VISAKHAPATNAM: Popular film lyricist Jaladi Raja Rao also known as Jaladi (80), who had been suffering from a lung disease and battling for life for the past few weeks, passed away at his residence at Shanthipuram here on Friday.
Born on August 9, 1932, Jaladi, the fourth son of late Jaladi Emmanuel, celebrated his 80th birthday at Kalabharati in the city recently. Jaladi wrote around 1,500 songs in 235 Telugu films. Songs 'Yathamesi thodina yeru yendadu pogili pogili yeddchina' and 'Punyabhoomi nadesam namonamani' among others continue to be popular to this day.
Jaladi belonged to Gudivada of Krishna district and started writing songs at a young age highlighting plight of the poor. He started his career as an art teacher in Krishna district. Later, he resigned his job in 1968 and went back to Gudivada and started writing songs in films thereby, becoming extremely popular.