One does not reminisce about a great musical journey of 91
years with feelings of pathos and melancholy.
No, such emotions would sully the mood here.
It was, after all, a beautifully
lived, fully lived life. As you leaf through the pages of his life, strains of mellifluous
music waft all around. The air is pervaded by the dulcet tunes of a hundred
variety. A duet here, a devotional there, a rap here, a
rhapsody there…. And it makes you sit up and wonder. Who is this man? And how did the world miss him when he was
around? Why is it invariably that it
takes a death to remind the world about
the greatness of one whose life just withered away?
Who is this TMS? How
could he produce what he did during his lifetime? How did he manage the effortless ease of a muthukkulikka vareegala and a muthaitharupathi
thirunagai? Or a yaaranda nilavu and a yennadi rakkamma rendered with equal
felicity?
Reams have just been written about the man and his
bottomless repertoire. Adjectives could
no more adequately 'adjectivise' his greatness.
I shall not attempt to add to the eulogy. But one thing I wish to attempt – with
trepidation. To pick the top 10 from his
output. The task is nearly impossible of
performance, I am aware, but yet venture into.
There actually is no such thing as the best 10, since hundreds of his
songs could qualify to be among the
top. Let me see…
1 Ennirenduppadhinaru vayadhu has always been my personal
favourite – till yesterday the reason was Sivaji Ganesan but now, leafing
through the life-time greatest songs of TMS, it dawns on me that the singer too
was all along reason enough for that classic melody to bear the stamp of class which
it does! Difficult to tell if Sivaji
added glitz to TMS’s voice by some excellent acting and lip-syncing or if TMS
added that gloss to the song-setting by his golden voice. 8 x 2 = 16 vayadhu comes right on top.
2 How do you describe a string of white pearls embedded on a strip of red coral? To Vaali, it would look like the seductive smile
of the heroine. TMS brought real life to
the imagery through his Pavalakkodiyile muthukkal poothal….song. A
heady cocktail of some lilting music, grand orchestration, great but simple
lyrics, all embellished by the soothing TMS voice
3 Chinnanchiriya Vannapparavai brings forth a different facet of TMS. That deep baritone voice rendering a Carnatic
classical type song. Contrasting with
the soft, velvety voice of Janaki, yet beautifully complementing it. What a song!
TMS’s rendition of the stanza beginning with Vaasal ondrirukkum…. is a
real treat to the ears. Easily one of
TMS’s best .
4 And who said his masculine, resonant voice was not cut out
for songs addressing children?
Three pieces readily come to my mind – Sirithu vazhavendum… was good,
but Idho endhan deivam munnale….was
real vintage TMS. Again, such gems were
but heady mixes of Ganesan, MSV & Kannadasan but imagine anyone else singing the
song and the efforts of the first three would have gone to waste. As Kannadasan says in this song, God is to be
seen in the aroma of a flower- strewn garden, in the lilt of the honey voice of
the koel, in the black cloud bursting to quench the thirst of all and in the
sweetness of the tender fruits in the orchard.
He could as well have added ‘in the tantalizing voice of TMS…’
5 The mother of today’s Kuthupattu should be ‘Ennadi Rakkamma…’ The pulsating beat, the youthful
effervescence of TMS, the folksy lyrics of KD produce an unbeatable
winner. Picture TMS’s photo in your mind
and picture such a pious face covered with vibhuti and kumkum belting out ‘en
kannu, en mookku , en pallu…’! Such was his variety and versatility…. And after
this song, immediately go to …
6 ….Vandha naal mudhal, indha naal varai….A perfect study in
contrast. Was this the same Rakkamma
singer? Unbelievable. The voice seamlessly merging with the
whistling in the background and melting away into the sunset yonder, along with
the cycling Ganesan…TMS proves that his caliber is much above the modern day
charlatans masquerading as singers.
Perfect acting, beautiful music soft on the ears (hardly one detects
more that 2 or 3 instruments in this piece) and to cap it all, the golden voice
of TMS again. When will we ever come
across such masterpieces?
7 Talking of childrens’ songs, again my personal favourite
is ‘Chellakkiligalam palliyile…’I find myself groping for words to
differentiate between one TMS song and another.
My very mediocre writing skills are a hindrance to amply describe the
mood, the setting and the metre of this great song. Sivaji is the caretaker of several orphaned
children, he is the beloved mama for them all.
It is night time. Time to get the kids to bed.
A little one asks why she can’t see God.
Sivaji tries to explain what is God.
