Tollywood lost a great talent early Monday morning when music director Chakri passed away after suffering from a cardiac arrest. He was only 40.
Chakradhar Gilla, popularly known as Chakri, had been suffering from breathing problems. He had arrived home at around 1 am after finishing work at his office and was found motionless by wife Sravani in the morning. He was immediately taken to a private hospital near Banjara Hills, where doctors declared him brought dead.
Hailing from Mahbubabad in Warangal district, Chakri started his career creating private music albums. Director Puri Jagannath gave him his first T-Town break in Bachi in 2000 and since his debut, he never looked back, soon rising to the top of his field and ruling the industry with his music for almost a decade.
He completed nearly 100 movies as a music director and was also a good lyricist.
Chakri married Sravani, a die-hard fan of his, eight years ago this was his second marriage. And before leaving his office on Sunday night, Chakri seemed to be nostalgic, it has emerged.
He apparently told his office boy, “Enduko Jagan Annayya ni ippudu chudalani undi ra. (I don’t know why, but I feel like seeing Jagan (Puri Jagannath) now.
Balakrishna: “I treated him like a brother and he was a very nice person and a good human being. It’s very sad that the Telugu film industry lost a good music director at a young age. Chakri gave music for my film Simha and it was a blockbuster hit. He even won a Nandi award for that film. ”
R.P. Patnaik: While we were watching my film Chitram in a theatre at Dilsukhnagar, he got a call from director Puri Jagannath, who confirmed Chakri as the music director for his film. He was so happy. We also worked together to help the music industry shift from Chennai to Hyderabad.
Sunitha, singer, TV anchor: “I knew him even before he entered films. I sang in his music album Veda Matha and also in his first film. He was a very nice human being and always helped people. Recently, I did an interview with him and the episode will be telecast soon. I had also asked him to get his health checked.”
Smitha, singer: “I sang in his first film and the song was very popular at that time. Within a short span of time his career graph rose very high. I sang in a few of his films later as well.”
Lawanya Puri, wife of Puri Jagannath: “After I learnt that he was no more, I was shocked. I never expected that I would talk about Chakri like this. He was a family friend. He shared everything with me, including personal information. He also visited home very often.”
Surender Reddy, director: ‘I lost a good friend’ “We used to meet often, but we never worked together. Recently I had told him that he would be the music director for my next film. We had just talked about it and now I hear this shocking news.”
