Star Profiles
Tribute: Late Sri Rajashri 1934-1994
By Sri
Aug 31, 2009 - 8:31:27 PM

Late Sri Rajasri

Check any dubbing films in the '70s and '80s, and one can find one common signature through all of them - it is the title card that reads Rajashri. It could be a Mani Rathnam making a classic, or a Ramanarayana producing a low-budget flick, or Suraj Barjatya attempting ostentatiously for a wider audience, everyone just wants Rajashri to be their dialogue and lyric writer when their films are to be dubbed from any other language to telugu. After the times of SreeSree and Arudra, it was Rajashri who worked more for dubbed films, with nearly 1000 films that include about a 100 straight films!

Rajashri, whose real name is Indukuri Ramakrishnam Raju, was born on August 31, 1934 to Indukuri Appalaraju and Narayanamma gaaru in Vizianagaram. From a very young age, he started writing stories and metrical poetry. With the scholarship that he could get, he completed his B.Sc. (Physics) from the famous Maharaja College in Vizianagaram and also learned typewriting, which fetched him a job as a typist-cum-P.A. in Srikakulam District Board. He continued writing whenever he could take some time off in the job, and that's when he started using the pen name "Rajashri".

His khanDa-kaavyam titled abhuyudayam, written partly in metrical poetry (padyaalu) and partly in free verse lyrical form (gEyaalu) brought him a very good name. He then started writing plays, starting with AndhraSree which was played in Vishakhapatnam. B.V. Prasad saw it and encouraged him to write more, and Rajashri continued on to write the plays baava and vadina. B.V. Prasad liked them a lot too, so much that he directed them both and played the lead roles in these plays, and the plays became very popular later on.

Rajashri resigned his job and moved to Madras, where he started assisting writer Pinisetty Sriramamurthy having landed in the film industry due to him. The first film he worked for as a lyricist was Aada Pettanam (1954), produced by Kadaru Nagabhushanam and Kannamba. Though he got some recoginition with the film, offers did not really pour on him. So, in order to earn the daily bread, he started working as an assistant director for Kadaru Nagabhusnam. He worked as an assistant director for the films like Aada Pettanam, Anna-Thammudu, Paruvu-Pratishta, Shanta, Nithya Kalyanam Paccha Thoranam, Veerabhaskarudu, and Srikrishna Maaya. It was Pinisetty again who encouraged him to work in the story, screenplay departments when Pinisetty turned to directing the film Nithya Kalyanam Paccha Thoranam.

L.V.Prasad who was a close friend of Pinisetty was looking after the shooting of climax scenes for Nithya Kalyanam Paccha Thoranam and met Rajashri on the sets. He liked him and asked him to join in Prasad Productions banner, which Rajashri accepted and worked in the story department for the films like Sasuraal, Khilonaa, Thayilla Pillai, etc. While working for these films, he wrote lyrics for films like Rama Sundari. (At the same time, Columbia Records did some private records with his lyrics which were sung by P. Susheela, S. Janaki, and P.B. Sreenivos.)

B.V.Prasad debuted as a director with the film Simhachala Kshetra Mahima (1965), and Rajashri got a break as dialogue writer with this film; he also penned lyrics. Meanwhile, music director M.B. Sriram (who did a Telugu film called Pelli Roju in 1968 - Remember the songs aanaaTi chelimi oka kala..., and the title song?) made a Tamil film and wanted to dub that film into Telugu as Moodha Nammakaalu and offered Rajashri to write the dubbing version for it. That was his first dubbing film. Once he wrote that film, other offers started flowing in.

When B.V. Prasad introduced Rajashri to Chalam, the latter liked Rajashri instantly and that brought out memorable films like Sambaraala Rambabu, Bullemma- Bullodu, Devudamma, Thulaabhaaram, Ramude Devudu, Ooriki Upakaari, etc. Rajashri wrote atleast a couple of songs in all these films. kurisindi vaana... (Bullemma-Bullodu), maamaa, chandamaamaa... (Sambaraala Rambabu), ekkaDO doorana koorchunnaavu... (Devudamma), raadhaku neevEra praaNam... (Thulaabhaaram) etc. were all the outcome of this great combination.

