He had penned over 3,000 songs in Telugu films

Noted poet, lyricist and Jnanpeeth award winner C. Narayana Reddy, 85, died following a brief illness after he was shifted to a corporate hospital here on Monday morning. He married Susheela and had four daughters -- Ganga, Yamuna, Saraswati and Krishnaveni.

Popularly known in literary circles as ‘CiNaRe’, he penned over 3,000 songs for Telugu feature films. Though a poet, he was also known for writing lyrical and musical ballads. He metered poetry, free verses, prose and songs for films, wrote travelogues, folk songs, ghazals in Telugu, essays and literary criticism.

A philosophical long poem ‘Viswambhara’ won him the highest literary honour of the country ‘Jnanpeeth’ in 1988. He received the Padma Shri in 1977, the Padma Bhushan in 1992 and several other national awards. He was nominated to the Rajya Sabha in 1997.

Narayana Reddy was born in Hanmajipet village near Vemulawada in Karimnagar district in July 1931. He had his early education in the village and secondary education in Urdu medium in Sircilla. His Intermediate education in Chaderghat college and BA in Osmania University here were also in Urdu medium. However, his post-graduation and Ph.D from the same university were in Telugu literature. Narayana Reddy took to teaching Telugu at the Secunderabad Arts and Science College and later joined the faculty of Nizam College. He was promoted as professor at Osmania University.

He made his debut as a writer with the publication for a musical-lyrical ballad `Navvani Puvvu’ in 1953. Another ballad `Ramappa’ was translated into many Indian languages. His long association with Telugu film industry writing songs started with the movie Gulebakavali Katha in 1962. Among the posts he held were Vice-Chancellor of Ambedkar Open University in 1985 and Potti Sriramulu Telugu University in 1989. He was chairman of State official language commission in 1981 and advisor to State government on cultural affairs the following year. `Viswambhara’, his Jnanpeeth winning work, was part of MA syllabi in some universities.

Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, Chief Ministers K. Chandrasekhar Rao and N. Chandrababu Naidu were among several VIPs who condoled his death. Mr. Naidu recalled Reddy’s close association with NTR. YSRC president Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy, Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao, former Governor K. Rosaiah and several film personalities visited his house at Manikonda to pay homage.