SP
BALASUBRAMANIAM – THE MAVERICK SINGER
By S. Prabhakar
SPB with National Award |
Today the 4th
June is the 69th Birthday of SP Balasubramanyam (fondly referred to
as SPB or Balu). SPB is predominantly
Telugu play back singer but had been equally adapt in speaking and singing songs in Tamil,
Kannada, Hindi and also sang in many other Indian languages and can be credited
for being the first ever cross over singer, which now has become order of the
day. The famous Kishore never sang in
any south Indian languages nor
Ghantasala sang any songs in Hindi there by depriving the people of the
opportunity for other audience to listen them to their favourite singer in
their languages. He is so prolific in
his singing that he holds Guinness World Record for recording highest number of
songs (over 40,000) and recording highest number of songs on a single day, a
whopping 21 Kannada songs in just 12 hours.
He also recorded 19 Tamil songs and 16 Hindi songs in a day. He has a great appetite for winning awards
too. He has a unique distinction
of winning National Award for best male play back singer for a record six times
in four different languages (Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and Kannada), AP State
Government Nandi award for best play back singer for another record number of
25 times, Tamil state award 4 times and Kannada state award for 3 times and
Film fare award for 6 times. He
is recipient of Padmashri and Padma Bhushan from Government of India.
SPB with Ghantasala |
To begin with SPB never
had it easy to break into playback singing in Telugu largely due to the
colossal presence of Ghantasala (Vekateswara Rao) not only the best singer in
Telugu but in all Indian languages for the sheer melody, wide range of singing
and effortless singing. In 1950s and
1960s there was no way Telugu film goers could accept anyone anywhere near
Ghantasala. He ruled the hearts of all
Telugu movies goers and a house hold name not only in those days but till date
after 40 years of his death. So SPB had
to make a very quiet and modest debut in Comedian turned Hero and Producer
Padmanabham’s Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna in 1966. For atleast next five years or so he had to
manage by signing for comedians heavily banking on his mimicry abilities
(specially for Rajababu) and side heros/character actors. The first Hero with whom his voice was
associated was Krishna, who too had a frail and thin voice unlike the boomerang
voice of NTR and deep voice of ANR. But
cleverly SPB started making inroads and
tried to have a foot hold in Kannada and Tamil film industry at the same
time.
Come 70s the deteriorating health of Ghantasala and ultimately the untimely death of Ghantasala in 1974 has
left the entire Telugu playback singing field wide open and SPB grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Both NTR and ANR were at their peak and no one could imagine anyone except Ghantasala singing for them which he was doing for more than 20 years till then. Here again apart from his singing abilities, SPB mimicry abilities helped him to adopt his voice for both NTR and ANR and in the next couple of years he succeeded in being accepted for NTR and ANR specially with super hit songs of Vetagadu for NTR and Premabhishekam for ANR. For next 25 years there was no looking back for him and an alternative options for Telugu producers.
SPB with Illayaraja |
SPB with Vishwanath |
With the new found
confidence by the success of Shanakarabharanam under his belt, he ventured into
Hindi films with Ek Dujekeliya – a remake of Telugu super hit Maro Charitra
(with his favourite combination of Kamal Hassan and K Balachander). Not only the songs have become a rage but he went on to win National Award for best male play back singer, again a
first being the only South Indian singer winning National Award for best Male
singer for a Hindi song. For next five
years or so he was equally busy belting super hits one after the other specially
in `Maine Pyaar Kiya’ and `Hum Apke Hai Kaun’ and many other Salman Khan movies,
before going back to be busy with Telugu and Tamil industries.
With the strange and un-explainable trend of making most of the Telugu songs to be sung by Hindi play back singers and with age catching up, SPB has not been as prolific in the last
5 years as he was throughout his career but nonetheless he always keeps himself busy and visible and still counted as undisputed king of play back singing
in Telugu and Tamil.
