Young talent: Devi Sri Prasad

The very fresh music was a major factor for the success of the movie Devi(1999). But whole Andhra Pradesh was shocked by knowing that the matured compositions were by a seventeen year old boy hailed from Amalapuram. It was none other than Devi Sri Prasad who was a disciple of well known Mandolinist U.Srinivas. Devi went on producing sensible music for many movies without a pause proved his consistency and capability. In a few years span he became one of the most prominent Telugu music directors of the decade. He is also a singer, dancer, lyricist, and a stage performer.

Though he struggled for a while (possibly due to his commitment for too many movies at once), he has been more consistent recently. His recent ones Jalsa and Aata were very impressive.

Devi's strengths are his selection of singers, melody in his tunes and also the orchestration. About the importance of orchestration he said," If the tune is the heart of the song, I feel that orchestration is the body that compasses all parts. Orchestration is one thing that differentiates one music director to another. Most of the MDs tend to ignore that part. I feel Ilayaraaja is the best in orchestration."

Well known for being a die-hard fan of Ilayaraaja, when asked about his inspiration for music, he said, "I am obsessed with the music of Ilayaraaja since I was kid. He is like God to me. Even if I compose a single song like him, I consider myself very lucky. I think all the music directors who entered industry after Ilayaraaja are fans of him. Ilayaraaja gave new dimension to rerecording in our films. With his exceptionally good re-recording, he popularized that process."

With his brilliance, he entered the Tamil fim industry and doing good there as well. I wish him all the best for attaining greater heights in future and making us all proud.

Best works of Devi: Nuvvostanante nenoddantana, Bommarilu, Jalsa, Manmadhudu, Anandam, Arya, Khadgam, Aata.