There was also the title song of Roja where the two collaborated. The collaboration between Balasubrahmanyam and Rahman for the song Thanga Thamarai won him another National Award, his first for a Tamil song. In the Tamil industry, he worked extensively with Ilaiyaraaja, M S Viswanathan and later A R Rahman among others. But composer K Mahadevan decided on Balasubrahmanyam, who eventually won his first National Award for the songs. Singer M Balamuralikrishna was the top choice for the complex Carnatic classical compositions. SP Balasubrahmanyam: Rare photos of the singer-actorīut what made Balasubrahmanyam a force to reckon with was Sankarabharanam (1980), the Telugu musical drama that remains one of the finest films on classical music. His song Aayiram nilave vaa, picturised on MGR and J Jayalalitha in the 1969 film Adimai Penn, was a huge success. He was soon recording songs in Tamil and Kannada.
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Finally, Balasubrahmanyam made his singing debut in 1966 with Telugu movie Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna, which was scored by his mentor S P Kodandapani. They would perform in villages and cities, take part in competitions and visit composers for work. In his early 20s, Balasubrahmanyam was the leader of a music group that had him as vocalist and his friend Ilaiyaraaja on the harmonium. Balasubrahmanyam did, and it made him special. Not many musicians with his kind of success would want to go back to school. Even years later, he regretted not completing his degree. SP Balasubrahmanyam had to drop out of college due to a bad bout of typhoid. I would cry… it felt nearest to godliness,” Balasubrahmanyam said once in a conversation with singer Sonu Nigam on the sets of the show SaReGaMa. “I could hear Rafi sahab’s smile in that song. While going to college on his cycle he would often hear Deewana huya baadal, the O P Nayyar ditty immortalised by Mohammad Rafi, in a shop. Bright in academics, Balasubrahmanyam wanted to become an engineer and took admission in Anantpur, Andhra Pradesh. The singer continued being Khan’s voice throughout the 90s in his subsequent successes such as Andaz Apna Apna (1994) and Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (1994) among others.īalasubrahmanyam was born in Konetammapeta village, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh. And while a couple of songs were directly plagiarised from western pop tunes, SPB’s voice was sealed into a popular and younger consciousness. Soon Balasubrahmanyam was cast as Salman Khan’s voice in Sooraj Barjatya’s famed project Maine Pyaar Kiya (1989) by composer Raamlaxman. The following year, SPB received the National Award for the Best Male Playback Singer for the famed lament from the film in the pathos-driven raga Shivranjini - Tere mere beech mein. It’s hard to forget him singing ‘I don’t know what you say’ in the title song. The mix of his trademark sincerity and the delicate youthfulness paired with a soft timbre made Balasubrahmanyam a national phenomena. The songs in SP Balasubrahmanyam’s smooth baritone, many of which were duets with Lata Mangeshkar, captured the nation’s attention. Balachander’s condition was clear - SPB was to sing for Kamal Hassan, since the character, Vasu, was not supposed to be good at Hindi and pronunciation wouldn’t be a problem. He felt that Balasubrahmanyam, the “Madrasi” singer he were asked to work with, could not accurately pronounce words from Anand Bakshi’s Hindustani lyrics. During the music-making process of filmmaker K Balachander’s Rati Agnihotri and Kamal Hassan starrer Ek Duje Ke Liye (1981) - the Hindi remake of the director’s Telugu film Maro Charitra - composer Raamlaxman was displeased. And that’s where the magic nestled itself.Īnd to think that his voice was rejected once upon a time. In all of them, that tender, velvety voice triumphantly stood out as one of a kind - it was unpretentious and yet grand. That he held the Guinness Book of World Record for singing the highest number of songs ever (40,000 songs) was just another feather in his cap. From MG Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan to Kamal Hassan, Mohan and a slew of actors in the present day, Balasubrahmanyam’s voice was a fixture for all of them. He found success in the Hindi film industry and a lot more than just success in South Indian film music - a cult status as an artiste who received genuine affection from people. Widely held as one of the finest male playback singers with a 50-year-long career, SP Balasubrahmanyam, transcended language barriers by singing in 16 of them including Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil among others. SP Balasubrahmanyam was also a well-known dubbing artiste.