Saravanan Natarajan writes:
மலர்ந்தும் மலராதவை #21:பொன்னான உள்ளம் உன்னோடு இருக்க….
** More than a decade back, while discussing forgotten singers, her name came up. A fellow-hubber gave a heartwarming account of how she turned up unannounced at his house for Navaratri. They had invited her daughter who was their neighbor in Bengaluru. They were pleasantly surprised to know that she was the neighbor’s mother and the friend went on to write about how she obliged them, without much ado, by rendering some beautiful bhajans…
** Many years back, I was assisting in a small way, a journalist-friend when he was writing about Tamil film music artistes for a cinema fortnightly. When he mentioned that he was going to write about her, I sent him a list of all her songs that I could recall. He was good enough to mention this to her, and conveyed to me that she was delighted to see the list and expressed her wonder that her songs were still being remembered…
** Though a Telugu, she had her finest moments in Malayalam, with a prolific career that came to an abrupt standstill. When asked about this in an interview, she was forthright in her reply- ‘One day, Devarajan master, for whom I had sung many lovely songs, told me that he would not be giving me any more opportunities as he was going to bring in a talented singer. I could have accepted it if the singer replacing me was much better than me, like Chitra, for instance. But, Madhuri???’ Such caustic honesty is so rare in the guile-filled alleys of tinsel town, I thought, even as I offered her a mental salute for her courage of conviction…
** At the Kalaimamani Awards function, when her name was announced and she reached the dais, she folded her hands with respect to Chief Minister Jayalalitha. She was filled with incredulous joy when the beaming CM held her hands humming ‘Na na na naa na’ from her song ‘இரண்டில் ஒன்று நீ என்னிடம் சொல்லு’….
I am referring to the talented B. Vasantha, unfortunately more remembered by us as a mere humming bird…
* * * * *
Boddupalli Vasantha was born in 1944 in Machilipatnam, then in the undivided Madras province, now in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. Her father Ravindranath was an acclaimed photographer and had a studio in Guntur near their house. Blessed with striking looks, Ravindranath was multi-talented—he was also an accomplished singer, musician, actor and dramatist. Vasantha’s mother Kanakadurga was a gifted Vainika and a student of Balamuralikrishna’s father- the revered Pattabhiramaiyya.
Even at the age of 3, Vasantha could sing well and often sang in her father’s musical productions for the Vijayawada AIR. However, her mother’s efforts to get Vasantha to formally learn classical music were in vain- the child was more interested in listening to light music songs on the radio, which she could repeat with every note and nuance intact.
When she was 11 years old, Vasantha sang at grand function to commemorate the opening of the Nagarjuna Sagar Dam. He father was the official photographer for the event, and when asked if he knew a child who could sing well, he suggested his own daughter’s name. Just before climbing on to the stage, a heavy iron drum fell accidentally on Vasantha’s feet. Yet the child persevered, she limped up the stairs and sang in her dulcet voice. ‘Maa Telugutallikki malleppoo dhanda’- she rendered the beautiful lines, oblivious to her acute physical discomfort. Prime Minister Nehru gave her a standing ovation and presented her the rose that was clipped to his coat.
Vasantha lost her mother when she was 13 years old. Her father married again in due course. Vasantha had 3 younger sisters and a brother. She started singing in a light music troupe called ‘Vinod Orchestra’ in Guntur to support her large family. Her rendition of Lata’s popular Hindi songs of the time drew full houses. Speaking about those difficult years in an interview, the doughty Vasantha shrugged them off casually as ‘ups and downs’ that could occur in anyone’s life.
It was when the 17 year-old Vasantha was pursuing her PUC in the Government College for Women, Guntur in 1961 that she got her first film offer through their family friend Pingali Nagendra Rao. She traveled to Madras for the recording. The song was ‘Maa kittaya puttina dhinamu’, a Telugu duet with Pithapuram Nageswara Rao, composed by veteran Pendyala Nageswara Rao for the movie ‘Vagdanam’.
She then returned to Guntur to continue her studies and enrolled for a B.Sc. degree course. She traveled to Madras whenever she was called for a recording. Her song ‘Vosthaavu pothaavu naakosam’ in the B.N. Reddy’s 1964 movie ‘Pooja Phalam’ under the baton of none other than the great Saluri Rajeswara Rao fetched her critical notice.
