After the stupendous success of Rojulu Maarayi, its producer Srimanthu Raja Yarlagadda Ramakrishna Prasad, used the money thus made to buy a 12-acre land with a building in Hyderabad and built the Sri Sarathi Studios with the facilities required for film shoots. One of the films that rolled out from his banner and the studio was Kalasi Vunte Kaladu Sukham (1961), a remake of K S Gopalakrishnan’s Tamil super hit movie, Baagappirivinai starring Sivaji Ganesan and B Saroja Devi in the lead. A major contributing factor for the Tamil picture’s success was its songs written by Kannadasan and set to tune by the Viswanathan-Ramamurthy duo.

For the Telugu version, CVR Prasad who helmed Sri Sarathi Studios Private Ltd., signed Kosaraju Raghavaiah Chowdhary, Arudra and Sri Sri to write the songs and Master Venu as the music director. “One of the most popular songs in Tamil was the duet, Thaazhaiyam poo (mogali puvvu –Kevra or Pandanus odorifer) mudichu thadai paarthu nadai nadandhu... (Walking with grace with a ‘kevra’ tucked in her hair). And I was asked to write its Telugu lyric with a rider that it should be on a par with Kannadasan’s song that captured the rural milieu so well,” recalled Kosaraju during the course of an interview in 1984.

The veteran writer who was adept at writing village-oriented songs came up with suitable alternatives and made improvisations to bring in Telugu nativity, within the parameters of the tune which Master Venu largely borrowed from Tamil. In the melodious voices of Ghantasala and Susheela, and coupled with the admirable on screen performance by N T Ramarao and Savitri, the song became an evergreen hit.

The song

The shepherd: Tandaana taana taane – tandaana taananane / Taraarero hoi

He: Muddhabanthi poolu betti – mogalirekula jadanu juttee

She: Jadanu juttee

He: Hamsala nadachi vachhe chittemmaa

She: Chittemmaa

He: Maa intikemi thechhavammaa cheppammaa

She: Cheppammaa / Addhamanti manasu vundee – andamaina vayasu vundee

He: Vayasu vundee

She: Inthakanna vundedendi Kishtayyaa

He: Kishtayyaa

She: Ee pedavaallu techhedendi cheppayyaa

He: Cheppayyaa / Tandaana taananaane... / Puttinti aranaalu – ghanamaina katnaalu / Athavaarinti nindaa vesinaa avi – abhimaana mantha viluva jesunaa / Muddhabanthi..../ Tandanaana taanaa...

She: Abhimaana maabharanam – maryaade bhushanam / Gunamoo manchidaite chaalayaa / Mana goppathanamu cheppukonu veelayyaa / Addhamanti....

He: Kaalu cheyyi lopamani – kokkiraayi rupamani / Vadinelu nannu geli cheturaa pillanu dechhi pelli jethuraa?

She: Yevaremi yanna nemi – yegathaali cheyyanemi/ Navvina naapa chene pandadaa / Naluguru mechhu roju vundadaa / Addhamanti...

He: Muddhabanthi poolu bettee mogali rekula jadanu juttee...

The scene

Kishtaiah’s (played by NTR) mother Ramanamma (Hemalatha) brings home Radha (Savitri) an orphan, whom she meets at the village market. Kishtaiah’s left hand and leg are paralysed due to an electric shock at the age of seven. Radha’s sympathy towards him soon turns into a liking. Kishtaiah too likes her. The song emerges while he is working in the field and she brings him lunch which she carries in a basket.

The recording for the song was held at Sarathi Studios under the baton of sound engineer P. Krishnam Raju. Most of the musicians were drawn from Hyderabad. Ghantasala, Susheela, Master Venu, Kosaraju and the musicians were accommodated in the rooms above the office. The popular tabla vidwan Dawood Khan was specially called to play the percussion instrument. Khan participated in two rehearsals and on the day of the recording excused himself saying he cannot play for movies. A professional tabla player from Madras replaced him.

At the beginning of the song, the shepherd’s rendition and humming of the lines — daana taana nane — were rendered by M S Viswanathan (MSV) in the Tamil movie. Ghantasala said that his bass voice does not suit for such resonance. However, he sang the lines for NTR during the progress of the song. Kosaraju’s voice was tested. Ghantasala suggested Venu’s voice which had a peculiar resonance. Master Venu sang the lines and everyone felt his rendition was nearer to perfection. But when the unit returned to Madras and played the song, Venu was not satisfied with the turnout. He recorded the lines again in MSV’s voice to get the fullness for the song. A fine example of how one master had acknowledged the talent of the other.