http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/681.html
- Saravanan writes:
‘chandiranai paarthaal sooriyanaai therigirathu’ from brahmacharigaL.
Sung by Rajkumar Bharathi
Lyrics by Pulamaipithan
Music by M.S.Viswanthan
* * * *
brahmacharigaL (28.1.1983/ Jubilee Creations) was based on a stage play thirumaNam engaL piRappurimai that was doing its rounds under the auspices of the various sabhas in the early 80s. Typical of the popular plays of the time, the proceedings were breezy and boisterous. With one comic incident following the other in quick succession, the story traced the travails of three young men whose father is set against them getting married. The play elicited fair reviews, and this encouraged its writer Swarnamoorthi to make a movie of it. Produced by K. Rajan, the film, titled brahmacharigaL, however proved a damp squib. Poornam Viswanthan played the eccentric father, while K. Rajan, S.V.Shekhar and Suresh played his three suffering sons Bala, Murali & Krishna. Sulakshana, Vanitha, MRK and Isari Velan were the others in the cast.
As for the album, dismiss without much ado the innocuous ‘bOlO bOlO’ sung by Malaysia Vasudevan, S.N.Surendar and party, and what you have are two glittering jewels crafted with loving care by the mellisai mannar. True, SPB holds you spellbound with his soaring ‘azhagia thirumuga dharisanam thandhida vaaraayO’, but come out of your trance when you can- for next you have this haunting SOTD and Rajkumar Bharathi giving a gentle reminder of his untapped capabilities, as he brings to pulsating life Pulamaipithan’s imagery of a lovesick youth’s hallucinations and despair.
* * * *
From the misty shores of midnight, touched with splendors of the moon
to the singing tides of heaven, and the light more clear than noon,
passed a soul that grew to music till it was with God in tune..
- Henry Van Dyke (Tennyson)
In my first year of CA articleship, I had a friend called Shekhar. His childlike innocence and warmth was singular and he was greatly popular in my circle. Imagine our feelings when one day he renounced worldly life quietly and embraced the monastic order of the Ramakrishna Math! Impassioned entreaties by his family and friends to reconsider his decision were in vain. Over the years I continue to call upon him, and the inner tranquility and bliss that he seems to radiate has never failed to move me.
It was Shekhar who invited me to attend the consecration of the beautiful Universal Temple at the Mylapore Math premises in February 2000. There was a weeklong festivity at the Math, and I turned up every evening to listen to the Chanting by the Swamis and the Odhuvars, the discourses by savants of varied faiths, and delightful and varied music fare by Vani Jairam, Subbu Arumugam, Seergazhi Sivachidambaram, Pithukkuli Murugadas and others.
If I remember right, Rajkumar Bharathi sang at the Math on 12th February. I was mesmerized by his deep, sonorous voice, and his rendition was soaked in piety. Five years have passed by since that serene evening, but to this day, Rajkumar Bharathi’s rich, resonant ‘tamboori meetidava’ and ‘asaindhaadum mayil ondRu kaaNum’ linger in memory.
Shekhar was one of the energetic organizers, and he introduced me to Rajkumar Bharathi after the concert. Though it was late in the evening, the unassuming singer chatted with me affably for a while. He seemed surprised that his film songs were still remembered, and when I asked him why he wasn’t heard in tfm anymore, he smiled and shrugged his shoulders. As we shook hands in farewell, he said that he had sung a song recently for IR in the to-be-released bharathi, and took in my delighted responses with an impish twinkle!
I went home with mixed thoughts that night- happiness at having listened to a pleasing concert, excitement at having met the gentleman Rajkumar Bharathi, and perplexity at why such a talented artiste was being ignored by tfm composers.
Tracing his lineage to the revolutionary bard, Rajkumar grew up in a household that reverberated to the incessant strumming of the tanpura and the delineation of carnatic kritis. His mother Lalitha, was an accomplished singer and little Rajkumar would watch with wonder his mother herald in the enchantment of music day after day. Noticing her son picking up effortlessly the complex nuances of classical music, Lalitha embarked on giving him formal training when he was five years old and later enrolled him under Valliyoor Gurumoorthi.
