SPB has also set world records - the multiple National award winner recorded 21 songs in a single day for composer Upendra Kumar in Kannada from 9 am to 9 pm in 1981. It was almost like it was up to the actor to do justice to the scene that SPB had set. If it was a love failure song, he could paint a picture of the heartbreak, if it was a seductive song then he sang it with a certain unique allure. If it was a sad song, he added a little cry or a choke, if it was happy, he would add a little laugh, almost making you want to laugh along. One friend says, you never had to see the video of a song or understand the language to know what the emotion the song was going to convey. Nobody could act in the songs like he did. What set SPB apart was how well he could emote a lyric. Rahman introduced tons of new singers in his time but SPB remained a constant. All the songs from the films like ' Duet' became mega hits. But Rahman-SPB also became an iconic pair with Kadhal Rojave becoming a turning point in Tamil film music in the 90’s. AR Rahman fully understood this when he entered the scene as well. Actor Mohan was often referred to as ‘Mic’ Mohan because in most of the music videos, he was seen behind the microphone, as one Twitterati said, ‘forging’ SPB’s voice.īut SPB remained Rajini’s most authentic voice till the very end. In fact, it was because of the SPB-Ilayaraja duo that actors like Mohan, Rajkiran, Ramarajan and others were placed on the same pedestal as Kamal and Rajinikanth because they all had superhit songs.
This doesn’t mean that SPB didn’t sing for other superstars as well, he has also sung for latest stars like Vijay and Ajith as well. It was the same with the Rajini-Mammooty starrer Thalapathi in the song Kattu Kuyile. For example, in Ennama Kannu Sowkiyama, actor Sathyaraj’s part was sung by Malaysia Vasudevan and Rajini’s was SPB. If the songs had two major stars, even then it was assumed the SPB would only sing for Rajini. Even if one didn’t watch the video, just the audio of SPB singing would conjure up Rajini’s image in one’s head. His tryst with Rajini began during this time. But SPB, S Janaki and Ilayaraja became the most powerful trio in the music scene for over two decades. Ilayaraja’s frequent choices for his songs were SPB, Malaysia Vasudevan and Yesudas. It was the popularity of these songs that propelled Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth to stardom. If one had to close their eyes and pick a chartbuster from the 70s and 80s, there was no way that one would land on any song that didn’t have an Ilayaraja-SPB combo. The two along with Gangai Amaran and two others started a light music troupe when SPB was still in college.
After MSV, SPB began a five-decade long, friendship with music maestro Ilayaraja, the two knew each other even before they entered the film music scene. The multiple-award winning singer was a favourite with music composer MS Viswanathan and sang many of MGR’s popular songs just as his film career was drawing to an end and his political career was quickly stabilising. Ever since, SPB has always voiced Rajini in all his ‘hero-entry’ songs besides scores of other kinds of songs as well.īut SPB started his mass-hero songs from actor MGR’s times. In fact, AR Rahman decided to break this pattern by hiring Shankar Mahadevan for Rajinikanth’s Baba but it failed to get the same popularity of the SPB-Rajini combo songs. From Oruvan Oruvan Mudhalali from Muthu to En Peru Padayappa from the film Padayappa to Naan Polladavan from Polladavan. SPB gave Rajinikanth most of his hit songs, especially his hero entry songs, that added to his popularity in the 80’s and 90’s. This is not to say that all his songs were just classics, he continued to be a sought after voice for music composers as young as Anirudh, one of his last songs being C humma Kizhi from Darbar. There is no way to pick the peak of his career, since his voice has consistently been played through the radio, cassettes, the television, walkmans, CDs, Ipods, YouTube and Spotify.
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