Veturi Sundararama Murthy - Relations With Other Artists

Relations With Other Artists

Veturi had cordial relationships with the bigheads of the industry. He worked with all classes of directors, producers, music directors and actors ranging from stars to debutants. In his book Kommakommako Sannayi, he describes his relationship with some of the music directors, singers, lyricists, actors and directors. He was a teacher-like figure for many artists in the industry.

Many people consider him the most complete lyricist in the history of Telugu Film History. Even his competitors called him guru. Fellow lyricist and a legendary lyricist himself, Sirivennela praised him as a source of inspiration. He isolated Veturi as the one who broadened the horizons of a Telugu song. Sirivennela wrote a 4-page article in a Telugu monthly magazine Haasam explaining the breadth and depth in Veturi's poetry. Being a competitor, he ended the article saying: "aakaaSaannaakramiMchina aayana bhaavanaapaadaaniki, bhoogOLaanni aakramiMchina aayana bhaashaapaadaaniki bhaktithO aMjali ghaTistoo "naa mooDO paadaanni nee nettina peDataa" aMTunna aayana taaMDava paadaaniki bhayaMtO namaskaristoo, mummaaru mokkutoo"(Telugu: "ఆకాశాన్నాక్రమించిన ఆయన భావనాపాదానికి, భూగోళాన్ని ఆక్రమించిన ఆయన భాషాపాదానికి భక్తితో అంజలి ఘటిస్తూ "నా మూడో పాదాన్ని నీ నెత్తిన పెడతా" అంటున్న ఆయన తాండవ పాదానికి భయంతో నమస్కరిస్తూ, ముమ్మారు మొక్కుతూ") which roughly translates to "I pray unto your two feet with devotion: one who has occupied the sky of imagination, one which has occupied the earth called language; and with terror, I pray salute the third foot which he says he would keep on my head". This is in reference to Vamana, an Avatar of Vishnu.

Veteran director K. Viswanath referred to him as brother. Director Sekhar Kammula referred to him as his guru. Actor, writer and director Tanikella Bharani referred to him as a manifestation of Saraswati in male form. Acclaimed director Mani Ratnam, who worked with him for Geethanjali, praised him as one of the best he has come across.

Veturi was very flexible with remunerations while working with young and upcoming artists, which made him very approachable and close to almost every director and producer.