Born in a small village in Karimnagar, Dr C. Narayan Reddy made it to the pinnacle of Telugu literature and was chosen for the Jnanpith Award for his magnum opus Vishwambara. In the meantime, his songs took wing and had Tollywood swooning in melodious harmony gaining priceless prized lyrics.
Singireddy Narayan Reddy became C. Narayana Reddy due to a clerical error on the part of the school he went as the officials thought that thought ‘Singireddy’ should be spelled with a ‘C’ and not an ‘S.’ His scholarly talent soon came to the fore and he became a romantic poet who got associated with progressive writers. His poetry caught the imagination of many and his foray into films brought him immense popularity.

Atmabhanduvu and Gulebakavali Katha were among his early hits and a new idiom was born into the Telugu film industry. Though he was working as a Professor in Osmania University, he managed to keep the film folk happy with his songs which are simple and at times, verbose to suit the situation.

So far as his identity in Tollywood is concerned, he became known as “C Na Re” and penned some of the best songs of all times and coined expressions like Pagale Vennela, Changu Re Bangaru Raja along with romantic songs like Chitram Ballare Vichitram. He went on to write 3,000 songs besides publishing many poems. He was also awarded the Padma Bhushan and was nominated to the Rajya Sabha.