Lyricist Anantha Sriram: Sarkaru Vaari Paata is a sure-shot hit, Mahesh Babu hasn't done anything like this before

The primary reason behind Sarkaru Vaari Paata's hype and expectations among crowds is the film's music - the three songs released to date, Kalaavathi, Penny and the title track, have been topping the music charts week after week. S Thaman has composed the music score for the Mahesh Babu-Keerthy Suresh starrer while Anantha Sriram is the sole lyricist for the five-song album. In an interaction with the media, Anantha Sriram spoke about his experiences working for the action entertainer directed by Parasuram Petla.

Anantha Sriram has already completed 17 years in cinema, and he says the journey began without much drama or difficulties. He had scored several hits in the early phase of his career, which stabilised his position in the industry. "However, to sustain my success streak, I need to work hard every second. It's important to better yourself from song to song to survive here. For instance, Inkem Inkem Kaavale from Geetha Govindam scored over 100 million views then, and I managed to break my record with Kalaavathi from Sarkaru Vaari Paata," he says.

In fact, the lyricist says Geetha Govindam is one of the key factors that helped him bag the 'single lyricist' card in Sarkaru Vaari Paata. Reportedly, Parasuram was keen on roping him for another film back then and it materialised in the form of Sarkaru Vaari Paata. He credits the 'almighty' for being able to pen the lyrics for all the songs in the actioner. All the five songs in the film belong to different genres, Anantha Sriram shares.

While Penny is a song that establishes the hero's character (who literally respects every penny) with flamboyance, Kalaavathi is a melody focusing on the joy experienced by the character after falling in love. The title song is a reference to the lead's primary weapon - his intelligence. The two remaining songs will release shortly and are certain to impress music buffs across all age groups, he's confident.

He admits that the songs in Sarkaru Vaari Paata took a lot of time to be finalised, even while going on floors in September 2020, owing to lockdowns, and minor changes. Each song in the film took a little more than a month to be okayed, Anantha Sriram states. The lyricist feels the medium in which a song is consumed, decides how it is written. "Unlike television, which is meant for family viewing, films are entertainment watched along with friends and people of all age groups, which gives me the liberty to experiment with the language," the writer adds.

Sarkaru Vaari Paata is a one-of-a-kind film for Mahesh Babu, he hasn't done a film like this in the last five years and is unlikely to get anything similar in the coming years. "It's rare for a commercial film to have such quality writing and Mahesh Babu is lucky to have bagged this script. I was confident that my career would take a turn for the better with this project. This is a sure-shot blockbuster," Anantha Sriram assures fans.

The masala potboiler is his second film with Mahesh Babu after Seethamma Vaakitlo Sirimalle Chettu and the fourth with Parasuram after Saroccharu, Srirasthu Subhamasthu, Geetha Govindam. For the film, he's all praise for Thaman's musical sense and claims he could find a rhythm in any lyric that a writer gives him. "His soundscape is very grand. Once we understand his beat and write accordingly, it'll be a delight for the senses," the lyricist talks about the composer. 

Some of the lyricist's upcoming projects include Chiranjeevi's Godfather, the Ram Charan-Shankar project, Naga Chaitanya's Thank You, Navdeep's Love Mouli and SV Krishna Reddy's next.