Taking inspiration from nature

Goreti Venkanna, poet and folk singer shot to fame with his song like “Palle Kanneeru Peduthundo”. He also judged a folk songs music reality show ‘Rela Re Rela’ on a TV channel. Recently he was awarded the prestigious Suddala Hanumanthu-Janakamma National Award. Speaking with The Hans India, Goreti Venkanna shared his tryst with songs and writings.

Excerpts from interview
“I was born and brought up in Gowraram village in Mahbubnagar district. Nature is my inspiration. I pen lyrics by observing the incidents happening around me. My father also used to sing folk songs. In my school days, I was inspired by my Telugu teacher. Prominent people like Gaddar and Krishna Shastry’s songs have always motivated me,” Goreti Venkanna said.

Venkanna also received Kala Ratna Award from AP Government in 2006 and Kaloji Narayana Rao Award in 2016 from Telangana Government for his works in literature.
About winning Suddala Hanumanthu-Janakamma National Award he said, “I am happy for receiving this award. Suddala Hanumanthu wrote great songs to inspire people in Telangana. About 60 years back he penned great lyrics. We must appreciate Suddala Ashok Teja for organising and distributing this award every year,” he added.
Till now Venkanna wrote more than 500 songs and one can observe that he did not write many songs for films. “I wrote many songs and authored four books till now. No one from film industry approached me for the songs and even I did not try to write for movies. It’s no one’s fault. It happened like that. This year I wrote songs for 10 films. If anyone approaches me for film songs, I will write,” he shared.

He opined that Telugu theatre status is in a good position and it will reach new heights in near future.

Speaking about the controversy of the Kancha Ilaiah’s latest book on ‘Vysyas’, he said, “Kancha Ilaiah’s writing on a particular community is not good. No one has a right to use the issues caste and creed to dominate people. People must unite irrespective of caste issues. In my opinion and as of my experience, the Vysyas are good people.”