Nellore: Famous lyricist and dialogue writer Vennelakanti Rajeswara Prasad, 63, passed away at his residence in Chennai following a massive heart attack on Tuesday afternoon.
A native of Nellore City, he is survived by his wife Prameela and sons Shashank Mouli and Rakendu Mouli.
Popular as Vennelakanti, he had penned dialogues for hundreds of successful Tamil films, which were dubbed into Telugu. He had also contributed to a few Hindi and English movies.
The lyricist and dialogue writer began his career as a songwriter for Anna Chellelu and Sri Ramachandrudu, but came to limelight with Murali Krishnudu (1988), produced by S. Gopal Reddy. He has more than 2,000 songs to his credit, including hit numbers, such as Maatarani Mounamidi (Maharshi), Mavayya Anna Pilupu (Muddula Mavayya) and Raasaleela Vela (Aditya 369).
Vennelakanti, however, became more popular as a dialogue writer for superhit films of Kamal Haasan in Tamil, which got dubbed into Telugu, like Dasavataram, Pancha Thanthram, Bhamane Sathya Bhamane, apart from Jurassic Park in English and Hum Aap Ke Hai Kaun in Hindi.
A close friend of the late playback singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, the lyricist and dialogue writer used to attribute his success in tinsel world to SP. His reverence towards Balu was such that he broke down while sharing with Deccan Chronicle information about his relationship with the late playback singer.
Vice-president M. Venkaiah Naidu made Vennelakanti even pen a song on Nellore. Balu was supposed to sing it while noted director Kodandarami Reddy was entrusted with the job of filming the song. “Without Balu, I don’t know what we will do with the project now,” Vennelakanti told DC then.
Both his sons are lyricists, with Rakendu even acting in films, such as Kirrack Party and Sahasame Oopiriga Sagipo.
Vennelakanti Rajeswara Prasad’s close friend in Nellore, Y. Sesha Girisam, said the departed lyricist and dialogue writer had inherited his writing skills from his father Koteswar Rao, who worked as production chief of Prathibha Films, belonging to famous producer of bygone era, Gantasala Balaramaiah.
“Vennelakanti started his career as an officer with the State Bank of India. He moved to the film world with the help of Balu. He used to write songs and I used to tune them in our younger days” Girisam recalled.
Vennelakanti was closely associated with Vijetha Arts, a cultural association, which has been holding state-level drama competitions every year at Nellore since decades.
Lamenting over the demise of his close friends Balu and Vennelakanti, Girisam said the two deaths are a great loss for all Nellorians
