the Kamalhaasan-Sarita starrer ‘Maro Charitra’ and ‘Idhi Katha Kaadu’ and ‘Rudraveena,’ both starring Chiranjeevi.
In an active drama/film writing career that spanned over four decades, Patro came to be known as a close associate of Balachander, writing the dialogues for almost all of the director’s films in Telugu. The way he would bring the Telugu nativity for even a typical Tamil story was what set him in a class of his own. His last Telugu film as a writer was the Mahesh Babu-Venkatesh multi-starrer ‘Seetamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu’. Patro is also known for writing dialogues for over a dozen of director Kodi Ramakrishna’s films.
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Interestingly, the only song that he wrote in Telugu went on to become an evergreen hit. It features actor Nagarjuna in the film ‘Nirnayam’ and goes ‘Hello guru, premakosame ..’
‘Kavithalaya’ Krishnan, an associate of Balachander and who was closely known to Patro, recalls a trip to Tirupati where both Balachander and Patro attended a music programme by singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam. “I have known Ganesh Patro for over three decades. He was everything to Balachander sir. Even as I am struggling to cope up with Balachander’s demise, this comes as another shock,” he told this correspondent over phone from Chennai.
A spate of condolence messages were received from Telugu film industry personalities, including Mr. Chiranjeevi.
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Chief Ministers K. Chandrasekhar Rao and N. Chandrababu Naidu have condoled the death of Ganesh Patro.
Mr. Rao recalled films like Idhi Katha Kaadu and Maro Charitra for which Patro had contributed dialogues and said his writings had contributed significantly to their success.
In a message, Mr. Naidu said the loss of a writer of the calibre of Patro would be felt in an industry that was constantly driven by innovation.