A commoner and a diehard fan of S.P. Balasubramaniam who would meet him only on his radio in the evenings of a bygone era had little chance to pose for a photograph with the legendary playback singer.
A commoner and a diehard fan of S.P. Balasubramaniam who would meet him only on his radio in the evenings of a bygone era had little chance to pose for a photograph with the legendary playback singer. Nor did SPB need to have known that particular fan personally amid the millions. Still, SPB is an asset more to his unfamiliar fan than to the one that was blessed to have met him and lucky to get a photo clicked with him at a gala musical concert.
In the days when, not just SPB, but anyone in the tinsel world was a luminary, it is just the evening melodies of SPB on the blurry broadcasts from the radio stations Thiruchirapalli Vaanoli Nilayam and Ilangal Vaanoli Nilayam were a comfort to the commoners tired of their chores. Still, they could sometimes listen to the voice of SPB live. But only the singer was not him!
It was a time when musical concerts called ‘orchestras’ were popular in the city and sure to be held in the summer nights as part of the annual celebrations of Thandu Mariamman Koyil and ‘Crosscut Road’ Mariamman Koyil.
Pairing with a female singer of the popular Mallisseri orchestra, now a lanky young man is about to perform ‘Thulli Thulli Nee Padamma’ from the 1986 Kamalhasan starrer Sippikul Muththu. A multitude of people sitting cross-legged on the road in front of the stage waits for the stage singer’s hum just before the Pallavi. The audiences close their eyes for a while to feel the real SPB in the stage singer’s accurate hum. In seconds the night’s profound silence breaks by their whistles and applause at the moment when the listeners feel an ‘SPB’ in the stage singer’s hum. After a song or two, playback queen P.Susheela invites the stage singer to pair with her for the ever-memorable Iyarkkai Ennum Ilaya Kanni from Shanti Nilayam(1969) and sometimes Malaysia Vasudevan for the striking Ennamma Kannu Sowkyama from Mr.Bharath (1986).
On another night of a public concert, the stage singer was performing the melancholic Mani Osai Kettu Ezhunthu from Payangal Mudivathillai(1982). Actor Mohan, who dons the lead role as a cancer patient and playback singer in the film, is unable to 'sing' and cannot control his coughing in between the sharanams while the recording is going on. SPB proved his mettle for Mohan in the song. But how challenging it would be for a stage singer to perform the same in reality!
An old woman was observing the song performed by the stage singer. But when he 'coughed' exactly as SPB does in the song, what the granny murmured to herself was not just a joke.
"Oh why does he cough so hard? Might be ill with cold and fever”.
The lanky stage singer Kalaichelvan, a soundalike of SPB, was so popular in the Coimbatore of the 1980s.
Kalaichelvan wished to be an SPB of Coimbatore and it was his dream come true. A diehard fan of SPB, Kalaichelvan hailed from an economically poor family at Kallukuzhi near Ramanathapuram Sungam.
“Stage musicians have exceptional artistic talents to entertain the audience. Nevertheless, it is painful that a few get addicted to liquor. Kalaichelvan, who won numerous awards from legendary playback singers like P Susheela, Malaysia Vasudevan, Mano and SPB himself, died due to his addiction to liquor,” says John Sundar, another stage singer, and Tamil poet, who penned the book Nagalisai Kalaignan – a literary piece on the stage music artistes.
John Sundar who arranged a photo of Kalaichelvan for this story describes how the stage singer was, one day, found lying dead in Pollachi, just near a wall poster that welcomed him to the town.
At a time when the country is mourning the demise of SPB, Coimbatoreans of the 1980s are sure to remember Kalaichelvan too- the echo of SPB that faded away in the wind long before.