Susheel Sagar has become a YouTube sensation with his series on the late singer SP Balasubrahmanyam, Yenee Sneha Sambandha. A new video is uploaded on his channel City Savari every week. Susheel talks to singers, technicians and artistes who have worked and interacted with the legend and share their stories about SPB.
Started on the singer’s first death anniversary on September 25, 2021, the series of videos uploaded so far feature singer Archana Udupa, actor Vinaya Prasad, singer/composer Raghu Dixit, music director BV Srinivas and Praveen D Rao among others. “Each of them have shared their experiences with SPB sir,” says Susheel. “Despite being a legend, he was extremely humble and down to earth.”
Susheel had worked with SPB for eight years as a graphics designer for all his stage shows in Bengaluru. “I was introduced to him by my mentor Archana Udupa. In 2014 I worked on ‘Santoshakke, Haadu Santoshakke’, the first stage show featuring him. I was nervous about meeting him. Seeing my anxiety, SPB went out of his way to make me feel comfortable. He spoke to me in chaste Kannada and would immediately switch to Tamil if someone speaking that language came to meet him. He made sure that no one left without eating or drinking tea or coffee and would enquire about the organisers’ health too.”
Susheel conceptualised and directed the series. Sharing his personal experience, he says “He (SPB) missed my wedding, but invited my wife and me to his home for lunch. My wife, who speaks Telugu, was awestruck and nervous. SPB spoke to her in Telugu, joking that though he was ‘fat and scary,’ he was ‘harmless’ .”
While people pay attention to the lead singers, SPB made it a point to speak with every accompanying artiste and technician. “ Yenee Senha Sambandha documents these encounters.”
