Noted Lyricist Takes Potshots At ‘Saraswatiputra’

When the film featuring Nandamuri Balakrishna, Gauthamiputra Satakarni, was released, the makers started calling everyone by their mother's name first, and that’s how many celebs started using their mother’s name as their first name. Especially, lyricist Ramjogayya Sastry started calling himself ‘Saraswatiputra’ because his mother’s name is Saraswati. That’s not the discussion here anyway.

In a recent interview, noted lyricist Anantha Sriram, who is enjoying the success of songs like Chikri and Rai Rai Raa Raa, for the lyrical value, has blasted many cannons. Apparently, when an interviewer addressed him as ‘Saraswatiputra’, he stated that none could be called as Saraswati Putra, meaning the song of Goddess Saraswati. “Only those who have more knowledge, divine power and power to move with words, maybe the likes of legendary Sri Sri or a few, would be eligible to be called as Saraswati Putra. Not everyone can call himself like that,” said Anantha Sriram.

This sounded like a direct jibe at Ramajogayya Sastry, whose name is now written with the prefix ‘Saraswatiputra’ in almost all the movie credits. Many are wondering if Ananth has any enmity or some uneasiness with Ramjogayya, at a time when both are considered to be the right successors of the likes of Veturi and Sirivennela in the world of lyric-writing. Of course, there are those other writers as well who have earlier objected to RamJo’s usage of Saraswatiputra title, as none thinks it is his mother’s name, but an ‘award’ he himself awarded to him.