Rajashri always said that dubbing a film is not merely synchronizing lip movement and getting the meaning but that the nativity and originality in the scene should also be incorporated in order to make the dubbed version a good film. Such care made him the hot favorite for top directors like Mani Rathnam and led them to churn out great movies that don't feel like they were dubbed really: Mounaraagam (1988), Naayakudu (1987), Gharshana (1988), Anjali (1990), Dalapathi (1991), Roja (1992), and Donga Donga (1993). And, who can forget their straight Telugu film Geethanjali (1989)? He worked for about 60 straight films in Tamil too in story and screenplay departments, and his repertoire also lists MGR's Thedivanda Maapillai too. He also won two Nandi Awards, for Mattilo Maanikyam and Bangaaru Gaajulu.

The talented artiste was not limited to simply writing story, screenplay, dialogues, and lyrics. He even provided music to a few films and directed some films too. In fact, in one of his rare interviews, he stated that music was what brought him to Madras in the first place! Dasari noticed his music sense and gave him a break as a music director; Rajashri was credited as "Ramakrishna Raja" in the titles as a music director for Dasari's films Enkanna Babu and Maama-Kodalu. Other films he provided music for include Pelli Chesi Choopistaam (starring Chandramohan, Vijayashanti, and Chalam on Chalam's own Ramana Chitra banner) and Pudiya Sangamam in Tamil. K. Raghava, who gave a break to Dasari as a director with Taatha-Manavadu also gave a break to Rajashri as a director with the film Chaduvu-Samskaaram. Rajashri later directed Nijam Nidrapodu and O Prema Katha (starring Sarvadaman Benarjee and Radhika in the lead).

The greatly talented soul breathed his last while working for the film Premikudu (1994). On August 14 that year, he went from Sri Surya Movies office to have his lunch and took a nap and he never woke up again. This August marks his 75th birth anniversary and 15th death anniversary. TeluguCinema.Com is obliged to present the profile of the talented writer who was aptly called "anuvaada brahma", but has a lot more to his credit than just his work for dubbed films. His son Sudhakar penned dialogues for some films that were dubbed into Telugu, including some English films, and was credited as Sudhakar Rajashri.

Edited by: NaChaKi
Article : by  Sri Atluri

Rajasri Sudhakar

When we completed the article on Rajashri gaaru, we thought of calling  his son Rajashri Sudhakar, who continued the legacy of his dad in dubbing films. It took some time to find his phone number, through Vennelakanti because his son Shashank was a friend of Sudhakar. Though Vennelakanti did not have his number readily, he promised to get back the next day, when his son would be back in town. The same day, I called Ganesh Patro gaaru as it'd been long since I spoke to him, and casually mentioned Sudhakar. Ganesh Patro told me that his daughter was a good friend of Rajashri's daughter, and said he'd give his number momentarily. And, he did call back with the number within minutes! While speaking to Sudhakar finally, I mentioned about the tribute we already wrote, and I sent him the same and asked him to comment on it. He said he liked the article, and I asked him to speak some more about his dad, about his own career, and so on. The excerpts of the telephone call is presented here as an interview with Rajashri Sudhakar, reminiscing about his dad and revealing more about his film-writing career.

