Revolutionary balladeer Gaddar passes away a few days after heart surgery

HYDERABAD: Revolutionary balladeer, poet Gummadi Vittal Rao, popularly known as Gaddar, passed away at a private hospital in Hyderabad on Sunday following a brief illness.

The 76-year-old balladeer was admitted to Apollo Spectra Hospital in Dharam Karan Road on July 20, 2023 and was treated for cardiac problems by Dr Dasari Prasada Rao and team.

A bulletin issued by the hospital management said that Gaddar breathed his last around 3 pm due to lung and urinary problems and advanced age. “He was suffering from severe heart disease and got admitted on July 20, 2023. He underwent a bypass surgery on August 3, 2023, and recovered from it. However, he was a past patient of lung and urinary problems, which along with advanced age aggravated and led to his death,” the bulletin said.

Gaddar was born in Toopran in the erstwhile Medak district in 1949. After formal education in Nizamabad and Hyderabad, he worked at Canara Bank in 1975. One of the founders of ‘Jana Natya Mandali’, Gaddar was survived by his wife Vimala, and three children Chandrudu, Suryudu and Vennela. As a balladeer, he played a very crucial role in separate Telangana agitation.

His songs ‘Bandi Enaka Bandi’ and ‘Jara Pailam Koduko’ songs sung for Telugu films were great hits. His song ‘Nee Padam Meeda Puttumachanai Chellema,” won the Nandi award, however, he rejected the award.

He opposed the attack on Dalits in Karamchedu in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh and fought against oppression and fake encounters. On April 6, 1997, an attempt was made on his life by Green Tigers. He survived the attack but a bullet was lodged in his vertebral column which couldn’t be removed. He lived with that problem even though it caused him severe pain.