KOCHI: Seeing his tired face, all that we wanted to ask just got frozen in the crisp cold morning air. But SP Balasubramaniam is never known to disappoint.
And he didn’t.
In spite of the tight schedule - he had to finish breakfast and catch a flight to be at the photo shoot of his son’s (SPB Charan’s) film - he gave us all the time he had, on Monday morning.
What brought him to the city was the music event held as part of the Sai Baba’s birth anniversary celebrations at Sai Gramam, Thonnakkal, on Sunday.
He is knocking at the door of the record books for the most number of songs by a singer.
But does he know the correct figure? Is it 36,000 or more? The reply was ready.
”I am sure about 35,000. In six months, I will get the correct details.” So what has kept him going all these 42 years? Shedding the tiresome look, he said with a smile, “First, necessity. Second, I don’t know anything else...” He went on, “I never thought that I would become a singer. I have very little knowledge about music... experience has made me what I am...” SPB was his humble self.
He is heard less in films these days. Why? “See... it is a natural process. Lot of new blood is infused into the industry. Composers are trying new voices. I was a young fellow once, singing left and right. Now it is the turn of others. But still I record 30 songs a month, which makes one song per day.” Which naturally led us to his view on the present-day music.
"The standard has come down.
I think technology has seeped in so much that music has been pushed back. Technology should enhance the quality of music. In general, western music is being used too much and it is spoiling the texture of music.
The fabric has become too synthetic.” Occasionally good songs come out, he added. “But don’t laugh at me when I say that I don’t recognise most of the voices. Maybe because I don’t listen much to the songs.
However, I know the voices of Karthik and Tipu.” And he has no aversion to reality shows. He is anchoring three - one each in Telugu (for 15 years now), Kannada and Tamil. “But what I do is different.
The goal is not to make them playback singers. Mostly, the winners of reality shows fade away in one to two years.
What I wish is to select three or four best voices, give them opportunities to nurture their talent by mingling with seniors, learn the process, thereby improvising and improving.” He remembered how composer Kodandapani spotted him, gave him break after break.
“There are hardly any such composers now. Many young talents just sing in one movie and rarely get opportunities to repeat their success. They eventually fade out in some two years. He considers himself “lucky As melodious as ever to have found the offshoot” of his profession in dubbing, acting, composing and production. “They just happened.
And I don’t nurture any ambitions as such. I don’t do anything which I don’t enjoy.” These days, he dubs only for Kamal Haasan, ie when his films are dubbed into Telugu. He has been Kamal’s voice in some 200 films, the latest being ‘Dasavatharam’. “Now if Kamal gives his own voice in Telugu, people won’t recognise him.” SPB also dubbed for Rajnikanth in the Telugu version of Kuchelan. Interesting thing, SPB was Ben Kingsley’s voice in the Telugu version of Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi.
He has cut down acting assignments also. “They always want me to play the lovable, roly poly guy. But, now I’ve decided to do films in which I fit in - physically and age-wise.
”The regret over not learning classical music is always there. And he is bent upon filling that gap. “I have to find time for that. It is not an excuse.
Right now I am into so many things. I need to take a break to learn that.
There is no age limit for learning, right? I want to give at least one concert.” He added, “I don’t like to stress too much of ‘sambradaya’. It tends to make the rendition rigid.” The best part is, in spite of not having learnt classical music, he has composed classical pieces for many films. “I don’t have a favourite raga, but most of my compositions have been based on Kalyani raga. I don’t know why. Maybe I heard that a lot when I was in my mother’s womb.” Live shows excite him. “And there are some 15-20 trump cards in each language, which I am always asked to sing. Of course, I have to sing ‘Sankara...’ (Sankarabharanam) everywhere.” But he seemed more excited about his favourite singer, Mohammed Rafi.
And sounded even sweeter when he paid tribute to Rafi with ‘Mere mehboob tujhe...’. “There won’t be any voice like that. I don’t know how I fell in love with his voice. My daughter has twins. Though the boy is named Anirudh, I call him Rafi...” A query about his good health seemed to tickle him no end. “You mean my health or my obesity?" he gave out a big laugh. “Well, I’m healthy... I enjoy life... I still eat ice cream, drink cold water, I’m a social drinker and I used to smoke... I want to live long and want people around me to live long. Above all, there is music, which is the best ‘pranayama...”
m_athira@epmltd.com