Vanamali

Vanamali is a famous Hyderabad based Telugu lyricist and poet. His proper name is Mani Gopal, famously recognized by his pen name Vanamali. He was born on 20th May 1967 in Railway Kodur; a municipality in Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh and his mother tongue is Tamil. His very first composition as a lyricist was for a programme in Doordarshan which was sung by Vijaylakshmi Sarma. After this, his first project in Tollywood was for the movie Pithamagan directed by Bala in 2004. In 2007, he received the Nandi Awards as well as the Filmfare Awards for Best Lyricist in Telugu for his compositions, “Oh my Friend” and “Aerey” respectively in the movie Happy Days Happy Days is a Telugu-language show on ETV Telegu >> Read More... . In 2008, he worked with the director Anish Kuruvilla Anish Kuruvilla is an Indian actor, executive prod >> Read More... in the movie Avakai Biryani.

In 2009, he wrote the lyrics of the song “Karige Loga” in the movie Arya 2 directed and written by Sukumar, for which he was nominated for a Filmfare Award for Best Lyricist (Telugu) in 2010. In 2010, he also worked alongside the famous music director Harris Jayraj in the movie Orange for which he was again nominated for a Filmfare Award in 2011 for the song “Nenu Nuvvantu.” He worked in KV Anand’s Blockbuster Ko, and Jayendra Panchapakesan Jayendra Panchapakesan is a director and filmmaker >> Read More... directed 180, in 2011. In 2012, he wrote the songs: “Beautiful Girl” and “Amma Ani Kothaga” for the movie Life is Beautiful. He was nominated in 2012 in the South Indian International Movie Awards and for the Filmfare Awards for his work in Life is Beautiful, in 2013. He was nominated in 2014 for the Filmfare Award for his work in two movies, Vikram Kumar’s Manam and Chandoo Mondeti Chandoo Mondeti was born in Kovvur located in the >> Read More... mystery thriller Karthikeya.

His most recent work was in the 2017 film Fidaa directed by Shekhar Kammula for writing two songs. He has also worked closely with Music maestro A. R Rahman while working in the 2013 Tamil Crime Drama film Kadali. He has worked on many more movies alongside major music composers in the industry in both Tamil and Telugu languages. Before becoming a renowned lyricist in the Telugu movie industry, he went to Madras University holds a Ph.D. in Telegu Literature with high honors. This knowledge of Telugu literature enriches his work as a lyricist and songwriter. He also worked as a reporter for a Telugu film weekly while in Sitara and worked there for almost ten years. However, he soon found his passion in writing lyrics. He is an important part in the legacy of music in this country.