Mahakavi Dasaradhi was proficient not only in Sanskrit and Telugu but also in Urdu. In 1960, he translated Ghalib’s Poetry with prodigious skill into Telugu. During those days he attended a Literary meet in Madras once. When Sri Sri and Arudra read his translated work in Woodlands Hotel, and appreciated his fantastic work. They even advised Dasaradhi to get it published as a book.
Their advice turned into reality. Dasaradhi wanted to dedicate the book to ANR. Arudra came to know about this and told ANR about the same. Delighted to hear about it, ANR attended the book release function as well. On that memorable occasion, ANR gifted Dasaradhi a pen. Along with the pen, ANR even gave Dasaradhi a wonderful opportunity to write songs for his upcoming film Iddaru Mitrulu for which he was the producer too.
During the composing sessions for the film, Music director S.Rajeshwara Rao composed a Qawwali and asked Dasaradhi to write lyrics for it. S.Rajeshwara Rao apparently thought that as Dasaradhi is new to film lyric writing, he would take time to write. But the surprising thing happened when Dasaradhi wrote the pallavi instantaneously at a lightning speed. The song became a super hit after the film was released. The Qawwali song was none other than “Navvali...Navvali…Nee Navvulu Naake Ivvali”. In the same film Dasaradhi penned “Kushi Kushi ga navvuthu” song as well.
During the time Iddaru Mitrulu was being made, Arudra’s directorial venture Vagdanam also got Dasaradhi a chance to write a super hit duet “Naa Kanti Papa lo Nilichipora…Nee Venta Lokalu Gelavaneera”. Though technically Iddaru Mitrulu was the debut film for Dasaradhi as a lyricist, many people feel Vagdanam as his debut film because the latter was released first.
