Telugu film industry pays tribute to lyricist Veturi

Telugu film industry Sunday paid rich tributes to legendary lyricist Veturi Sundararama Murthy, who died following cardiac arrest. He was 74 and is survived by his wife and three sons. Veturi died Saturday night at a hospital, where he was admitted last week due to multiple problems.

Several prominent film personalities paid their last respects to the noted lyricist at his residence in Srinagar colony. The cremation will take place at Bansilalpet samshan later in the day.

Eminent film personalities, including director K. Viswanath, producer D. Ramanaidu, actors N. Balakrishna, Murali Mohan, Mohan Babu and Nagender Babu paid tributes to Veturi, who left an indelible impression on film industry.

Veturi, a poet who began his career as a journalist, went on to become one of the leading lyricist by penning memorable songs, ranging from classical to folk and the popular ones.

In his career spanning over three decades, he wrote hundreds of songs and also achieved the distinction of being a writer who can write a song within 15 minutes. "I have lost my brother," said Viswanath. The lyricist began his career in film industry by penning songs for Viswanath's film "O Sita Katha (1974)". His songs for the director's other movies like "Siri Siri Muvva" (1978), "Saptapadi" (1980) and "Sagara Sangamam" (1983) became very popular.

Born Jan 29, 1936 at Pedakallepalli in Krishna district, Veturi worked for Telugu dailies Andhra Prabha and Andhra Patrika. In 1994, he won the national film award for best lyrics. He was the second lyricist from Telugu film industry to achieve this distinction but returned the award since Telugu was not declared a classical language.

Veturi was also a recipient of Andhra Pradesh government's Nandi film award eight times for best lyrics.