K L Veerraju

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K L Veerraju
Native name	కనుపర్తి లక్ష్మి వీర్రాజు
Born	K L Veerraju (1936-10-25)25 October 1936 British India (now in Andhra Pradesh, India)
21 September 2017(2017-09-21) (aged 80)21 September 2017(2017-09-21) (aged 80)
💼 Occupation	Film producer, Novel writer, political leader
Known for	Telugu Cinema
Notable work	Private Master

KL Veerraju (Kanuparthi Lakshmi Veerraju) was a novel writer, film producer and TDP political leader. He served as the Sarpanch for his village, Tirumalapuram for almost 32 years. All his writings were in Telugu which deal in inspirational, devotional and regional aspects. He had also produced a few films in Telugu and Kannada out of which Private Master and Dagudu Moothalu were memorable.

Early life

KL Veerraju was the eldest among his three brothers and a sister, born to KL Narasimham and K Sitamahalakshmi. His father was an Agricultural Landlord and Zamindar in the upland area of Jangareddygudem. Veerraju had done his studies at Jangareddygudem and Amaravathi before leaving to Chennai to continue his career in the film industry.

Film career

Veerraju worked in the production department of Telugu film industry. He collaborated with the production house DBN Productions, created by D.B.Narayana Rao, and was associated in directing his first film, *Pendli pilupulu*, along with the director Amamcharla Seshagiri Rao in 1961. Next, he played a prominent role in the DBN productions banner in producing a Kannada film, Kanyarathna in 1963.
Under the DBN banner, the film *Dagudu Moothalu* became a huge success, starring N. T. Rama Rao. Next, he introduced his wife K Ranganayaki to produce the film, *Pakkalo ballem*, starring Kanta Rao in 1965. For all the movies he worked on until then, he was associated in the Production without inclusion of his name in the film credits. He was credited for the film, *Private Master* in 1967, starring Krishna directed by Kalatapasvi, K. Vishwanath. For Veerraju's collaboration with Vishwanath throughout this movie, Vishwanath used to mock him as *Vitandavaadi* (gainsayer) for fun.
After retiring from movies, he conducted stage shows, dramas and Burra kathas at his place.

Writing work

All the writings of Veerraju were on Telugu literature. He penned a few lyrics in the movies that he produced. Most of his writings were inspired from mythological stories like Ramayana and Mahabharata.
Some of his known Telugu novels are as follows:

• Surati(1985)
• Parijatham
• Sri Sai Makarandamala
• Veedhi badilo
• Jandaalu maaraayi
• Sri Kurmam
• Indra Naradiyam
• Antaraala Sangharshanalu
• Bhalare vichitram
• Inka telavarademi
• Appichuvadu Srirasthu
• Saranu saranu brahmadevuda
• Venudu
• Yemito ee sitram
• Matham vuru(2017)

His grandson, Sarath Kanuparthi, an English novel writer, acknowledged Veerraju's name in his novel 'The Answer' .
In his village, he conducted innumerable stage shows with artists irrespective of caste and religion. He wrote a couple of stage shows namely *Mogali rekulu, Melu kolupu* and a family planning comedy drama, *Malli purudothadi*, and involved some illiterate artists to play in the show.
Rajni Gangadhar, a well known Burra katha artist, assisted with Veerraju in writing his novel 'Taratarala Tirumalapuram' (Generational Tirumalapuram), where the book explains about the Tirumalapuram village culture and tradition.

Political career

Veerraju was a regional TDP leader who served as Sarpanch at his village for more than 30 years. In 1957, he was elected as the president for the first time and served until 1989.
Some of the prominent changes during this period were

• Reconstruction of the elementary school in 1959
• Incorporating Mahila mandal in 1960
• Distributing 250 acres of Government land to Harijans
• Land donation for the Panchayath building in 1972
• Laying roads from Tirumalapuram to Perampet in 1977
• The first drill bore in 1986 and many more.
  

His brother, K Suryaprakash Rao, served as VRO to Jangareddygudem mandal and his cousin, K Ramachandra Rao, was the then MPTC during his Sarpanch period. Their contribution to Yerrakaluva dam, flowing near Maddi Anjaneya Temple along with the Karatam brothers was widespread. He was also a close relative to the former MP, Undavalli Aruna Kumar.
In recent times, his son KLN Venumadhav, served as Sarpanch while his nephew KLN Dhanakumar served as Jangareddygudem MPTC and Rotary club member

Awards, Recognition and Others

Kala ratna award.

Sri Ramanavami

At Tirumalapuram, in the temple of Sri BhogaSundara SitaRama Swamy, every year during the festival Sri Rama Navami, they celebrate *Sriramanavami Mahotsavalu* for five days. Veerraju conducted nearly 60 *Kalyanams* to Lord SitaRama in his life span and one *Pattabhishekam* in 1996. Maddi Anjaneya Temple's primary priest, Vedantam Venkatacharyulu and his family play an important role in conducting *Kalyanam* and *Sriramanavami Mahotsavalu* these five days. Veerraju's son K Srinivasu and nephews K Ramakrishna and Ravi Kumar join with the village heads and chiefs in organising the *Sriramanavami Mahotsavam* events and *Annadanam*.

Death

Veerraju died on September 21, 2017, at the age of 80, in Tirumalapuram with a massive heart attack. Prior to that, he lost his elder son, KL Narasimham, three years before his death, his two younger brothers, K Surya Prakash Rao and K Parameshwar Rao, and his cousin, K Ramachandra Rao. The cremation of his body took place in Tirumalapuram. All his friends, villagers and nearby people paid their last respects to him.

K L Veerraju

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