‘The Happiness Road’ is a weekly Series on this Blog that
appears on Sundays where I share my conversations with people while exploring
their idea of happiness!
This Sunday features a beautiful conversation that Vaani and I
had with one of India’s most talented and loved singers – S.P.Balasubrahmanyam
(simply SPB or Balu Sir to many)!!
What do
you do when you meet – finally meet –
the man, listening to whose voice you have grown up? A voice that has stirred
the most aesthetic, spiritual and romantic emotions in you – every single time
that you have heard it?
Well if
you are Vaani, you just let go, you melt and dissolve in the magic and beauty
of the moment, and you tear up. “I can’t believe this is true….that I am in
your presence,” gushed Vaani while shaking SPB’s hands, even as he welcomed us
warming into his tastefully done up living room.
I was
more reflective. I found a sliver of time between the hellos, welcomes and
thank-yous that we exchanged, to let “Manram Vantha Thendrallukku, Manjam Vara Nenjam Ilayo” from Mouna Ragam (1986, Mani Ratnam,
Ilayaraja, Vaali) seep through my inner consciousness. It is my absolute,
all-time favorite SPB number. And I sent a prayer in gratitude to the Universe,
to Life, for creating and nurturing this man, so that his exceptional voice
could light up our lives!
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SPB: Picture Courtesy - The Hindu/Internet |
69-year-old
SPB will start his 50th year in playback singing on 15th
December this year – he made his debut in 1966 with a Telugu song in the film Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna. So I ask
him the most logical question: Does he feel happy, accomplished…?
He beams
his famous, big, adorable smile. He then leans forward and says, “Yes!!! 49
years is a long time. But let me tell you truthfully, I did not come into this
industry with any goal. I had no idea. Nor any ideals. I had then thought that
I will not last beyond a couple of songs. But I have survived here, somehow
pulled along…you can say! So, I often reflect on these past years with a sense
of immense gratitude; I am grateful to the Almighty for giving my lifetime a sense
of purpose. That my singing has made so many people happy makes me happy. I
feel I am blessed.”
SPB adds
that he is also grateful for his father’s native wisdom. When he had approached
his father, soon after testing the waters in playback singing, not sure if this
would be the right career to earn a living, asking if he should go back to
leaning on his training in engineering, his father only told him “not to ride
two horses at the same time”. “His advice was suggestive, not directive. I
chose singing because it made me happy while engineering did not give me that
sense of joy. I taught myself to sing better and continue to learn to sing
better with every new song and every new music composer I work with. I sing both
for my inner joy and to earn a living. It is so humbling when people come to me
and tell me that they feel I have sung a song especially for them. Hearing this
makes me fulfilled and happy,” explains SPB.
Vaani
suggests that he is being very modest, referring to his confession that he is
an “untrained singer who is still learning”. “Amma,” he clarifies, “I have only one qualification. I know what I
don’t know. I am very happy when I am able to deliver what my captain, the
music director, wants out of me. The day I can’t do that, I will quit singing.”
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SPB: Picture Courtesy - The Hindu/Internet |
That’s
an exacting standard to live by for anyone. But here’s a man who’s lived by it
for half a century – for almost as long as Vaani and I have been on this planet
– and is still singing at his peak. How does he do it? What’s the secret of his
longevity in the business and of his continued relevance across at least three
generations? “I start each day with a simple question – how can I enjoy myself today?
I don’t worry and I don’t entertain any insecurities. I work hard when I am I
asked to sing. And when I am not singing, I am living my Life fully – hanging out,
having fun!” he reveals.
SPB
wears his Life on his sleeve. He is disarmingly honest and humble: “I am not a
perfect human being. I am just another human being. I had a smoking habit which
I gave up some time ago. I am a social drinker. I have never been prudent with
my finances – until recently I even had commitments to fulfil. Just because I
am a singer, just because I have a public profile, I can’t be a hypocrite. Nor
can I be a sanyasi. I don’t want to.
I am happy being who I am. And I have no problem with people knowing who I am.”
