gaddar's `comrade' Naajar is no more.
Sreenivas Paruchuri (sreeni@ktpsp1.uni-paderborn.de)
Wed, 5 Mar 1997 20:54:27 +0100 (MET)
Perhaps I am posting this wrong message on a wrong group at wrong time, when
people are actively analysing Gaddar - the person and the poet from 'all'
points of view.
Here I would like pay a (brief) tribute to late Nazar, who expired last week
in Guntur. I don't know how many of you have heard of this great personality,
who actively contributed to Telugu cultural movement all his life long and
enjoyed high respect and following between 40s and 70s. Its not an
exaggeration to say that Gaddar was influenced by Naajar.
I can only vaguley recall two occasions when I had seen him, as a kid, at
CPI-M meetings in Mangalagiri/VZA, and by then he was already in his 60s.
He was one of the pillars of "prajaa naaTya manDali" (PNM, the Telugu wing of
IPTA). The credit of popularising _burrakatha_ in modern times goes to him.
He was the one to compose palnaaTi yuddham as burrakatha (basing his work
on well known works/translations by Akkiraju Umakantam and Pingali
Lakshmikantam) and taking it closer to the masses by performing it
(initially in late 40s, early 50s), apart from many other popular songs and
burrakathalu.
Recently I completed reading Sudhi Pradhan's 3 vol. work: _Marxist cultural
movement in India : chronicles and documents_, which also covers the IPTA
movement, but focusses more on Bengal (author regrets it). After Bengal,
A.P was the state where the movement was most active. Till today we lack
good studies on this important subject/movement which gave us
good literature, many good poets, singers, actors, actresses,
music-directors etc. etc.
Sad that nothing of Naajar (perhaps with an exception of a film performance
in "aggiraamuDu" 1954) nor PNM's great music was recorded. Shall I say that
'Telugus are once again late in catching the bus'!
Regards,
Sreenivas
--
E-Mail: sreeni@ktp.uni-paderborn.de