Having completed her degree, Vasantha now moved to Madras and the family stayed in a rented tenement in Lakshmi Colony near Vani Mahal. In an interview, Vasantha recalled how S. Janaki became a close friend in those years and often visited her at her home and fortified her with warm words of encouragement. Opportunities followed in Telugu, and Vasantha sang for all the leading composers of the time- Ghantasala, Master Venu, TV Raju, KVM and later on for Sathyam and Chakravarthi. Her songs ‘Bangaru bandilo’, ‘Chakkanaiyya Chandamama’, ‘Nithya sumangali neevamma’, ‘ Sooryuni chuttu’, ‘Raja needhananuraa’, ‘Chandamama raave jabilli raave’ are remembered to this day. She got to sing some memorable songs in Kannada as well.
However, as said earlier, the talents of Vasantha were tapped to the fullest in Malayalam cinema. ‘Ponnara Muthalaali’ the song that Vasantha sang, along with Janaki and Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi for the 1965 movie ‘Muthalaali’ under the baton of T.K. Pugazhendhi set her career on an even keel for the next decade or so. The genius M.S. Baburaj gave her many a treasured opportunity such as ‘Penne nin kannile’, ‘Nadikalil sundari Yamuna’, ‘Kasavinte thattamittu’ ‘Ee nalla raathriyil’, ‘Chirikkudukke’, ‘Kizhakku malaiyile’…. It was then B.A. Chidambaranath who invited Vasantha to sing several songs under his baton- ‘Kaarthika vilakku kandu’, ‘Konnathayinnu vasantha masam’, ‘Hemandachadrika chirichallo’, ‘Kanyakamaathave’…
The ultimate seal of approval came when Vasantha became a regular singer in the legendary ensemble of Devarajan Maash. ‘Melemaanathe neelippulayikku’ the dazzling solo that Devarajan composed for Vasantha in the 1969 movie ‘Koottukudumbam’ gave the singer a celebrity status in Malayalam cinema. ‘Katamkatha parayunna’, ‘Priyadarshini’, ‘Mannil pennai’, ‘Yavana sundari’, ‘Kaarkuzhali’, ‘Chandran udikkinna dhikkil’- Devarajan reserved many a gem for Vasantha, until as alleged, Madhuri came along. V. Dakshinamoorthi Swami, R.K. Shekhar, K. Raghavan, A.T. Ummer, M. K. Arjunan and K.J. Joy continued to give Vasantha sporadic opportunities in the late 70s and early 80s, but the occasions were few and far between.
* * * * *
Coming to Vasantha’s works in Tamil, the first call came from the famed Modern Theaters. For the 1963 movie ‘கொஞ்சும் குமரி’, Vasantha sang a melodious duet ‘ஆசை வந்த பின்னே’ for composer Veda. Her co-singer was another newcomer called K.J. Yesudas! This was then followed by a wonderful solo ‘ஏசு நாதர் பேசினால்’ under KVM for Kannadasan’s தாயே உனக்காக. The honest Vasantha revealed in an interview that she could get this prized opportunity only because P. Susheela was not available that day and the song had to be recorded urgently.
And though he gave her some memorable songs in Malayalam, MSV gave Vasantha very few singing opportunities in Tamil like 'பாட்டுக்காரன் பாடிக்காட்டலாம்’ (திக்குத் தெரியாத காட்டில்) and ‘எல்லோர்க்கும் வேண்டும் நல்ல மனது’ (மீண்டும் வாழ்வேன்). And when he made Vasantha render the immortal humming for ‘பொட்டு வைத்த முகமோ’, MSV verily set the trend for Vasantha to hover in Tamil film music as a humming bird in the years to come. MSV himself followed this with songs such as ‘திருவளர்ச்செல்வியோ’, ‘இன்று முதல் செல்வமிது’, ‘இரண்டில் ஒன்று நீ என்னிடம் சொல்லு’, ‘முத்துச்சரம் சூடி வரும்’ where he ensured that Vasantha’s humming added a distinct appeal.