I am
keen to know how SPB remains anchored, grounded – anyone with a Padma Bhushan,
6 National Awards and several Filmfare Awards, with 40,000 songs and with such
devotion from an ever-growing fan following can get carried away, right? “I was
inspired to take up singing by listening to Mohd. Rafi; I have worked for
composers like K.V.Mahadevan, M.S.Viswanathan, Laxmikant Pyarelal, Naushad,
O.P.Nayyar, Panchamda, Ilayaraja and A.R.Rahman; I have sung alongside greats
like S.Janaki, P.Susheela, Lata Mangeshkar and so many, many more accomplished
artistes…how can anyone have an ego if your career has evolved among such
legends? In front of them I am a nobody. If I am a somebody it is because of them, their love,
their support and encouragement,” he says, playing down my question.
SPB
counts the following among some of his Life’s greatest moments:
· Touching Mohd.Rafi’s feet, in a
break between takes, during a recording at Prasad studios: “I was recording in
the neighboring studio and rushed to try and see him. There was a break in his
schedule. I went up to him and touched his feet. He look at me and asked ‘Aap Kaun Hain?’…I was too timid to
introduce myself although I was an established singer by then. I said, ‘It
doesn’t matter’. Truly, to me, in his presence, who I was really didn’t matter.
I smiled gratefully and quickly left the studio.”
· Having O.P.Nayyar over for
breakfast at his Kodambakkam home in Chennai: “O.P Sir told me that he never
goes to anyone’s house. But he promised to come home provided we served him vadai and sambar. After breakfast, he stayed on…soon he was composing music
with me and we spent a couple of hours just singing and making music…isn’t that
experience priceless?”
· Featuring in Naushad’s
biography, “Naushadnama: The Life and Music
of Naushad” (Raju Bharatan, Hay House, 2013): “Naushad loved me for
delivering an 8+-minute song in a single take for Teri Payal Mere Geet (1993, Rehman Naushad, Govinda, Meenakshi
Seshadri). In his biography, I feature in one para where he talks about me
being ‘the most hard-working and professional singer’ he has ever worked with.
He lauds me for being ‘self-trained’. To me, that compliment is equal to
getting the Bharat Ratna.”
· Knowing R.D.Burman as a friend
and as a composer: “I was coming back to Sea Rock Hotel late one evening, after
a full day’s recording in Mumbai. As I was entering the hotel, I heard
Pancham’s voice call out ‘Balu’. I turned to find him sitting on a ledge
outside in the dark. Pancham was out of work in those days and playfully chided
me for not calling him when I came into Mumbai. He then pulled out a bottle of
Black Label whiskey…we went up to my room and we made music even as we drank. I
am blessed to have had his friendship and love in my Life.”
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SPB: Picture Courtesy - The Hindu/Internet |
He’s
played many professional roles in his Life: singer, composer, actor, producer,
voice-over artist, TV show host…which of these does he love doing the most?
“Undoubtedly it is singing that I love. Music is my sacred, divine, Life
source. It has given me everything. It has given me work and it has given me
the strength to work. It is what makes me happy every single day,” he avers.
So, how did he then allow surgeries – twice – for polyps on his vocal cords;
didn’t he feel insecure, didn’t he fear losing his precious voice? “Everyone
from my family to friends to even Lataji (Mangeshkar) advised me against having
‘metal interface with my vocal cords’. But I decided to go ahead. You have to
do what you have to in Life. Honestly, I never felt fearful of the procedure. I
just reconciled to the fact that at the end of the surgeries I would either
have my voice or I wouldn’t have it. Fortunately, I had my voice intact and
within a few days of the last surgery I was back to doing my riyaaz.”
My
takeaway from the conversation we had with SPB is this – do what you love
doing, do it very well, live in the moment, enjoy each day, fear nothing, worry
about nothing and you will be happy all your Life. I guess that’s too simple a
way – in a single line – to summarize the Life and work of a man whose voice
has stirred and enriched our souls for 49 years! But that’s really who SPB is.
Simple, professional, humble, gifted, and above all, blessed.
The
first rains of the North-East monsoon drench Chennai as we leave his home. On
our ride back in an Uber, an FM station plays a rare SPB number, the title song
“Ninaithale Innikkum”,
from K.Balachander’s 1979 movie of the same name (M.S.Viswanathan, Kannadasan).
I think of the 90-minutes we had just spent with SPB and I exclaim to Vaani, “How
serendipitous!” This is one memory which, when we think back at
any time in the future, will be among our most precious ones – “Ninaithale
Innikkum”!
Well written Avis! Thanks for sharing! SD
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