Jaladi Raja Rao

Jaladi Raja Rao
Born	9 Aug 1932 Gudiwada, Krishna district
Died	14 October 2011 Visakhapatnam
Occupation	Lyricist, poet, scriptwriter
Nationality	Indian

Jaladi Raja Rao (Telugu: జాలాది రాజా రావు) (9 August 1932 – 14 October 2011) was a versatile writer, playwright and lyricist in Telugu cinema.

Jaladi was born in a Telugu Christian family on 9 August 1932 in Gudiwada in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. He was the fourth son of Amrutamma and the late Jaladi Emmanuel, a member of the Krishna District Board and Indian freedom fighter.

He passed his S.S.L.C. with Telugu as special course. He started his career as a drawing teacher in District Board Schools. He worked in various districts and learned the slang used in different areas of the State. He resigned his job during his stint at Veeraghattam in Srikakulam district in 1968 and went to Chennai to try his luck in films.

He entered the realm of films as a lyricist for the movie Palle Sema in 1950. His debut song Churattakku Jarutadhi Sittukku Sittuku is tuned by K V Mahadevan. He wrote several social, philosophical, patriotic and folk songs in Telugu movies. His songs consist of only Telugu words of various regions of Andhra Pradesh.

Being from a Dalit background, he always liked to write about poverty, village life and folk type of songs. He penned nearly 1,500 songs in more than 270 movies and remained popular for his folk-oriented songs, which had an exotic rural touch.

He also wrote books like Viswamohini and Kakulamma and plays like Amarajeevi, Tandri, Samadhi and Karumeghalu. He died on 14 October 2011 in Visakhapatnam.

These are some of the popular songs penned by him for Telugu films.

...
Wikipedia