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You are at Home > Celebs > Interview > Sirivennela Seeta Rama Sastry
Interview with Sirivennela Seeta Rama Sastry by Jeevi

Date: 4th March 2002 Venue: Sirivennela Residence
Other Interviews
D Suresh Babu (Producer)
Mahesh Babu (Hero)
Lisa Ray (Heroine)
Sravanthi Ravi Kishore (Producer)
RP Patnaik (Music Director)
Smita (Telugu pop singer)
Shyam (Producer)
Karunakaran (Director)
Sri (Music Director)
Gudipoodi Srihari(Film Critic)
SJ Surya(Director)
AM Ratnam(Producer)
Tammareddy Bharadwaja(Producer n Director)
Jayant C Paranji(Director)
Kodi Rama Krishna(Director)
Chakri (JD Chakravarthy)(Hero)
Ramana Gogula(Music Director)
Naga Babu(Producer n Actor)
Continued from Part Three

Listen to the voice interview of Sirivennela Seeta Rama Sastry by clicking the link below

 

Ram Gopal Varma wanted me to write lyrics using conversational language for his films. He did not want me to use any bookish language. When I was pondering over the technique of writing lyrics in natural conversational Telugu, I came across a mentor. He is none other than Sri Kosaraju garu. Though Athreya garu writes lyrics with simple Telugu, you can see that he uses the style of bookish Telugu at times. Sri Kosaraju garu wrote lyrics like 'Ayyayyo Jebulo Dabbulu Poyene' etc. I have taken Sri Kosaraju garu as an inspiration and wrote lyrics for Ram Gopal Varma's films.

As I told you earlier, when I was a kid I did not bother to learn English and channeled all my energies to mastering Telugu. I don't prefer to converse in English, as I don't know the difference between 'have' and 'had' or present tense or past tense. If I speak in English, people would laugh at my sentence construction and I can't take that humiliation

Likewise, whenever I watched films, before entering the film industry, I used to laugh at most of the lyrics in the films. After entering the industry, I developed a strong conviction that I should never ever write such kind of lyrics, which would become laughing stocks. I wrote even the most sensuous (srungara) lyrics in Telugu like 'Sangaminchu Angaanga Madanudi Simhasanam' in a decent manner. I made sure that everybody in the family could listen to my lyrics and enjoy them without getting offended.

An underlying poetry is always an inherent part of all my songs. One of the main hurdles I faced when I entered the film industry was that the producers and directors did not accept poetry in lyrics. They treated poetry like AIDS. Whenever, they saw something poetic in lyrics, they would immediately remove it. In a bid to retain poetry in my lyrics, I used to always induce it in an obscure manner into all my lyrics. But now, because of my seniority and acceptance of my work by public, producers are willing to accept poetry in my lyrics.

On an average I used to write 20 versions for each song. There were some instances where I even wrote 150 versions for a song. The only problem with my writings is that I cannot write lyrics in a jet speed manner and I have a marvelous competitor in form of Veturi garu who is extremely fast at penning lyrics. To compensate that, I used to ask the producers to give me the concept and context of the song in the evening so that I could write the lyrics at night and give them to the producers by the following morning. I usually don't sleep at nights. I start my work at 8 pm in the night and continue till 8 am in the morning.

If I ponder over my past, I still wonder how I ended up being a lyricist. As a kid, I wrote good stories and essays. Each essay ran into 100 to 150 pages. Those essays represented the philosophical thoughts and rationale objectives I had as a kid. From a thought-provoking writer to a movie lyricist I have come a long way. Even now, whenever I get a chance I strive my best to come up with thought-provoking lyrics in songs like 'Chilaka ye todu leka' (Subhalagnam) and 'Niggadeesi agudu' (Gaayam).

Nowadays, the standard of Telugu lyrics is degrading. In the future, I fear, a time would come where the entire lyrics would revolve around 30 - 40 stock words. But I want to preserve the tradition of writing lyrically rich songs. Hence, I have decided to write 'Sivoham', just to make sure that I exploit all my knowledge in literature and to preserve my style of writing. My final aim is to write 1000 songs on Lord Shiva. 'Sivoham' is all about symbolizing the way of Indian living though Lord Shiva. I completed 354 songs so far and released a book titled 'Siva Tarpanam'.

Lyrics in the songs of recent films cannot be termed as lyrics. They are just an array of words weaved into a song to satisfy the tunes of music directors. The music director gives a tune along with his 'tana tanana' kind of humming and the lyricists replace that 'tana tanana' humming with suitable words. Hence words have become a part of orchestra just like any other musical instrument. The perspective of writing lyrics these days has taken the form of joining words irrespective of whether they make sense or not. In an attempt to write lyrics to as many songs as possible in as little time as feasible, lyricists are least bothered if they are conveying the true emotions of the characters or not.

As I told you earlier, the language of lyrics and the language we speak belong to two different spaces though they appear similar because of the usage of same words. Nowadays, producers want us to change certain words in the songs and replace them with catchy words. They should realize that a song does not mean compilation of thoughts. A song is a lyrical thought that conveys a feeling.

Veturi garu brought a revolutionary change in Telugu Lyrics just like the way Sri Sri garu brought a revolution in Telugu literature. I am an extension of Veturi garu. I am not a pioneer. Veturi garu is the trendsetter and I am just a follower of his trend. But most of the people disagree with me on this statement.

