Darshanam Mogulaiah was first seen at the house of Government advisor Ramana Chary on a daily basis. He used to come for some help from the Government side through the cultural department of the Government of Telangana.
Ramana Chary did all he could do for this folk artist even on a personal basis. Now he got recognition from Tollywood. He is giving good publicity to the movie Bheemla Naik.
Mogulaiah sings and also plays his special instrument. Thaman has used Moghulaiah to top up the song and it has become a sensational song overnight praising Pawan Kalyan and the police force.
But one Police officer has objected to the terms in the song written by Rama Jogaiah Sastry. Pawan has announced a financial help of Rs 2 lakh to Mogulaiah which is a good gesture from the heroes side.
This will further fuel the publicity of the movie Bheemla Naik. Darshanam Mogulaiah is the only man who plays the 12 steps Kinnera. He is 63 and struggling to meet both ends meet.The kinnera has several variations – it comes with seven, nine, 12 or 13 frets. The larger-sized ones have three resonators, while the smaller ones have only two. Much like the Saraswati veena, the instrument is made with organic materials. Its neck is crafted of bamboo, and the resonators from sun-dried and hollowed-out bottle gourds. Pangolin scales are used for the frets, and honey wax for binding. The strings were once fashioned out of women’s hair, horse-tail hair and even animal nerves, but have long been replaced with thin metallic strings.
Darshanam Mogilaiah, who is part of the Dakkali tribe, plays the 12-fret kinnera. He received the state’s highest honours, the Ugadi Puraskaram, in 2015. There is even a chapter on him in a social studies school textbook. Another member of the Dakkali tribe, Pochayya, who hails from the Mahabubnagar district, was honoured by the University of Hyderabad in 2015.
