Saturday, September 26, 2020

SPB the singer who drank-smoked- thrived on ice water and knew no Carnatic music


 

SPB broke all my notions  of a singer and that too of an accomplished one. It was an audio release at a Star hotel and after the function there was a cocktail party. SPB was in the hall where drinks were served. As he was a singer, I expected him to push off after exchanging pleasantries as alchol damaged their voice and the smoke from cigarettes in the hall was more harmful. Myself. Filmnews Anandan, Cinema Express Ramamurthy and Cinenews Selvam as usual settled in a corner table with our glasses..SPB walked to our table and greeted the others at the table. I was a newcomer and so got introduced. He then signaled for a drink and pulled up a chair. He pulled out a pack and lit a cigarette. Next shock was he told the bearer to put a few ice cubes with cold soda. This left me dumbfounded and speechless/ As the session progressed, SPB asked my friends - Your friend speaks very little?. I just managed to smile.

As a rule, I always avoided singers- music directors since  my knowledge of music was nil. All I could do was enjoying music that suited my taste. As in most cases of film music, the picturization elevated the popularity of the song and of course the actors who acted on screen. I usually assigned the interviews in that category to those who had a backdrop of music. As Screen was not a publication that was interested in the eating habits, dress sense and favorites, I felt someone who could ask about music was apt. I had M L Narasimhan who wrote on Telugu films for us to interview him. He was also personally close to the singer.

At another party hosted by my friends who were owners - Chiefs of music companies that bought the films audio rights, SPB and I met. He said that we kept meeting at such parties but have not met personally so far. I told him that I wanted to interview him but as my technical knowledge of music was zero, I kept away. He laughed and said that he too had no idea about Carnatic music or the so called raga- pallavi . He said that when he heard a fresh tune, he just asked the director what it was and made effort to study them. He said that he ran away when people came to book him for a kutcheri. I was stunned. Fresh out of college and working as a trainee, I had seen Sankarabharanam and went gaga over the songs and the film. I had this image of SPB of being like the Somayajulu in the film. I heard about SPB being chosen over Yesudas.

He never believed in putting his foot down on any issue or any job too low. I remember a singer making a snide remark when told that SPB was inside dubbing. " Dubbing ? that too he will not leave to others ?. Anyway what he sings is like dubbing only “he remarked. Music directors say that he always was open to corrections. He had a Malayalam connect apart from regarding Yesudas as his role model. Director- lyricist- music director Sreekumaran Thampi and he did Engineering together in College and their children too studied in the same school. He used to tell me that among all languages it was Malayalam that was difficult to pronounce. Even when a copyright issue cropped up between him and friend Illaiyaraja, SPB took the way of non confrontation.

Veteran journalist Girija Jinnaa who interviewed SPB when he got his national award and was a contributor to Screen magazine put out a FB post that I think was something which sums his outlook to life and also on how our STARS react.  The photograph is from FB page of Durai Selvaraj , son  of Cinenews Selvam. It was taken in London. Posted on Aug 20 wishing SPB a speedy recovery.

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