Music Director Chakri's premature demise due to heart failure is a grim reminder to all of us to take care of the address that holds the key to the length of our stay on this planet - our body. My doctor friend tells me that the heart is the only human organ that stops working just like that one fine day without telling us. But it gives us warnings. Yet, one third of heart attack patients never make it alive to the hospital, he says. Chakri's must be unfortunately one of those unfortunate one-third who had a fatal attack.
I saw Chakri's live music performance at a family friend's Shastipoorthi birthday a few years back. He was lively and humble but rarely smiled unless people greeted him. But he showed greater resilience in his career of over 100 films composing some of the best chart-busters that created mass following. He embarked into film music at almost the same time as RP Patnaik but lasted a wee bit longer than the latter - scoring hit tunes for Ravi Teja, Nagarjuna, Allu Arjun, Nitin, Siddharth, Sumanth, Gopichand, Ram, NTR Jr, Prabhas, Venu,Tarun, Jagapathi Babu and lately for Balayya and Vishnu. Only Chiranjeevi, Venkatesh, Mahesh Babu and Ram Charan did not sway to his tunes. Directors like Puri Jagannadh swore by him for a long time before moving on to others as it happens in a film industry seeking success than substance. But directors like Krishna Vamshee, YVS Choudhary, and Vamshee himself have hired his services as a composer where he belted out some amazing numbers - "Jagamantha Kutumbam Maadi..", "Neeve Neeve..." and "Vennello Hayi Hayi..".
Chakri's music had some essential qualities that ensured his tunes the staying power - rhythm, stylish arrangements, energy, speed, simple instrumentation, buzzwords repeated with hypnotic effect and the occasional melodies. It had an uncanny resemblance to old film tunes and hip hop music but rarely his music lagged. That is because in a career spanning films with so many directors bursting at the seams and so many stars, there was little room for error and Chakri fit the bill pefectly - even if his music had shades of Ilayaraja, Bappi Lahiri and several old film songs. For instance, remember that mass song in Ravi Teja's "Krishna": "Nee Soku Maada, Ammo Nee Jimmadaa..". I pointed out immediately while watching the film that this song is a fast-tempo replica of the famous Ghantasala song composed, sung and enacted by the legend himself himself: "Sesha Sailaa Vaasa Sri Venkatesaaa..". He had the knack of improvising songs like that - straight-lift some black and white melodies and remix them to modern settings. Perhaps this is what made directors like YVS Choudhary and Vamshee seek him out for giving some of the best hit films in their second innings. Nobody could mix up the Ileana item song in "Devadasu" from the old L.R.Maheshwari "Mayadari Chinnodu.". Even Vamshee sought his compositions and Chakri returned his faith with great numbers in some of his films which resembled the old magic of Ilayaraja-Vamsee tunes which had an atypical mixture of hummable melodies with simple dialogues and peculiar sounds created by mouth.
Amongst the new crop of music directors to enter Tollywood in the nineties, few have had such a run of success that Chakri had - with the only exceptions of MM Keeravani, Mani Sharma, DSP and Thaman. Chakri seemed to have created his mark with clever remixes, smart composing and a legacy of hummable songs that had a modern tinge, simple rhythms and a melody mix that made him a sought-after for a major part of his career. If he had failures, that would have come only with his inability to handle success, not without an ability to persevere and re-adapt himself to the new demands and new heroes. How else would you explain his awards from Filmfare to Nandi for "Simha" quite recently! His untimely death could have been prevented and he could have given more breaks to many other new singers like Kaushalya, Simha. It is a stark warning for all of us who die out empty in their brains every day but may wake up dead one day in the body. Chakri may not be a maestro, may not have given us the best lyrics to be proud of or set the highest standards of composing - but success sought him mostly before success took him away from us. May his soul R.I.P.
What is the legacy of his best five melodies? Methinks the following five:
1. "Jagamantha Kutumbam Maadi" (Chakram)
2. "Rama Rama Rama Neeli Megha Shyama" (Sivamani)
3. "Vennello Hai Hai Mallello Hai Hai" (Avunu...Valliddaru Ishta Paddaaru)
4. "Konchem Gaaranga ... Konchem Kaaramga" (Chakram)
5. "Bangaaru Kondaa...Maru Malle Danda" (Simha)
