Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: There is a rather unknown thing about the one-and-only Alla Rakha Rahman, the great music director, who has accomplished many many things in his 17-year career thus far: his unfulfilled dream.
My idol was in Hyderabad today and during an interaction I asked him about his unfulfilled dream.
“I am great fan of ace director K Viswanath and wanted to work with him. Since he has stopped making films my dream could not come true,” Rahman revealed.
Viswanath is known for making classics like Sankarabharanam, Sagar Sangamam, Swatimutyam (Easwar in Hindi) and Swarnakamalam that glorified the Indian art forms and traditions.
Sankarabharanam, the story of a classical musician, won many national awards for the music score composed by the legendary K V Mahadevan.
Rahman – who produced music of all varieties from the local to the international level – wanted to compose music on the lines of Sankarabharanam and requested Viswanath to make yet another film on Indian classical music.
Rahman also approached the great lyric-writer Veturi Sundararama Murthy to pen the lyrics. Veturi wrote the songs for Sankarabharanam, which will remain forever in the memory of all Telugu film-goers and music aficionados.
Rahman wanted to recreate that magic using the Viswanath-Veturi combination and blending it with his immense talent.
Viswanath, however, turned down the proposal saying there were no takers for his kind of films anymore.
Veturi himself told me about this a few years ago during an informal discussion on film music, Rahman, Maniratnam, Viswanath and related things.
“That was eight years ago and the project never materialized. Since then I have moved to other things,” Rahman told reporters here today.
Would he still like to do a classical music score? “Hopefully so,” the maestro replied.
Being a composer, singer and performer, which role was he comfortable in, Rahman was asked. “It’s the uncomfortableness in you that helps do things better. The more discomforted you are, the more you push yourself,” he replied.
The Oscar-winner has just completed music production for a romantic comedy Couple’s Retreat in Hollywood and is working on Vinnaithandi Varuvaya in Tamil, Puli (Pavan Kalyan) and another untitled film (starring Naga Chaitanya) in Telugu.
Rahman will be performing live, for the second time in Hyderabad, on October 24. It was in February 2002 that he gave a live performance at the GMC Balayogi Stadium at Gachibowli and I came from Vijayawada especially for the show. It was a great evening and the most memorable one in my life.
This time, however, I will unfortunately be missing the legend’s show.
Monday 12 October, 2009
Rosaiah firmly in the saddle now.
Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: The recent floods in Andhra Pradesh have come as a blessing in disguise for Chief Minister Konijeti Rosaiah.
Thanks to the deluge that left several districts of the state devastated, politics – particularly the campaign for making Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy the Chief Minister – has taken a backseat and helped Rosaiah consolidate his position.
Using his rich administrative and political experience and acumen, Rosaiah handled the crisis well and won the acclaim of his party bosses in New Delhi.
Rosaiah had a distinct advantage. He enjoys a good rapport with all senior bureaucrats, unlike his predecessor, and this helped him implement the disaster management plan in an efficient manner. This helped in mitigating the damage to a significant extent, particularly in Krishna, Guntur and Nalgonda districts which faced a greater threat than the worst-hit Mahbubnagar and Kurnool districts.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, who conducted an aerial survey of the flood-hit districts in AP, patted the Chief Minister on the back over the disaster management and sent a message yet again to the party rank and file in the state that Rosaiah would continue to hold fort for a long time.
At the same time, the pro-Jagan lobby in the state Congress was caught in a helpless situation as it could not raise the demand for elevating their leader at a time when the state was facing a worst disaster in a century.
After functioning for 32 days from his old chamber – which he occupied as Finance Minister – Rosaiah moved to the Chief Minister’s official chamber in the C-block of the state Secretariat on October 5. This put him, so to say, firmly in the saddle.
Two days later, the Chief Minister shunted out controversial DGP S S P Yadav from the post and brought in an upright officer R R Girish Kumar and also effected changes in the top posts of the state police.