Other composers were quick to take the cue- Opportunities to hum in between the lines came from KVM (திருமகள் தேடி வந்தாள்), V. Kumar (என்ன தவம் செய்தேன்), Vijayabhaskar (மணி விளக்கே மாந்தளிரே), Shyam (நேற்று வரை விண்ணிலிருந்தாளோ), Shankar-Ganesh (சித்திரமே உன் விழிகள்)….
'தந்தன நந்தனத் தாளம் வரும் ’- the song that Vasantha sang (along with Jency) for Ilaiyaraja became a raging hit. However, quite inexplicably, she did not get to sing another song for the Maestro.
Vasantha has several devotional albums to her credit. I still recall with wonder ‘ஏகன் உண்மைத் தூதரே’ – Vasantha’s stirring duet with Nagoor Hanifa that used to be featured in Vividh Bharathi’s பக்தி பாடல்கள் program at least thrice a week. ‘Venuganam’ a popular Telugu album on Lord Krishna composed by R. Ramanujam had Vasantha singing all the songs. Along with SPB, Vasantha sang all the songs in the famous ‘Bible’ album.
Vasantha has also composed music for a Telugu movie and a Kannada movie. ‘Kodukepuda thaadanthe’, the song that Vasantha composed and sang for the 1979 Telugu movie ‘Manchikki Sthanam ledu’ was popular in its time.
Vasantha is happily married. Her husband Sudhakar was God’s biggest blessing to her, she avers. When the proposal for the marriage came, Vasantha explained with candour that she was the sole breadwinner for her large family. Sudhakar accepted her siblings as his own and shared all her responsibilities until all her siblings were well settled. Vasantha and Sudhakar’s 3 children are all well-educated and gainfully employed in the software sector. The couple spend their time happily with their four grandchildren.
When she was interviewed recently on her receiving the ‘Lifetieme Achievement Award’ at the Kerala State Film Awards function, Vasantha was grateful to all the composers who gave her wonderful songs. In a moment of heartwarming honesty so typical of her, she said, in impeccable English, 'I am fully aware of my own limitations as a singer; all my composers understood that and gave me only songs that I could do justice to!’
* * * * *
Featuring today a bewitching solo that came Vasantha’s way, composed by MSV for the movie ‘இரு வீடுகள்’. Unfortunately, the movie was never released. I have heard this song often on Radio Ceylon even in the 80s. However, by the time in the 90s when I started in earnest to collect such rare and forgotten songs, I could not find this song in any of the recording centers. I finally found it at ‘Stereo House’ in T. Nagar. The owner, Mr. Shekhar had become a good friend and while the song was getting recorded, he shared with me what he knew about the movie and the song.
‘இரு வீடுகள்’ was originally a drama written and staged by writer Joseph Anandan (the writer of ‘இரு கோடுகள்’) at the AGS office in the early 70s. Actor V.S. Raghavan took the permission of Joseph Anandan and staged it with his Indian National Artists group. ‘Sowcar’ Janaki was so impressed with the story that she embarked upon making a movie of it. This was to be the third movie she was producing after ‘காவியத்தலைவி’ and ‘ரங்கராட்டினம்’. However, due to reasons unknown, the movie was not completed.
Coming to this beautiful song, I recall reading somewhere that it was composed by V. Kumar. However, I have confirmed later from several reliable sources that it was by MSV. Some even said that it was composed for some earlier project and was used later for ‘இரு வீடுகள்’
Be it as it may, the song has a place of pride in Vasantha’s Tamil portfolio, a portfolio that otherwise remains largely content with dismissing her as a mere humming bird…
நல்லதை நினைத்து இருப்பவர்க்கும்,
என்றும் நல்வழி பார்த்து நடப்பவர்க்கும்,
கள்ளமில்லாமல் சிரிப்பவர்க்கும்,
துன்பம் கிட்ட வராமல் விலகி நிற்க்கும்....
பயம் வேண்டாம், கண்ணே, பயம் வேண்டாம்...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmavHrPdtYU&t=23s
Discussion at:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1018417744856618/permalink/1881875198510864/
No comments:
Post a Comment