SPB with Kamal Hassan |
He has set high standards
and benchmark for judging music talent shows on TV and nurturing young
talent. He has been judging and
compering PADUTA TEEYAGA a Telugu talent search show on E-TV for the last 17
years without break. I have seen so many music talent search shows in
many languages being judged by top singers and music directors. Without fail every judge goes over-board in
praising the participants taking sides openly and doing pre-determined role-playing
to the hilt. They give an impression
that none of the participants ever did any mistake in singing and presenting
the songs and there is no scope for improvement and never play the role of mentors. In contrast, SPB keeps the lyrics of all
songs to be sung by the participants, keeps head phones and takes notes while
participants singing and once the song is completed by the singer first he
praises them generously then points out very minute details of wrong
pronunciations and all other technical fine points and make them sing
correctly. Never has he made the
exiting contests feel that they lost something and it is end of the world. For 17 long years he never used the word` losing/lost' there was no crying or
showing any negative emotions by any participants. He, being Encyclopaedia of Telugu music
industry, gives so many side stories with every song giving credit to the
lyricists and all musicians whose names and identities are not known to many and
makes the programme so interesting and absorbing. He has a fantastic command over Telugu language (so also Tamil and Kannada) and may be he is one of the last of the purists in the industry. His enthusiasm, dedication and devotion in
nurturing young talents is unmatchable. Right through his career he steered away from controversies and never responded even to the worst critics. Once Ismail Darbar, a relatively unknown music director of Hindi Film industry remarked to a contestant in a music reality show that if he keep singing like this you will end up being like SPB, blissfully ignorant of the achievements of SPB. He might not have scored music to that many number of songs in his entire career which SPB might have sung in a month at peak of his career. Anyone else would have let the hell loose on him but SPB chose to ignore and nothing can be more hard hitting than ignoring such worthless comments
Another great ability of
SPB is whenever he participates on stage shows, which he does even at the age
of 69 years, he sings the toughest songs also very close to recording quality
and never minds pairing up with young singers who are participants in music
talent search shows.
SPB paying respect to Yesudas |
Though there is no denying
that all my life I have been an ardent fan of GHANTASALA, I am proud of the
achievements of SPB for the last 40 years of play back singing and proud of the
fact that he is a Telugu singer and an Indian.
I wish him all health and wish and pray that he continues to contribute
to Telugu and India music industry and all other fields.
SPB SIGNS OFF AT THE AGE of 74 YEARS ON 25.9.2020
Though bulky and faced the related problems SPB maintained a very good general health and handled bariatric surgery very well. But when contacted mild covid and immediately got admitted in hospital, for a long time there was hope of his recovering like many other senior cine personalities. But his treatment prolonged and ultimately he lost the battle and left for heavenly abode leaving a great void in play back singing.
Going by the trail blazing achievements, there is is no doubt in any one's mind that he is one the greatest playback singers India has produced. As far as Telugu Industry is concerned he will be placed a notch below Ghantasala, but surely he is at par with the great like TMS, Kishore Kumar and PB Srinivas. He was a multi lingual and national singer in the real sense.. No other singer has established equally well in so many languages - specially Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. No other singer is so multi faceted as he was. Apart from Singing, he was extremely successful as Music Director, lyricist, actor, producer, director, recording theater owner, dubbing artist, judge and anchor in reality shows.
More than any one else, it is going to be great loss to the Telugu film industry. They lost one of the greatest film personality - most impactful singer after Ghantasala. There could never be any other singer who can come anywhere near the achievements of SPB. His command over Telugu language, love for Telugu language is unmatchable. Till he breathed his last, he was concerned and expressed his anguish the way Telugu language has been distorted by singers from other languages who murder the language day in day out and how can the industry reverse this trend. Being gentleman he was, he was never critical of the singers concerned but always suggested producers, directors that let them learn the language, understand the meaning of the lyrics and emote the song and most importantly not insult the language by the distortion.
SPB has left behind a great legacy specially for the budding singers. There are thousands of his programs and videos where he gave so many tips, that will be a great learning experience to anyone who wants to learn. Apart from singing, his hard working nature, focus dedication, devotion, humility, friendly nature and many other qualities
SPB Sir, thanks for all entertainment for over five decades, which we all will enjoy for our life time. You might have joined your mentors Kodandapani, Ghantasala and Rafi in the Heaven. and enjoying their company.
S. Prabhakar
4.6.2015 / 27.9.2020