Chakri was one of those rare filmi personalities from Telangana and several people hailed his contribution to the industry, especially considering that the contribution of people from Telangana to Telugu tinsel town was actually unrecognised still.
This music composer and singer comes from a very humble background from Mahbubabad and draws his inspiration from his father Gilla Venkat Narayana, who was himself an actor, music composer and actor. Interestingly, Venkat Narayana was a government teacher who left his job to pursue his filmi interests.
Among people who were instrumental in getting him recognised in the highly competitive film industry were senior journalist Bathula Prasad, who actually took him on the rounds of the studios for a few months from 1999 onwards. Once he was introduced to director Puri Jagannadh and composed music stand-alone for Puri's debut film Bachi , there was no looking back for this young, roly-poly music director. The last few years though, he went through a hiatus and among this yet-to-be-released films are Rey , made by Y.V.S. Chowdary.
This very soft-spoken music director suffered from obesity for the past seven years and it was said to be the cause for several of his ailments. He represented a very different kind of music that film buffs will surely miss, said several film personalities.
