Suddala Ashok Teja

Early life Suddala Ashok Teja was born in Suddala village of Jangaon district, Telangana to Telugu poet Suddala Hanmanthu and his wife Janakamma. Both of his parents took part in the Telangana Rebellion, fighting against the rule of the Nizam of Hyderabad. He has two brothers and a sister; Prabhakar Teja, Sudhakar Teja and Racha Bharathi.

Career Ashok Teja worked as a government teacher in Bandalingapur, Medipally and Metpally villages of Karimnagar district before coming into the Telugu film industry. He started writing lyrics ever since he was a child. His nephew Uttej a well known character artiste in Telugu films helped him to get a first chance in films. He became popular after penning the lyrics for the films Osey Ramulamma and Ninne Pelladutha during the years 1996–1997.

He won the National Film Award for Best Lyrics in the year 2003 for his song "Nenu Saitham" in the movie Tagore (2003), it is based on Sri Sri's 'Nenu Saitham' from Mahaprasthanam. He is the third writer to win this award after Sri Sri for his "Telugu Veera Levaraa" in Alluri Sitaramaraju and Veturi for his "Raalipoye Puvva Neeku Ragaalenduke" in "Matrudevobhava". He wrote over 2200 songs for 1250 movies and 2500 private songs till 2017.He won SIIMA Award for Best Lyricist (Telugu) in 2018 for "Vachinde" song from Fidaa (2017).

Personal life Ashok Teja is married to Nirmala. He has daughter Swapna and sons Jwala Chaitanya and Arjun Teja.

Filmography

Awards Mahathma Jyothi Phule award Telugu University award for Geyalu Telugu Adhikara bhasha award Vamsi international awards Atreya Manaswini Puraskaram Cine goers Hyderabad awards B.N. Redddy Sahithi puraskaram Bharathamuni awards NTR Telugu Athmagaurava puraskaram Komarambheem National award Nagabhairava Koteshwararao award Gurajada Vishista Puraskaram Sinare Literary Award

Books Telugu Smruti Geetham Velugu Rakalu Novel Akupachcha Chandamama Bathuku Patalu Veera Telangna Yaksha Ganam Nelamma Nelamma Nemalikannoda Sraama Kavyam Naa Paatalu Nenu Adavini maatlaadutunnaanu English Suddala Ashokteja lyrics Epic of toil I am, the forest, speaking Hindi Dharthi maa

Suddala Foundation Suddala Ashok Teja started an international award for social upliftment and folk literature, in memory of his father Suddala Hanumanthu. Awardees over a period of 10 years have included Teejan Bai from Madyapradesh, Ngoogi of America, poet and folk singer Goreti Venkanna, Divyangana poet Rajeshwari of Telangana, and others.