Suddenly TMS breaks into a ‘la la
la la la la la laa….chellakkiligalam pallilyile…’ Needless to say, Ganesan then
takes over in perfectly emoting Kannadasan’s lyrics. This song is sure to seek out that soft nerve
inside the steeliest of men and touch a chord.
TMS’s "urugum varthai amma amma" in this piece is the forerunner of all
the amma (mother) oriented songs of later years in Tamil film world.
8 'Our sweetest songs
are those that tell of the saddest thoughts', said Shelley. Especially true, if
told by TMS. ‘Netrupparitha Roja…’ is a case in
point. It proves that man finds solace
and peace more in sad songs than in happy ones.
Irony, but probably because one
sad man readily reads the emotional outburst of another sad soul and if that
bursts out in the form of a song, to the accompaniment of melodious music,
nothing like it. Not many would have
heard this song, except the avid Vividh bharathi Madras listeners of those golden sixties and seventies.
9 ‘Oru naalile….’ from Sivantha Mann is a real class act. TMS
begins with ‘Oru naalile…’. Suseela can’t
wait for him to finish and interjects with a sexy ‘ennavam?’ (she sure knows 'ennavam'!!) TMS replies in a mono-syllable 'uravanathe’…and
the mirth of point/counter-point continues. On screen, Sivaji and
Kanchana, mirroring the same lustful emotions. It is unbelievable to imagine such a
romantic, sometimes raunchy, love duet was composed some forty years back. Even today’s younger bunch of singers could
not have done justice to the gaiety and frolic TMS brought forth in his voice
in this song. Would find a place in any
top 10 list of TMS.
10 And so here I am, who went for a stroll down memory lane
in search of the cool sea breeze and returned satisfied with a sonnet in my
hand. Yes, Kaatru vangapponen, Oru
kavithai vangi vanthen…” No surprise here.
Any one who goes for a walk down the TMS lane is sure to return with a
heady, satisfied feeling of bliss and a heartful of melodies. The
rich texture of TMS’ voice, exploring scores of nuances at different pitches,
scintillating tune and the boyish energy of a ever-youthful love-struck MGR is
the perfect setting for this song.
One can go on and on.
The futility of picking 10 among thousands hits me hard now. Even though the above 10 is not strictly in
the order of my liking or their relative merit, I wonder why I omitted ‘Muthaitharu
pathithirunagai (the precursor of later day rap songs - try this tongue twister [non-Tamils need not bother] “korputrezhanatpattroudarai
vettippaliyittukkulakiri kuthuppadavothupporavala perumale…") or “Pattum naane
bhavamum naane" (a super duper Carnatic hit of those times, and TMS effortlessly
breezes through the difficult sangathis) “Buddhan, Yesu, Gandhi pirandhadhu…” ( the
typical MGR song but without his usual histrionics, hands firmly in place, sung in a soothing voice).
It is true that most of TMS’s best were sung on the screen by that legend
Sivaji Ganesan. It becomes difficult to imagine
as to who actually sings the song – Ganesan or TMS. As I said earlier, it was possible only for
TMS to sing in different voices for different on-screen heroes. Just close your eyes, and switch on the
transistor (yes, transistor or the Murphy radio, if you like, I am talking of
the seventies) and listen to any TMS number.
Nine out of 10 times you can predict if it was Sivaji or MGR or some
other hero who sang it on screen. A
God-given but perfectly tuned gift, no other play back singer in India has managed
to anywhere come close to acquire.
No futile arguments on who is the greatest playback singer
of Indian cinema and such stuff. Any
argument would even be pointless, what with half of India not even having heard
of a legend which went by the name TMS.
Not even heard of that colossus who straddled three decades of Tamil
cinema and produced a mind boggling 10,000 songs, not counting his hundreds of
devotional songs, outside films. Not
even realizing that the world is bigger than the Rafis, Mukeshs and
Kishores. Not to belittle these gentlemen
but a TMS or a PBS or a Ghantasala was much bigger in scope and canvas than
what Hindi filmworld could ever throw at us.
Yes, we all know the inevitability of death. But some deaths leave you with a real sense
of void. A sickening feeling of the unfairness
of it all. Akin to someone snatching
away that prized toy from a kid’s hands.
Like how you felt when Ganesan left this world. Like when PBS breathed his last. Like when TMS bid adieu!
Rest in peace, TM
Soundararajan. You are not even a pachai
tamizhan but your service to Tamil film music will remain unmatched.
