TIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Singer M S Naseem, who was once a permanent presence in Doordarshan and other stage programmes, is now confined to home following a tragic paralytic stroke which left him voiceless in 2005. Naseem, born in Pachallur, started singing from his school days and when he came to University College for higher education, he joined the Left movement and was a regular in the Left stages. It was during his college days that he came into contact with the Left leaders including the present minister Kadakampally Surendran, filmmaker Balachandra Menon and Ayilam Unnikrishnan.
An authority in songs of Mohammed Rafi and Baburaj, Naseem used to enthral the audience with his melodies of Mohammed Rafi and Baburaj and was a much sought-after singer. He had taken voluntary retirement from Kerala State Electricity Board in 2003 and had the stroke in 2005. Naseem shot into prominence after he started foraying into the stages of Swaralaya which had the former minister and CPM Politburo member M A Baby as the mentor and with K P Udayabhanu’s Old is Gold. Both these programmes gave Naseem great publicity.
He shot to prominence abroad also with his songs and his shows were jampacked in the middle eastern countries. He did several television programmes based on Malayalam film music. It was Naseem who introduced the first woman Malayalam film singer Revamma through his TV programme.The Malayalam movie music history from the first song sung by Revamma till songs rendered upto 1985 was recorded by Naseem and this programme named ‘Ayiram Ganangalthan Ananda Lahari’ went on to become a super hit.
This music programme can be considered as the first research work on Malayalam music industry. He was in the process of recording the history of Hindi music and studying the songs rendered by Mohammed Rafi for three years when the the paralytic stroke took away all his plans.While he got instant stardom and acquaintances, Naseem was a down-to-earth person with a happy go lucky attitude.
Unfortunately, he had a paralytic attack which put a sudden stop to his music. Trying to come back to life, Naseem is energetic and his wife Shahida should be credited for that. She reminisces that after his stroke in 2005, he had undergone several treatments in several hospitals in Thiruvananthapuram and had undergone Ayurveda treatment in Palakkad. He is now undergoing treatment at SreeChithira Institute as well as attending physiotherapy session.
Naseem shot into prominence after he started foraying into the stages of Swaralaya which had the former minister and CPM Politburo member M A Baby as the mentor