These steps gave firm indications that Rosaiah has settled down in his new position and left behind his insecurities.
Rosaiah, sources close to him say, is expected to meet Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi soon and possibly get her consent for a Cabinet reshuffle. Six slots are currently vacant in the state Cabinet and important portfolios like finance, power, commercial taxes, excise, infrastructure and investment are being held by the Chief Minister himself.
Though he may keep the portfolio with himself, given his expertise in the field, Rosaiah will have to appoint ministers for other departments. Old-timers like K Jana Reddy and J C Diwakar Reddy – whom Rajasekhara Reddy dropped in his second stint – are likely to get into the Cabinet again given their experience and affinity with Rosaiah, Congress sources say.
Rosaiah became the Chief Minister on September 3, a day after Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was killed in a helicopter crash. But a group of legislators, led by government Chief Whip Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, launched a campaign on the same day demanding that Rajasekhara Reddy’s son Jagan be appointed his successor. Many ministers in the Rajasekhara Reddy Cabinet – though retained by Rosaiah – continued to pitch for Jagan and threatened to quit their posts if their demand was not conceded.
Ministers like Konda Surekha, P Ramachandra Reddy, Danam Nagender, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Vatti Vasantha Kumar, Sabita Reddy and Md Ahmadullah were most vociferous in their demand for making Jagan the CM. Rather than attending their officials duties, most of the ministers made it a ritual to meet Rajasekhara Reddy’s close friend K V P Ramachandra Rao on a daily basis and earned the wrath of the Congress high command. It was only after the high command took a serious view of their belligerence that the ministers fell in line.
But still the Jagan lobby continued to engage some first-time MLAs to campaign for Jagan till it apparently reached a flashpoint. Sensing the danger, Jagan himself got into the act and cautioned the legislators against “embarrassing the party high command and Sonia Gandhi.”
Around the same time, unprecedented floods ravaged many districts of the state forcing the Jagan lobbyists to totally give up their campaign.
Rosaiah focused his energies on the disaster management and the entire official machinery rallied behind him in reaching out to the affected people.
Hyderabad: The recent floods in Andhra Pradesh have come as a blessing in disguise for Chief Minister Konijeti Rosaiah.
Thanks to the deluge that left several districts of the state devastated, politics – particularly the campaign for making Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy the Chief Minister – has taken a backseat and helped Rosaiah consolidate his position.
Using his rich administrative and political experience and acumen, Rosaiah handled the crisis well and won the acclaim of his party bosses in New Delhi.
Rosaiah had a distinct advantage. He enjoys a good rapport with all senior bureaucrats, unlike his predecessor, and this helped him implement the disaster management plan in an efficient manner. This helped in mitigating the damage to a significant extent, particularly in Krishna, Guntur and Nalgonda districts which faced a greater threat than the worst-hit Mahbubnagar and Kurnool districts.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC chief Sonia Gandhi, who conducted an aerial survey of the flood-hit districts in AP, patted the Chief Minister on the back over the disaster management and sent a message yet again to the party rank and file in the state that Rosaiah would continue to hold fort for a long time.
At the same time, the pro-Jagan lobby in the state Congress was caught in a helpless situation as it could not raise the demand for elevating their leader at a time when the state was facing a worst disaster in a century.
After functioning for 32 days from his old chamber – which he occupied as Finance Minister – Rosaiah moved to the Chief Minister’s official chamber in the C-block of the state Secretariat on October 5. This put him, so to say, firmly in the saddle.
Two days later, the Chief Minister shunted out controversial DGP S S P Yadav from the post and brought in an upright officer R R Girish Kumar and also effected changes in the top posts of the state police.
These steps gave firm indications that Rosaiah has settled down in his new position and left behind his insecurities.