If you observe the Hindi songs of early 70's, all of them have in-depth philosophical thought. During those days, Telugu cinema had dry songs. After the arrival of Veturi garu, good lyrics came into existence in Telugu film industry. On the contrary, there is not a single song that has excellent poetry after 70's in the Hindi field. There might be a couple of songs here and there but not a bunch of them. Nowadays hindi songs are filled with a few stock words like 'Maine Dil Diya', 'Chain Khogaya', 'Neend Khogaya', 'Pagal Hogaya', 'Deewana Hoyaga' etc. This might anger a few people belonging to Hindi film industry, but I can confidently say that the standard of lyrics these days is much better in Telugu than in Hindi. But there is one good quality in Hindi songs. Right from the beginning, they avoided vulgarity in their lyrics, which is not the same in Telugu. The Srugaram of Hindi song is very much related to Dil (Heart). All Hindi songs have lyrics like 'Main Tujh pe mar jaaonga', 'Main Mar Gayi' etc. I don't understand how death comes in love. Again, it has something to deal with Urdu tradition. In Telugu, Srugaram lingers more on body. But, Srugaram is not related to the body alone. There is chemistry between body and mind. One has to understand that chemistry to write Srungara song in Telugu.

I make sure that I inject my personal philosophical experiences into all my lyrics. If you write a song with beautiful words without really experiencing it, it would become an exhibition of your knowledge in Telugu thereby not serving the main purpose. People appreciate my lyrics because somewhere the listeners can relate their own experiences to the lyrics. That's where the success of lyric writer lies. For me, life is a school and time is a teacher. By academic knowledge, you just gain information and not the experience. Experience has to precipitate in the form of the feeling. If you can convert that precipitated feeling of experience as a song, it is bound to touch the hearts of the listeners. Sri Sri garu once said 'Naa Paata Jaati Janulu Paadukone Geetam Kaavali'. It means that when somebody sings that song, they should forget that it's written by Sri Sri garu. They should sing it as if it's their own song.

Checkout our Telugu Samethalu (idioms). Each Sametha is like a bullet in a gun. When it comes out, it does with a force that leaves its impact. Each Sametha is a totality of an excellent poem. Can you tell me who wrote those Samethalu? Nobody knows about that! But they are all very dear to us. When you write something that is very near to the life of a common man, he would adapt it in no time. This is the secret of success of Sirivennela Seetarama Sastry. Why do people accept me? I am no way superior to any body among my contemporaries or elders. There is a touch of reality in my songs. Somebody or the other would identify themselves with the feelings in my lyrics.

'Nuvvemi chesaavu neram
Ninnekkada antindi paapam, chinabokuma!
Cheyutanandinchu sayam
Yenaadu chesindi sangham, gamaninchuma!!
'

After listening to these lyrics [from the movie Pellichesukundam], every person will immediately identify himself with those lines. He would start questioning himself - 'did the society help me when I was in trouble?'

'Nigga deesi adugu ee sigguleni jananni'

When I acted in that scene [in the movie Gaayam] and pointed my fingers towards the audience, nobody felt offended thinking that why is this person referring me as 'sigguleni janam' (shameless people). Everybody, in his or her heart, knows that we are like that. Whatever might be the reason, none of us are take the responsibility for the happenings in the society. Everybody appreciated me for those lyrics. Nobody cursed me.

'Ye Charitra Nerchukundi Pachhani Paatham
Ye kshananna marchukundi chichula maargam
Rama Baanam aarpinda Ravana Kaastam
Krishna Geeta aapinda Nitya Kurukshetram
'

Above words don't just form a simple poetry. They are the facts of life.

'Sthreela Tanuvulone Seelamunnadante
Purusha sparsatone Toligipovunante
Illala dehalalo Seelame Vundadanaa
Bhartannavadevvadu Purushude Kaadana?
'

In the above sentences [from the song 'Nuvvemi Chesaavu neram' of Pellichesukundam], 'Seelam' is nothing but 'Gunam'.

People are accepting my lyrics, as there is 'Satya Sparsa' (Touch of Truth) in my writings. That's the reason why I study life a lot. I don't really have respect for scholars who amass knowledge without imparting it to anybody. If you take 100 years as the lifetime of a human being, in this time a person has to understand and relate himself to the society. Millions of intellectuals have born prior to us. What happened to the information and knowledge gathered by them after their death? What is the contribution they have made to the society and to their life? What is the use of gathering all that information if it's not useful to the people of future generations? What are we doing to our kids now? We are making every child a robot. Robot also has enormous information. The real knowledge that is useful to a person would be taught by time and life. The knowledge learnt through books is not useful. That's what I have written in the song 'Bodi Chaduvulu Waste' (in Manasichhi Choodu).

[With that we conclude Idlebrain exclusive feature - 'The Making of Sirivennela'. Sirivennela garu agreed to have another session with Idlebrain later. Interested visitors can send in their questions to us at [email protected] so that we can pose them to Sirivennela garu on your behalf]

Click here for Part One, Part II and Part III
Sirivennela has written a book titled 'Sirivennela Tarangalu', which featured the best songs done by him and what inspired him to write those lyrics. It's an excellent book. It is priced at Rs 95/- in India ($ 9 in USA). You can get a copy of it by mailing the following address:
Sirivennela Creations (P) Limited
301, Western Plaze, Yellareddyguda, Hyderabad 500073
Phone No: 040 3739127
Interviewed by Jeevi
 
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