It’s not always that greatness has a successor. History gave enough instances to make us believe that “Pandita Putra is always a parama suntha” (son of a great person is always a useless dud or may not be that great)..
Shivaji & Shambaji; Sunil Gavaskar and Rohan Gavaskar; Akbar & Jahangir; (No fault of Rohan here)
However, we also have instances of some exceptions, Raja Raja Chola & Rajendra Chola. Though not a father-son duo, Sunil Gavaskar -Sachin Tendulkar, Sachin Tendulkar- Virat Kohli. A similar analogy can be drawn to Ghantasala and S P Balasubramanium.
Ghantasala was indeed the toughest void to fill for his mellifluous voice saw the golden era of Telugu cinema with superior music, pristine lyrics, that it was impossible to emulate or fill in the gulf.
Stepped up Balu with an iconic debut alongside arguably the greatest Playback singer of Indian Cinema in the film eeka veera through the song “Prati raatri vasanta raatri"
As time flew by and music and melody were replaced by beats and cacophony, he was the last man standing who probably deserved to be called a legend.
The singer who made his name synonymous for clarity, diction, energy, and quality was a household name in India - with over 40000 songs in 16 languages including Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Tulu, Malayalam, and Hindi. The legends of Hindi Cinema, R D Burman, and Lakshmikant Pyarelal were in total awe of him and he became the voice of Kamal Hasan and then Salman Khan.
It would be impossible for any neutral music lover to identify that the man who sang the following songs is the same person
Soodu Pinnamma paaadu pilladu
Seekatamma seekati muchataina seekati (beginning of nammaku nammaku ee reyi)
Sach mere yaar hai (Saagar)
Imitating Nutan Prasad in ‘Intenti ramayanam title song or
Kotta devudandi’ from Rajadhi Raju
Life is shabby without you Baby (Padamati Sandhya raagam his own composition)
Maate raani chinna daaani kallu palike oosulu (one of the few occasions where sang for himself)
It was an unprecedented and astonishing god gifted ability to mimic the voices of the character on the screen and make the audience believe in their subconscious mind that the actor on the screen is the one singing. This was generations before mimicking a voice became a serious profession and a source of livelihood.
Like all well-fulfilled lives, Balu’s life can be divided into three thirds. The first one where he led for himself and honed his extraordinary music sense to become what he was about to become. From the 20s to 50s be the flag bearer of Indian Cinema, establish a monopoly, and leave a legacy and all of this without any foundation in classical music.
Thanks to A R Rehman and more importantly Ramoji Rao and his ETV, in the final third of his life, Balu became a bridge that merged the first three generations of Cinema to the last five and ensured that his legacy is passed on to the future generations.
While I personally was a bit cringy about his nitpickiness as a judge on some music shows, the anecdotes which he used to share about any particular song, musician, actor, lyricist or any behind the camera narrative of any movie from any era was unparalleled bliss, it was like the fairy tale for a toddler which made us give the Channel some more view time till his narration was complete.
Most singers usually have a gargle before a recording, legend has it that sometimes Balu even had a plate of Mirchi Bajji followed by Ice cold goli soda and yet came up with a flawless rendition. The same guy who when singing a devotional song as seen in the picture below takes off his slippers and closes his eyes with utmost dedication as if he is in conversation with Lord Venkateswara. I'm glad that the Lord paid heed to his ultimate prayers when he said Antaryaaami, Alasiti Solasiti..(literal translation coming to 'oh my supreme controller, am tired & jaded, please take me with you')
Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam thank you for being such an integral part of our lives and we are truly blessed to be born in your era & thanks to the technology your voice and works will be savored for generations to come.
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