Around three years ago, when my cousin called to say playback singer T M Soundararajan had passed away, the news evoked in me a sense of deep sorrow that I had experienced when I lost my father in the early 70s.
Tears rolled down my cheeks. It was hard to digest that the robust, vibrant, and mesmerising voice that had captivated Tamils for decades had fallen silent. Regaining my poise, I rushed to the singer’s house in Mandaveli. Taking a close look at his face for one last time, I walked away with a heavy heart.
No doubt his contemporaries were also good, but TMS was just unmatchable; he was the uncrowned monarch of Tamil film music. Along with P B Sreenivas and Dr Sirkazhi Govindarajan, TMS formed a trio, and their voices ruled the Tamil film industry for several years. His voice might have been God’s gift, but TMS’ smartness lay in adapting it to suit different actors in different situations. Consider these two songs: Kalyaana Saappadu Podava and Madras Nalla Madras. Can anyone disagree when I say they exactly resemble comedian Nagesh’s voice?
And contrast these songs with Kagithathil Kappal Seidhu, MaanikkaThottil Ingirikka, and Pallaakku Vaanga Ponen Oorvalam Poga. You might think these were sung by Sivaji Ganesan and MGR themselves.
Who else can sing Enge Nimmadhi by capturing and holding on to that pitch without the slightest deviation? I lived closed to TMS’ house in Mandaveli for years. On several evenings when I walked past his house, I would find him taking a brisk walk inside the compound and he would always sport a smile. Once I had the opportunity to spend some time with him. The hour-long talk naturally revolved around his songs — from his entry into films, on how Ganesan initially rejected him and would prefer Chidambaram Jayaraman for his movies. And on how successfully TMS convinced Sivaji by lending his voice to songs in Thookku Thookki that provided the platform for a terrific combination to emerge later. Acceding to my request, TMS sang the tough number Muthai Tharu Pathi, one of his all-time favourites.
In the book TMS, Oru Panpaattu Sarithiram ( TMS, A Cultural History), his biographer Vamanan writes, “The BBC once made a documentary film on Frank Sinatra, in which it says that ‘even the mildest of actors like Gary Cooper and Spencer Tracy had this quality that they would explode any moment. Sinatra had tonnes of it… this is what helped him make an impact… if you can appreciate that, you can get at least the minutest idea about him.” “And TMS had such an exploding quality in him in many of his songs,” he concludes.
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