P. Susheela may have sung thousands of songs but she still remembers her first Tamil duet with A M Raja for a composition by Pendyala Nageswara Rao. “Pendyala was a taskmaster; he would never approve of a song easily. I was honoured he chose me to sing when I was 16!” she says.
L.R. Eswari, Susheela’s contemporary, speaks movingly about her interaction with Lata Mangeshkar. Lata had refused to sing the Hindi version of ‘Pattathu Raani’, one of Eswari’s biggest hits from Sivandha Mann , saying she could not match the dexterity of the original. “She’s like Saraswathi. But, when Lata met me, she said: ‘I can be the queen elsewhere, but I can’t sing this song’.”
Nuggets like these pepper ‘Thirai Isai Vaanil’ by Stalin, assistant station director at All India Radio, Coimbatore. The book is the result of two interviews with P. Susheela and L.R. Eswari for AIR. “The programmes were hugely popular and the singers spoke things they had not revealed earlier. I thought it would make sense to bring them out as a book so that more people can access it,” says Stalin. The best part, he says, is that the radio interviews serve as documentation of their craft and their route to success.
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The 72-page Thirai Isai Vaanil makes for snappy reading, and because the interviews have been published as spoken, there’s a sense of listening to an intimate, warm conversation between friends. The book is a throwback to a genial past, where artistes treated each other like family, calling them anna or mama. In “Oru Kuyilin Isai Payanam’, Susheela laughs through the session where she speaks about TM Soundararajan’s fondness for cooking. “TMS anna would roast sundal kadalai with uppu and kaaram and keep popping it in his mouth. ‘It’s good for the throat. Eat’, he would say,” she recalls in the show, recorded in 2013 for Independence Day. TMS was like a brother to her, she says. “How can I not feel that way after we sang ‘Malarndhu Malaraadha’ from
Susheela speaks about her childhood, and nodding off to the accompaniment of the radio. “That ensured all songs registered well in the mind.” She recalls the recording of ‘Mannavan Vandhaanadi’ for Thiruvarutchelvar . “Sivaji anna sat near the mic. I was nervous and did not sing well. He then told me, ‘Idhu mudiyaadha case-u. Naan ulle poraen…’. I sang well after that.” Another incident etched in her mind is during a concert in the U.S. when actor-dancer Padmini, who was unwell, came up on stage and danced for the same song.
‘Kaadhodu Naan Pesuvaen’, the section devoted to Eswari, is named after her popular number for K. Balachander’s Velli Vizha. Her interview was recorded for the Deepavali special episode in 2013. Speaking of her interactions with MGR, she recalls how after
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Eswari says that when she looks back and tracks her career, she is overwhelmed. “I just sang what was offered to me. I’m blessed to have had a chance to sing such lovely numbers.” She fondly remembers lyricist Kannadasan, who looked upon her as a daughter, and how ‘Vaarayo Thozhi Vaarayo’ continues to remain a wedding anthem.
Among Eswari’s biggest hits is ‘Pattathu Raani’. And, to think director Sridhar had second thoughts about her singing the song. That was when composer M.S. Viswanathan stepped in and insisted she sing. “We rehearsed for 15 whole days, taking great effort to recreate the sound of a girl whimpering after being whipped.”
Stalin, who has translated 14 Greek plays (complete plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles) besides some Euripidean plays, has released his next book, ‘Andha Naal Nyabagam’, a compilation of a radio interview with actress C.T. Rajakantham.
For details about Thirai Isai Vaanil (Rs. 100), call NS Publications at 93622-11949.
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