Vennelakanti Rajeswara Prasad, a popular lyricist and writer of Telugu Cinema, breathed his last on January 5, 2021. Aged 63, he died after suffering a heart attack at his home in Chennai. His demise has left all industry members shocked. Writer Paruchuri Gopalakrishna expressed his grief over Vennelakanti’s demise. He took to Facebook and wrote, “I am shocked at the news that our Telugu Cinema Writers Association's life member, famous songwriter, brother Vennelakanti, who called me as Anna garu, suddenly died with a heart attack. May his soul rest in peace, deepest condolences to his family members.” Kollywood Producer KP Balu Passes Away; R Sarath Kumar, Venkat Prabhu Offer Condolences.

Vennelakanti has written more than 2,000 songs. Hailing from Nellore in Andhra Pradesh, he was introduced to the world of cinema in 1986 with the film Sri Rama Chandrudu that was helmed by Bhaskar Rao. The man who was inclined towards Harikathas, began writing from a young age. Before venturing into films, he worked as a banker and wrote his first song for Sri Rama Chandrudu. Some of his notable works include “Maatarani Mounamidi” from Maharshi, “Mavayya Anna Pilupu” from Muddula Mavayya, “Raasaleela Vela” from Aditya 369, among others. Besides working for Tollywood, Vennelakanti had also worked for Tamil Cinema.

Vennelakanti was known as dubbing script writer and contributing lyrics for Kollywood that was dubbed into Telugu language. He has two sons, Shashank and Rakendu Mouli, even they work as dialogue writer for dubbed films and lyricist, respectively. We express our heartfelt condolences to his family and all loved ones.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 06, 2021 10:46 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).