The magic of P.B.Srinivas - I

A period of a minor tumult in my personal life wrt my health has formally come to an end today. Through the last week of my bed-rest, I spent a lot of time enjoying my Tamil film music collection, relishing the genius of Viswanathan Ramamoorthy, the brilliance of Kannadasan and the sublime melody of P.B.Srinivas, or PBS as he is fondly called.

I have been a huge fan of PBS since the time I started enjoying music. I still recall how addicted I was to "manidan enbavan deivam aagalaam" in my third standard. My Mama used to have this song on one of his tapes and I used to play it every day repeatedly after returning from school. Poor Mama had to resort to hding the cassette on top of shelves so as to protect it from my hands. As I have grown in age, my fondness for PBS songs has only increased.

Like my other favorite singer Talat Mahmood, what is immediately noticeable is the extremely low percentage of "bad" songs that PBS has sung in Tamil. One possible reason for this could be that he playbacked on the more "urban" stars of time like Muthuraman, Balaji and of course, Gemini Ganesan. The music for these stars were typically more sophisticated - few "mass" or "dabaanguttu" songs unlike the two popular stars MGR and Sivaji, However, it is musch more probable that the likes of Viswanathan-Ramamoporthy and K.V.Mahadevan completely understood the vocals of PBS and gave him songs that appeared to have been created only for him.


PBS' voice is sheer melody. At his peak, he combined the best of Talat and Rafi. Combine the sheer velvety soothing nature of Talat with the versatility and range of Rafi, and you have PBS. He was an original in the Tamil musical scene. A.M.Raja may be the fore-runner of the melody singers in Tamil film music but PBS came to symbolize them. Recall the singing greats of Tamil music before and with PBS - Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, P.U.Chinnappa, Trichy Loganathan, C.S.Jayaraman, Seergazhi Govindarajan and T.M.Sounderrajan - and you realize his unique standing. A.M.Raja started the melody line of Tamil singers, PBS had it established and the next generation, S.P.Balasubramaniam and K.J.Yesudas made it the domainant style.

PBS' first major break came with S.Rajeswara Rao's melodies in "Adutha veetu penn". The songs are delights that dazzle up a quiet evening any day. "kaNNaalE pEsi pEsi kollaadE" and "maalayil malar sOlayil" continue to enchant. But then, the songs were picturized on comedian Thangavelu, and not a romantic star and as Manna Dey would testify, that means a lot. So PBS continued to remain "one in the crowd" and bide his time. It was his union with Gemini Ganesan and Viswanathan Ramamoorthy that shot him to the top leagure. A.M.Raja had beeen the voice of Gemini Ganesan through most of the 50s. Viswanathan Ramamoorthy had never been great fans of A.M.Raja and Raja's own success as a music director might have contributed to this but in any case, one's loss is another's gain. PBS rendered "kaalangaLil avaL vasantam" on Gemini in "Paava manippu" and the rest is history. Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy-Kannadasan-PBS-Gemini was an association that provided us with many many unforgettable melodies, some of them ranking amongst the greatest melodies of Tamil cinema. Here is a sampling from my favorites:

• manidan enbavan deivam aagalaam (Sumaitaangi) - It was my favorite when I was in my 3rd standard and it continues to be my favorite song 25 years later. A perfect song. Great music and singing, profound but simple lyrics and wonderful picturization. Cinema at its best.
• mayakkamaa kalakkamaa (Sumaitaangi) - A cult song that has become the song of inspiration for successive generations. The song has reportedly inspired people out of ddepression and moroseness to grow in life. A modern day torch bearer.
• tuLLi tirinda peN onDru (Kaatirunda kaNgaL) - The definitive Gemini romantic number. This composition is a testimony to the genius of Viswanathan and Ramamoorthy. It is a very complex compoisition, exquisitely orchestrated and how superbly PBS has rendered thins. No wonder it is one of PBS' personal favorites.
• chinna chinna kaNNanukku (Vazhkai padagu)- A love-lorn man playing with a child. Smiles and tears mingle beautifully in this evergreen gem
  

The Viswanathan Ramamoorthy and PBS combo were not restricted to just Gemini Ganesan films. One has to only think of that ace director Sridhar and a whole multitude of this combo's songs spring to mind. Sridhar's initial films were all A.M.Raja. It all started with his first mega-success "KalyaaNa parisu". A.M.Raja composed and sung the male songs in the film, all of them superhits. Then came "Then nilavu", a film which really established Gemini Ganesan as "kaadal mannan". Here again, A.M.Raja scored the music and sang the unforgettable songs. It was in "" that Sridhar and A.M.Raja had a fall-out. While A.M.Raja sang the songs, the composer was S.Rajeswara Rao. A.M.Raja was bitter that Sridhar had not retained him as the MD and made his displeasure known to the director. Not pleased with this, Sridhar promptly turned to Viswanathan Ramamoorthy for his next film and A.M.Raja's career came to a pre-mature close thereafter. Anyway, Perhaps the very best of Viswanathan Ramamoorthy and PBS comes through in Sridhar's films.

.. To be continued..