KOCHI: When K J Yesudas, known as the celestial singer, ruled the Malayalam movie industry with his magical voice, P Jayachandran caught the attention with his emotionally intense voice.
While Yesudas ruled the industry with his soulful singing, Jayachandran was the only singer who could carve the way to success. Though there was a tough competition, Jayachandran always considered Yesudas as his elder brother.
Yesudas was a close friend of Jayachandran’s elder brother Sudhakaran and this friendship laid the foundation for their intense relationship.
Jayachandran met Yesudas for the first time during the state school youth festival in Thiruvananthapuram in 1958. Yesudas who represented Palluruthy school won first in vocal music while Jayachandran came first in Mridangam. They first shared the stage on the closing day of the festival to receive the honours.
Jayachandran had once said it was ‘Dasettan’, as he addressed Yesudas, who introduced him to legendary music director Devarajan Master.
“I am lucky to have shared space with Dasettan during the golden era of Malayalam music. I am happy that I could grow as Sahya (the mountain range of Western Ghats) before a singer who grew as Himalaya,” Jayachandran reminisced while participating in Express Dialogues in 2022.
Jayachandran was so humble that he volunteered to sing the track for the song Akasa Deepangal Sakshi for Ravanaprabhu sung by K J Yesudas which won the state award in 2001. Jayachandran had arrived at the studio to sing Ariyathe for the movie when he noticed director Renjith and lyricist Gireesh Puthenchery involved in a conversation.
When he enquired, Renjith said the singer who had promised to sing the track for Akasa Deepangal couldn’t arrive and Yesudas was leaving for the US the next day. Without any hesitation Jayachandran volunteered to sing.
While sharing a healthy competition with Yesudas, Jayachandran remained his ardent fan. They ruled the Malayalam music world for three decades and produced some of the most celebrated songs which will continue reverberating for ages.