Rajkumar adapted quickly to the rigorous schedules of his exacting Guru, and proved a sincere and diligent disciple. He later came under the tutelage of T.V.Gopalakrishnan and it is to TVG’s credit that Rajkumar has blossomed into the much sought after artiste that he is today. He gave his first full-fledged concert in 1976. He won the first prize in The Indian Fine Arts Society’s annual competition and also bagged a prized opportunity to sing in that year’s December Music Series. And even while continuing his training under TVG, Rajkumar elicited critical acclaim as a vocalist of rare merit. He ventured into Light Music, Choir Music and Hindustani Music as well.
Then when did the suffix ‘Bharathi’ get added? Not until 1982, when a Doordarshan producer hit upon the idea of making Rajkumar sing some of his great-grandfather’s songs in a programme to celebrate the birth centenary of the Mahakavi. “The producer changed my name to Rajkumar Bharathi and the response was tremendous. People were overwhelmed to hear Bharathi's great-grandson singing his songs. I began to realize that the surname was of great advantage to me.” Rajkumar recalled in an interview.
And it was also in 1982 that RB made his debut in tfm. And no, it was not any front-ranking MD who gave him this opportunity, nor was it a block-buster that he sang his first song in- it was the talented but underutilized L.Vaidyanathan who invited RB to sing two songs in the off-beat Ezhavathu manithan (Latha Creations). In an album comprising wholly of Bharathiar’s songs, RB sang the innovatively tuned ‘nenjil uramumindRi’ and the intense, brooding ‘nallathOr veeNai seithE’.
Despite RB holding his own amidst KJY’s lilting ‘kaakkai chiRaginilE’ and SPB’s rousing ‘achchamillai achchamillai’, his doorstep wasn’t exactly besieged by MDs eager to have RB sing in their music. At the end of a chequered career, V.Kumar composed two wonderful songs written by his favourite Vaali for RB in the film Sankari (1984/ Revathy Combines)- ‘bharathikku oru kaNNamma’, where K.Swarna hums to RB’s song, and ‘manjaL veyyil sevvanathil’, a sprightly RB/VJ duet. S-G were churning out albums by the dozen in the early 80s, but they thought it fit to harness RB’s vocals for only one of their compositions- ‘pon veeNaiyE ennOdu vaa’ from kaakitha Odam (1986/ Poompuhar Productions) came out in two versions, a SPB solo, and a RB/BSS duet. Both the versions became popular and found adequate airtime in that period. L.Vaidyanathan summoned his protégé to sing Vairamuthu’s bracing ‘thoduvaanam nijamalla’ with SJ in Yugi Sethu’s kavithai paada nEramillai (1987/ Mayascope Film Company)
However, it was MSV who gave RB most of his biggest hits. In the late 70s and early 80s, MSV encouraged many young singers and gave them some enviable openings. And like T.L.Maharajan, Jolly Abraham and Seergazhi Sivachidambaram, RB too was called by the mellisai mannar to sing under his baton. The mellifluous RB/VJ duet written by Pulamaipithan ‘ninaivugaLin oorvalangaL, nam nenjangaLE pon rathangaL’ from the unreleased plus 2 (Vijay Cine Combines) might trigger a chain of memories in Radio Ceylon aficionados. Komal Swaminathan’s yuddha kaaNdam (Kalaikoodam), a Pongal release of 1983, had another MSV-tuned RB/VJ delight: ‘kaNgaL sonnathu pOr thodukka’. The SOTD from brahmacharigaL followed next. Sivaji’s chiranjeevi (Gururam Movies) saw a belated release in 1984, and had that caressing RB/SJ duet ‘nilavu vandhu neeraada, nerungi vandhu uRavaada’. Visu’s puyal kadantha bhoomi (also 1984/ Vimal Enterprises) had a scintillating RB/VJ duet ‘aarambamaagum anandha ragam, naam padalaam mOhanam’. K.Shankar’s ‘navagraha nayagi’ (1985/ Visagam Arts) boasted of the next MSV/RB/VJ collaboration: ‘sandhana kudam ondRu sadhiraaduthu’. kaNNE kaniyamudhE (1986/SAJ productions) ranks among MSV’s best albums in the 80s, and the remarkable ‘akilam thiru nadanamidum, Or aRputham nam nERil varum’ (Lyrics: Kannan) kicks off to an exquisite start by RB who is joined by SPB midway. The munificent MSV bestowed upon the forgettable thanga kalasam (1988/ Sudha Screen) some unforgettable songs, and RB and Chitra sang therein a duet of dreamy enchantment: ‘thaamarai ilaiyE thoodhu sellayO’. After this song, RB was away from tfm for many years until IR invited him to sing the Mahakavi’s exhilarating ‘kELada.. maanidava, emmil keezhOr mElOr illai’.
