Srirangam Srinivasa Rao | |
---|---|
Sri Sri
|
|
Born |
Srirangam Srinivasa Rao 30 April 1910 Visakhapatnam |
Died | 15 June 1983 Madras |
(aged 73)
Other names | SriSri |
Spouse(s) | Saroja |
Srirangam Srinivasa Rao (30 April 1910 – 15 June 1983), popularly known as Sri Sri, was a Telugu poet and lyricist. He was a member of PEN INDIA, Sahitya Academy, Vice-President of the South Indian Film Writers Association, Madras and President of the revolutionary writers association of Andhra. He was also awarded the Soviet Land Nehru Award of India.
Srirangam Srinivasa Rao, popularly known as Sri Sri, was born on 30 April 1910 in Visakhapatnam. He completed his education in the same school in which his father, Sri Venkata Ramaiah, was working as a mathematics teacher. He married Venkata Ramanamma at an age of 15 and adopted a girl child. He later married Sarojini, with whom he had a son and three daughters.
He went to Madras for his higher studies in 1928 and completed them by 1931. In 1938, he joined as a sub-editor of Andhra Prabha, a daily newspaper. He later worked for All India Radio and armed forces. He is a major radical poet (e.g. Prabhava) and novelist (e.g. Veerasimha Vijayasimhulu). He introduced free verse into his socially concerned poetry through Maha Prasthanam. He wrote visionary poems in a style and metre not used before in Telugu classical poetry. He moved poetry forward from traditional mythological themes to reflect more contemporary issues.
He entered into Telugu cinema with Ahuti (1950), a Telugu-dubbed version of Junnarkar's Neera aur nanda (1946). Some of the songs, such as "Hamsavale O Padava", "Oogisaladenayya", "Premaye janana marana leela", scored by Saluri Rajeswara Rao, were major hits.
Srirangam Srinivasa Rao was the first true modern Telugu poet to write about contemporary issues that affected day-to-day life of a common man in a style and metre which were not used in classical Telugu poetry. He wrote visionary poems in a style and metre not used before in Telugu classical poetry. He moved poetry forward from traditional mythological themes to reflect more contemporary issues.
His book Maha Prasthanam (The Great Journey), an anthology of poems, is one of his major works. Other major works include Siprali and Khadga Srushti ("Creation of the Sword").
Sri Sri was a screenwriter for several Telugu films. He was one of the best film songwriters in India, he has penned lyrics for over 1000 soundtracks in Telugu. He was a great asset to the Telugu film industry