Acclaimed Telugu lyricist Vennelakanti passes away in Chennai

2021 has certainly started on a sad note for Telugu film lovers as acclaimed lyricist Vennelakanti Rajeswara Prasad has breathed his last in Chennai on Monday. The 63-year-old veteran died of cardiac arrest at his residence. He is survived by wife and two sons. His elder son Shashank Vennelakanti is also a noted lyricist. Several members from the Telugu film fraternity and musical world expressed shocked over the news and offered their condolences to the family members.

In an illustrious career spanning for over three decades, Vennelakanti penned the lyrics for nearly 2000 songs and wrote dialogues for 300 films. Born at Nellore in 1957, he started to write poetry from a very young age and was inclined towards spiritual speeches and Harikathas. In 1986, the talented personality made his debut as a lyricist with ‘Sri Rama Chandrudu’ and carried on his tenure with popular songs in films like Aditya 369, Gharana Bullodu, Samarasimha Reddy, Criminal, Takkari Donga and many others. His last movie was the Keerthy Suresh starrer ‘Penguin’ (2020).

Vennelakanti is hugely popular for his work in dubbed films. He also penned the dialogues for several movies starring Kamal Haasan and they include Panchatanthiram, Pothuraju, Mumbai Xpress, Dasavatharam and Manmadha Baanam. It was SP Balu who encouraged Vennelakanti to come into the film industry. Prior to movies, he worked as a bank employee.
In 2020, Tollywood lost several personalities which include Jaya Prakash Reddy, SP Balasubrahmanyam, Raavi Kondala Rao, Kosuri Venu Gopal, Kola Bhasker and Narsing Yadav.