This is a series of Interviews which were given by Sri Sri to different new papers in Andhra Pradesh. I shall also include as future updates, Sri Sri in Madras Council when he was a Member of Legislative Council (MLC) and also his interview in America, during his 1981 visit.
I am going to start this with the Interview given for Deccan Chronicle...
60 Minutes With Sri Sri
SRI SRI- Yes that's him in short.
The name that helped to take such a short form is Srirangam Srinivasa Rao - a name that has become a tune in every household - that dances on the lips of every one who knows what poerty is that which has come to stay as a synonym for all that is modern in Telugu literature.
I knew Sri Sri was coming to Hyderabad. I didn't want the opportunity to slip away. I rushed with my close associates - who were staying as my guests,having come all the way from Vizag - Mr. Puripanda Appalaswamy and Mr. Vinnakota Ramama - to meet Sri Sri and spend some valuable time with him.
I took advantage of his relaxed mood. It was the eve of his 60th birthday celebrations being held at Visakhapatnam.
I went straight to him.
"Many happy returns, SRISRI! I would like to put a few questions and I am sure you will answer them to your own and of course my own satisfaction", I said.
"I like that way. Well, go ahead", he nodded his head amidst a puff of cigarette.
Q. Your Shastiabdipoorthi is being celebrated with great enthusiasm by the people of Andhra Pradesh in general and the writers of the younger generation in particular. WEll, how do you feel about this ocassion which is being considered as unique in the modern Telugu literary world?
A. "The feeling is one of surpirse to me". Surprise because, I do not feel sixty. My faith in the younger generation is more than amply vindicated. It is my sincere hope that as long as I am alive I continue to deserve their enthusisastic approbation.
Q. Could you recall some of your earlier days when you began dablings in poetry?
A. As early as the age of four and five, I was dabbling in crayons and water colors. I do not exactly remember when the painter in me was transformed into a poet. If memory helps, I dabbled in words when I was 8 or 9. Formally, it was poetry, but I forget its contents. My father encouraged my childish efforts. It was the late Mr.Vaddi Kesavarao Naide, Who really enthused and inspired me. At the age of 10, I wrote a full-length novel entitled "Veerasimha-Vijayasimhulu". When I was 15, I wrote a novelette 'Parinaya Rahasyam'. Both were lost in the mists of time, but the latter, though was printed, is now a literary curiosity. Though I was writing prose at that time, I remember having written a drama, called 'Savitri Satyavanthulu' which contained more poems than prose. This was stolen by a school boy friend of mine.
Perhaps the friend is still alive, but the play is dead. My first printed poem is 'Divyalochanamulu' which was publised in a weekly, 'Swashakti', edited by Puripanda Appalaswamy. Though the poem is lost now, the friendship between Puripanda and myself, which this poem inaugurated is still alive.
Q. What was your main inspiration behind writing such popular pieces as 'Mahaprasthanam', 'Desacharitralu', Pratigina'?
A. In an elaborate article, I once expostulated on 'Mahaprasthanam'. I analysed and catalouged all the sources of inspiration. I refer you to the article entitled 'Kruthyadyavasta' first broadcast over All India Radio, and subsequently published in a literary magazine, 'Parishodhana'. As for 'Pratigna', it was directly inspired by the manifesto of the Progressive Writer's Union published in London. Abburi Ramakrishna Rao gave me a copy of the manifesto. During those days he was chief literary and philosophicalguide and mentor to me. About 'Deshacharitralu', I do not exactly remember the immediate stimulus but a general Marxist outlook inculcated by my mentor had prompted me to write this poem.
Q. Do you think you were to some extent influenced by the western thought in poetry?
A. Why some extent! My early influences were of Edgar Allen Poe, Maupassant, (of ocurse in transalations) and Charles Baudelaire, also in transalation. At a later date, Gorky and Mayakovsky and many other Russian writers made a lasting impact on me but my own personal life in the hungry thirties, when I was reading more and more and eating less and less was the principal impulse.
Q. Could you name a few western poets whose works had their impact on modern Telugu Poetry?
A. By modern, I mean the 60's, young poets in their 20's and 30's are certainly influenced by the beat generation of America and the angry young men of England. Today, poetry is no longer a luxury for the few 'haves' but a necessity for the many 'have nots'. Perhaps the differentiation between east and west is eliminated in today's poetry. A two-way traffice in poetry has been established. Young African poets are influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and Jean Paul Sartre. Today's poetry is preparing the ground for the advent of the new "Universal Man".
Q. What is your opinion of the present day Telugu poets and writers and 'Digambara Kavulu' in particular?
A. It is a robust optimism that illuminates my opinion about modern poetry. Usually, our young poets are accused of technical incompetence, immature experience and a total unawareness of the classical greatness. I need not remind the students of literature that this type of criticism is not new. Down the ages, the older generation was decrying the younger. Socrates was poisoned for the alleged crime of poisoning the young generation. 'Digambara Kavulu' are the new hope for poetry, because, it is not the poets but their poetry that is naked. Sex can never be obscene. No sex means no life, no man.
(Here Sri Sri quoted a sloka from Kalidasa beginning "Raaja Dwaare Bhaga Dwaare.")
Q. There is a general feeling that after you took up writing for films your career there was a setback in your contributions to poetry. DO you have any comments to offer on this?
A. Cinema is the art form of the 20th century. Unfortunately, it is controlled by a handful of capitalist. More than the nationalisation of the banks, it is necessary that the cinema should be nationalised. It is only when a group of creative articles collectively control the cinema the real progress of our country will have been achieved. When I entered the cinema field, it looked as though a writer could influence the film production. (This actually happened in Tamil Nadu). But it proved an illusion in Andhra.
Other forces were at work pulling me down. But I was rolling money, yet the feeling was always with me that ART was sacrificed at the altar of MONEY. There certainly was a setback in my contributions to poetry. Either I have to reclaim cinema as a weapon of progress, or I should finally come out of this very lucrative quagmire.
Q. Have you any definite plans to continue writing poetry or and do you have projects to write books on any particular subjects?
A. Yes, I'll be writin gpoetry as long as I live. I have many projects which I hope to fulfil during the years to come. (i) Poetry: A hundred poems in the spoken language of the lower middle and lower classes of Vizag, (ii) A plain three act full length drama (iii) A novel in the form of the cinema script, entitled "Flames of Hunger" (AAKALIMANTALU)
Q. What is the message you would like to offer to the younger generation in modern Telugu Literature?
A. Work for peace, but declare war on humbug and hunger.
Well thank you dear - that was a fine performance. And all this inspires me to say once again, three cheers for Sri Sri. The three of us joined together to say once again - "Three Cheers for Sri Sri".
Interviewed by Panyala Ranganatharao. This interview was carried with the following announcement - "Sri Sri's 60th birthday - Shastiabdipoorthi as it is called is being celebrated at Visakhapatnam toady (February 1). On this occassion we take pride in offering to our readers an exclusive interview with the great poet."
From: Deccan Chronicle, daily Feb-1-1970
1. Krutyadyavasta: Originally the title was Arambham Pedda Avasta, published in the issue of June, 1954. Later it was included in Anantham (00.179-86), his autobiographical novel.
(courtesy: http://www.mahakavisrisri.com/home/Interview.htm)