Rosaiah, sources close to him say, is expected to meet Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi soon and possibly get her consent for a Cabinet reshuffle. Six slots are currently vacant in the state Cabinet and important portfolios like finance, power, commercial taxes, excise, infrastructure and investment are being held by the Chief Minister himself.
Though he may keep the portfolio with himself, given his expertise in the field, Rosaiah will have to appoint ministers for other departments. Old-timers like K Jana Reddy and J C Diwakar Reddy – whom Rajasekhara Reddy dropped in his second stint – are likely to get into the Cabinet again given their experience and affinity with Rosaiah, Congress sources say.
Rosaiah became the Chief Minister on September 3, a day after Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was killed in a helicopter crash. But a group of legislators, led by government Chief Whip Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, launched a campaign on the same day demanding that Rajasekhara Reddy’s son Jagan be appointed his successor. Many ministers in the Rajasekhara Reddy Cabinet – though retained by Rosaiah – continued to pitch for Jagan and threatened to quit their posts if their demand was not conceded.
Ministers like Konda Surekha, P Ramachandra Reddy, Danam Nagender, Anam Ramanarayana Reddy, Vatti Vasantha Kumar, Sabita Reddy and Md Ahmadullah were most vociferous in their demand for making Jagan the CM. Rather than attending their officials duties, most of the ministers made it a ritual to meet Rajasekhara Reddy’s close friend K V P Ramachandra Rao on a daily basis and earned the wrath of the Congress high command. It was only after the high command took a serious view of their belligerence that the ministers fell in line.
But still the Jagan lobby continued to engage some first-time MLAs to campaign for Jagan till it apparently reached a flashpoint. Sensing the danger, Jagan himself got into the act and cautioned the legislators against “embarrassing the party high command and Sonia Gandhi.”
Around the same time, unprecedented floods ravaged many districts of the state forcing the Jagan lobbyists to totally give up their campaign.
Rosaiah focused his energies on the disaster management and the entire official machinery rallied behind him in reaching out to the affected people.
SSP Yadav -- Out, hit-wicket.
Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: S S P Yadav is finally out – hit-wicket, so to say.
His own follies and character proved to be his undoing as he was rightfully shunted out of Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police post by Chief Minister K Rosaiah.
Now, an upright and deserving officer of the 1976-batch of Indian Police Service – R R Girish Kumar – has become the state police head. Unlike Yadav, Girish Kumar is an honest officer who commands the respect of his subordinate officers and men.
What good is a leader if he doesn’t command respect from his own subordinates!
Yadav did not deserve to be the state DGP as not a single IPS officer or an ordinary police officer liked or respected him. He got into the post in October 2007 in a dubious manner as he had a so-called godfather in an extra-constitutional authority.
Yadav, in a virtual demotion, has now been made the managing director of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, a post normally held by IG or Additional DGP rank officers.
Yadav always remained in news – but for all the wrong reasons.
Yadav, a 1972 batch officer, was first appointed as the DGP in October 2007 but the Election Commission of India ordered his replacement in March this year because of his bias towards the Congress, more particularly the then Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
Rather than being the public servant, which is he supposed to be as per the Constitution, Yadav always remained loyal only to Rajasekhara Reddy, his son Jaganmohan Reddy and the extra-constitutional authority called K V P Ramachandra Rao.
Yadav was reinstated as the DGP the very next day after Rajasekhara Reddy assumed charge as state Chief Minister for a second term on May 20.
But Yadav has come under fire over the handling of the crisis after the government chopper carrying then Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and others went missing on September 2.
The government was unhappy with the functioning of Yadav and what irked the Rosaiah administration most was the DGP’s observation that the Chief Minister’s security was not the police responsibility once the VIP was air-borne. “Why was such a big fuss being made when it was a helicopter crash in which five persons were killed,” Yadav questioned a newsmen during one of his visits to temple-town Tirupati. He also bad mouthed media personnel in highly objectionable language and attracted the wrath of the government.
