Prominent Telugu lyric writer Vennelakanti Rajeswara Prasad, popularly known as Vennelakanti, on Tuesday, passed away due to cardiac arrest. Renowned for being a dubbing scriptwriter of repute, he was the most-sought-after writer for top filmmakers and production houses for decades for translating Tamil films into Telugu.

Besides writing songs for straight films such as 'Samarasimha Reddy', 'Aditya 369', 'Criminal', 'Gharana Bullodu' and others, Vennelakanti penned dialogues for popular dubbed flicks like Kamal Haasan's 'Dasavatharam'. A thinking writer with a literary bent of mind, Vennelakanti was well-read. He admired two cine writers in particular and almost worshipped them. "I am a devotee of Athreya and Veturi. The former is a 'Manasu Kavi', who used to say that he would sob while writing profound songs. He was insuperable," the late lyric writer once said in an interview, calling Veturi the Srinathudu of Telugu cinema.

His elder son Shashank Vennelakanti has been penning dialogues for dubbed films, carrying on his legacy. Rakendu Mouli, his younger song is a writer-cum-singer.

IndiaGlitz condoles the death of Vennelakanti. May his soul attain 'sadgati'!