Kannada film music has treated RB with more befitting respect. It was LV again who ushered him into kfm, and soon RB was approached by many MDs to sing their Kannada compositions. A sample: ‘sihi sihi entha sihi sihi’ with SJ (malE bandhu malE/ GKV), ‘sri rama jaya rama gunarama’ with PS & Chorus (thaayiya aasE/ Vijayabhaskar), ‘nee hinga nodabyada nanna’ and ‘praNaya geethEya haadidhE manasu’ with Bangalaore Lata- both from prematharanga (M.Ranga Rao), ‘muthO muthu’ with VJ (aasha/ GKV), ‘baruvaaga onti neenu’ (Swabhimana/ S-G), ‘marayEkE soundaryakE’ and ‘aagasakE mOda sangaadhi’ with Chitra- both from vijayOtsava (S-G)
Unperturbed by the dearth of tfm opportunities, RB has made rapid strides in the classical arena. A qualified engineer, he was faced with the difficult decision of giving up his job early in his music career. “I was doing an injustice to both my job and my music. My guru, TVG, told me to quit my job if I wanted to shine in the field of music. Initially, of course, I had no assignments. And that worried me tremendously. Slowly, I realized that nothing changes by your worrying or bothering about it; what has to happen will happen…” he philosophizes. But all that has changed. Today he travels all over the world, giving concerts and taking up teaching assignments. Back home in Chennai, he is a popular vocalist, drawing full houses as he performs, accompanied by his usual team members Madurai Balasubramaniam (violin) and Prapancham Raveendran (mridangam).
RB has also made a name for himself as a music composer for dance programmes, both in India and abroad. He is a regular composer for the Rangoli Foundation, based in U.S., and his music for productions like Anubhava, Mustard Seeds, Creation Myth, Suryakanthi, Sacred Geometry, Punyakoti and Planting a Sequoia has won wide appreciation. Says Malathi Iyengar of Rangoli, “RB has accumulated an impressive resume of creative explorations and never reproduces the same tunes. His music brings out endless possibilities for dance improvisation. Endowed with a certain sense of style and finesse, he explores various possibilities to arrive at something that is innovative and divine”. RB was nominated for the prestigious Lester Horton Dance Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Composing Music’ for ‘Creation Myth’ of Rangoli. His music for ‘Kathirgama Kuravanji’ and the U.K. based Shrishti’s “Women are from Venus” has also fetched laurels.
RB has also come out with numerous music albums. ‘Bharathiar Songs’ (naturally!), ‘Classical Melodies’, ‘The Legacy’, ‘Naarayanaa - An Enticing Dasar Delite’, the multimedia presentation of the Gita, ‘Bhajans’ set to tune by K.S.Raghunathan, ‘Kaalikambal Isai Andhaadhi’, ‘Krishna Karnamritha’ (Kannada, with VJ), ‘Sri Venkatesa Ganamrutha Lahiri’ (Kannada/ with Manjula), ‘Om and Gayatri Mantra’ are some his well known works. His devotional songs can be heard on AIR most mornings. While in Bangalore, I have woken up almost everyday to RB’s ‘gajananam bootha ganadi sEvitam’ (Music: T.G.Lingappa) that used to be played in a neighborhood temple. Listening to his ‘sindhayE aalayam’ (Album: Sri Raghavendra Songs) is a rewarding experience.
With all this, RB remains humble and unpretentious. “After a concert, when somebody comes and tells me he forgot himself for a moment, I feel satisfied. I am indebted to God for having chosen me to give that elated feeling to somebody” he says.
Here is a gifted singer, a brimming repository of talent, hailing from a pedigreed lineage and nurtured by impeccable training. tfm will be undoubtedly richer if the current day MDs bring RB back for another innings. nallathOr veeNai seithE, athai nalankeda puzhuthiyil erivathuNdO?