Even the events following the helicopter incident also landed Yadav in soup, what with police failure becoming glaring in many cases. The government then gave enough indications that the DGP would soon be shunted out.
The groupism in the state police intensified during Yadav’s stint as the DGP and even the top IPS officers were ill-at-ease with him.
Police administration in Andhra Pradesh remained in tatters when Yadav was at the helm. He left the entire state police force demoralized with his sadistic acts and chaos reigned supreme. Law and Order became a major casualty as crimes followed an upward curve. Atrocities on women were at a record high but, as the state police head, Yadav failed to rise to the occasion and lead the force from the front to curb lawlessness.
There was jubilation in the entire police ranks the day Yadav was shown the door by a firm Rosaiah. “It’s a very good day indeed,” one Inspector General rank officer remarked. “Thank God, we got rid of him at last,” one DIG observed.
The affable Girish Kumar, hopefully, will bring back the lost glory to the AP police force. And, his first promise soon after assuming charge as DGP was to do that.
Hyderabad: S S P Yadav is finally out – hit-wicket, so to say.
His own follies and character proved to be his undoing as he was rightfully shunted out of Andhra Pradesh Director General of Police post by Chief Minister K Rosaiah.
Now, an upright and deserving officer of the 1976-batch of Indian Police Service – R R Girish Kumar – has become the state police head. Unlike Yadav, Girish Kumar is an honest officer who commands the respect of his subordinate officers and men.
What good is a leader if he doesn’t command respect from his own subordinates!
Yadav did not deserve to be the state DGP as not a single IPS officer or an ordinary police officer liked or respected him. He got into the post in October 2007 in a dubious manner as he had a so-called godfather in an extra-constitutional authority.
Yadav, in a virtual demotion, has now been made the managing director of Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, a post normally held by IG or Additional DGP rank officers.
Yadav always remained in news – but for all the wrong reasons.
Yadav, a 1972 batch officer, was first appointed as the DGP in October 2007 but the Election Commission of India ordered his replacement in March this year because of his bias towards the Congress, more particularly the then Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy.
Rather than being the public servant, which is he supposed to be as per the Constitution, Yadav always remained loyal only to Rajasekhara Reddy, his son Jaganmohan Reddy and the extra-constitutional authority called K V P Ramachandra Rao.
Yadav was reinstated as the DGP the very next day after Rajasekhara Reddy assumed charge as state Chief Minister for a second term on May 20.
But Yadav has come under fire over the handling of the crisis after the government chopper carrying then Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and others went missing on September 2.
The government was unhappy with the functioning of Yadav and what irked the Rosaiah administration most was the DGP’s observation that the Chief Minister’s security was not the police responsibility once the VIP was air-borne. “Why was such a big fuss being made when it was a helicopter crash in which five persons were killed,” Yadav questioned a newsmen during one of his visits to temple-town Tirupati. He also bad mouthed media personnel in highly objectionable language and attracted the wrath of the government.
Even the events following the helicopter incident also landed Yadav in soup, what with police failure becoming glaring in many cases. The government then gave enough indications that the DGP would soon be shunted out.
The groupism in the state police intensified during Yadav’s stint as the DGP and even the top IPS officers were ill-at-ease with him.
Police administration in Andhra Pradesh remained in tatters when Yadav was at the helm. He left the entire state police force demoralized with his sadistic acts and chaos reigned supreme. Law and Order became a major casualty as crimes followed an upward curve. Atrocities on women were at a record high but, as the state police head, Yadav failed to rise to the occasion and lead the force from the front to curb lawlessness.
There was jubilation in the entire police ranks the day Yadav was shown the door by a firm Rosaiah. “It’s a very good day indeed,” one Inspector General rank officer remarked. “Thank God, we got rid of him at last,” one DIG observed.
The affable Girish Kumar, hopefully, will bring back the lost glory to the AP police force. And, his first promise soon after assuming charge as DGP was to do that.
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