Sri: Tell me some about your father.
Sudhakar: Hmm... telling that he's a famour writer and that he gave fresh image to dubbed films and so on is too routine and everyone knows that already. ...I remember one incident which makes me proud of being his son: I saw Sivaji Ganeshan gaaru as a child. He's a legend that's liked by nearly everyone in Tamilnadu. When his Thanga Patakam was dubbed into Telugu as Bangaaru Patakam, he came to the dubbing theatre while Jagayya gaaru was dubbing for him. Sivaji Ganeshan has a peculiar way of dialogue delivery and to write dialogues for the Telugu version in such a way as to maintain the lip synchronization is really tough. After he saw the dubbing however, the legendary actor hugged my dad happily and said that he wanted to work for straight Telugu films for a long time, but after he saw the dubbing work for this film, he already felt that he had just completed a straight Telugu film! He was really happy the way my father worked on the film. Rehman, Mani Rathnam, and some others always preferred my dad to work for their films when dubbed to Telugu. Such is their confidence on my father's caliber and work.

Sri: Though he was famous as a dubbing writer, he was also a good lyricist, dialogue writer, music director, and also a director. However, he was not as successful as he was as a dubbing writer. What do you see as a reason?
Sudhakar: What can I say! It's just the way fate acts. For example, he started O Prema Katha, he started the film and it got delayed. Rajasekhar was initially supposed to do that role but he was busy and so he took Sarvadaman Benarjee instead. Radhika left to london and cannot adjust dates immediatly. Meanwhile, M.S. Reddy gaari son Shyamprasad Reddy started his production and made Thalambraalu with Rajasekhar and Jeevitha, with the same story, and the film went on to become a hit. O Prema Katha was eventually released and was declared a flop... (Laughs) Not everything is in our hands!

Rajasri sudhakar in veedokkade press meet

Sri: How did you come into the field?
Sudhakar: I am the only one from my family who came into the field, among four brothers and a sister. I am the second child in the family and was interested in films from my childhood. I joined as a guitarist with music director Sathyam gaaru for the film Thalambraalu. I eventually became guitarist and worked for every major music director in the industry. When my father suddenly passed away in 1994, I was in a deep shock but I could not fill in for his projects as I was busy as a guitarist myself with different projects at that time. However, I later wrote lyrics and composed music for serials like Sreekrishna and Ramayanam, etc. I ventured into filmdom as a writer with Deep Blue Sea when it was dubbed into Telugu as Mruthyu Saagaram (The film stars Tom Jane of Padamata Sandhya Ragam in the lead, and the posters for the Telugu version prominently mentioned the same.)Following that film, I did almost 200 films for Columbia Pictures, including popular ones like Chronicles of Narnia, Spiderman, etc.

Sri: I recently saw a dubbed film on the TV, and the dubbing was horrible...!
Sudhakar: That's because dubbing for TV is entirely different from dubbing feature films. Most people who work to dub for TV or DVDs directly are not up to the mark. They do the job cheap, and they simply translate English dialogues as is. You can see the films I worked for theatrical release, and I don't do that way, and the dialogues are on par with straight films.

Sri: Like your dad was a favorite of some moviemakers, you seem to have impressed the prestigious Rajashri banner and Rakesh Roshan's banner...
Sudhakar: (Laughs) It's just that they liked my work and I became permanent for them thus. I met Rakesh Roshan and Hritik Roshan only once, in fact, which was at the audio release for Krrish-2 in Telugu.

Sri: What about Ashutosh Gowarikar?
Sudhakar: He came and stayed for ten days when I the dubbing work for Jodha Akbar was being done. I have a good rapport with him.

Sri: I somehow believe that most dubbing works go unnoticed. Can you please name some of your recent works?
Sudhakar: I wrote both dialogues and lyrics for Telugu works for Jodha Akbar, Krrish, Race, and the Tamil version of 13B (titled Yaavarum Naalam). I wrote only lyrics for Dhoom-2 and Thara Ram Pam. I wrote only dialogues for Surya's Veedokkade (Telugu version of Ayan). I also worked for A.R. Rahman's album on Taj Mahal titled One Love and Ceylon Manohar's album Super Surangani. I thanked him for his feedback on tribute to Rajashri, and for the interview, also sharing memories of his dad and concluded the interview. 

  Edited by: NaChaKi
Interview by : Sri Atluri