s.p.bvalasubrahmaniyam & s.p.sailaja

tamil version of suvvi suvvi song by spb

s.p.balasubrahmaniyam

(kindly click on the attachment below the article to download the membership form)

Journey and About Us

The first seed for this Foundation was sown in the form of a charitable act during the Deepavali season of 2005. A few members of the SPB E-Fan Group namely Ashok (& his wife), Sowmya, Prasanna, S Balaji & Muruganandham took upon themselves the noble task of visiting "KARUNAI ILLAM" (affiliated to Kapaleeswarar Temple), an orphanage in Chennai. They together offered crackers to the children, for them to celebrate Deepavali, like other normal children and brought in a state of enjoyment for them. The children were shown a photograph of SPB and were asked to identify him. One of the children penned the words "Neenga Nallaa Irukkanum" (you should be fine) on SPB's photo. Ashok's close friend from Singapore, a SPB fan too, donated cricketing gear (bat, ball..) to the children bringing to life, dreams of some of the children. The collected fund in this first instance was Rs 2,500/ - a very humble beginning indeed

The second seed was sown on Jan 7th, 2006 marking the celebrations of the SPB's 40th year of entry into filmdom (completion of 39 years). This took place at the Kothandapani Studios, Vadapalani, Chennai. This event formed the stage for donating a fund of Rs. 30,400 to the "SRI SATHYANARAYANA CHARITABLE TRUST" (formed by a group of Sri Saibaba devotees), which runs an old age home for destitute women and an orphanage situated in Nanmangalam, Chennai. It also has a Saibaba temple in its premises. The E-fans collected Rs.15,200/- on their part and an equivalent amount of Rs.15,200 was donated by SPB on behalf of SPS Charitable Foundation (an organisation run by SPB in memory of his father SP Sambhamurthy)

The third seed was sown on June 4, 2006 which marked the 60th Birthday of SPB and on this day, the E-Fans comprising of Webmaster-Giridhar Raja, Ashok (& his wife), Venkat, Sowmya, Prasanna (& his wife), C Balaji, S Balaji, Nataraj Hanumanthan, Jagan, RamShankar & Murali celebrated the occasion by visiting an orphanage "CHENNAPURI ANNADANA SAMAJAM" situated near Chennai Central Station. The orphanage has 110 children and takes care of their food and sheltering expenses while their schooling is taken care by schools in the nearby localities. The children were presented with Stainless Steel Food Plates, tumblers, blankets, mattresses, T-shirts & Stationary boxes. Special Lunch & Dinner were also served to the children during the day. Ashok, Nataraj Hanumanthan & S Balaji took upon themselves the honour of singing some SPB songs for the children. A total of Rs.33,000/- was collected of which Rs. 18,000 were spent on the above items and a balance of Rs.15,000/- was presented as a cheque to the Samajam.

All the above seeds finally germinated to form the roots to the "SPBFans Charitable Foundation" on Vijayadasami Day, 2006. A formal discussion took place between the Webmaster, Ashok, Ilankumaran (an auditor as well as a SPB fan, taking care of the legal formalities related to formation of the Foundation) at Koyambedu, Chennai to evolve a clear plan for formation of the SPBFans Charitable Foundation. Originally it was to be named as SPB Charitable Foundation but our SPB was quite firm that it should be SPBFans since it was his fans who were taking it upon themselves to form and run this foundation. To mark this occasion, [SPBFans] E-Group collected funds from members to donate to SAMARPANA, an organization run for spastics and mentally retarded, located in Vinayagapuram in the outskirts of Chennai. A team comprising Venkat, Harikrishna & S Balaji had made an assessment visit first to understand the organisation's needs. The group raised funds to donate items such as Physical Training Equipment, Mirrors, Special Toys, Cleaning Materials, Electrical Fittings, Mattresses, Exercise Table, Walkers & Audio System for their daily use. The "Chennai 600028" movie crew, including the producers SP Charan & JK Saravana, director Venkat Prabhu, actorNitin Satya and ad/costume designer Vasuki, visited SAMARPANA along with members on October 2nd to donate the items to the inmates in the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti and Vijayadasami. A fund of Rs.45,920 was collected. A major portion of this fund was from our overseas fans. An amount of Rs.33,404 was spent on the above items and the balance donated as cheque.

All the above chronological events clearly bring out the progressiveness of the charitable activities by the SPB E-Fans Group. All these finally culminated in the formal launch of the "SPBFans Charitable Foundation" by our SPB on 28th January, 2007 at Hotel Hari International, Bangalore during the E-Fans Annual Meet with SPB to commemorate his completion of 40 years of singing.

Forms were issued to interested participants during the Meet and around 30 Fans registered themselves in the Foundation. The filled-up forms were handed over by each fan directly to SPB. SPB also came out with a noble announcement that he himself would contribute Rs.10,000/- every month towards the Foundations' funds.

The foundation having been laid & the formalities of opening a bank account for the Foundation being completed except for a few other formalities which will be completed soon, a stage has been reached wherein the ball has to be kept rolling to keep the Foundation active. A formal committee will be formed shortly to handle the affairs after discussions by Webmaster. Once this is completed, charitable activities will be taken in line with the objectives of the Foundation.

spb fans charitable foundation

s.p.balasubrahmaniyam

"Dedication helps singer to reach pinnacle of Success"

Somehow the wors "gentleman" sounds a bit inadequate for a person of his
decorum, refinement and humility. But for want of a better word in the English
language, it will have to suffice.

Sripathi Panditharadyula Balasubramaniam or S.P.B., for the Indian music
lovers, is a charming unassuming gentleman of 48, whose achievements have not
only beennn phenomenal but also have transcended regional barriers. If he is
singing less Hindi songs than he was four years ago, it is by choice - because
Balu, as he is known in the film industry, has curtailed his quantum of singing
in not only Hindi, but also Telugu, Kannada and Tamil films. Telugu is his
mother tongue.

"I have been selfless to my profession", he says, "My normal schedule
was: dubbing gtom 7-9am, shooting till 1 pm, dubbing again till 3 in the
afternoon, shooting again till 6pm and singing from 6-11pm. Except for the two
months every year when my wife and I used to take a total break and head
for the United States where my children are based. I hardly had time for her
and for relaxation. After Maine Pyar Kiya (89-90), I was dividing a month
equally between Bombay (doing eight or more songs in a day), banglore (for
Kannada films) and Madras (for the other three southern languages). The strain
began to show. My throat developed a 'polyp' singer's nodule) which had to
be surgically excised."

SPB, therefore, feels that it is time for him to be "selfish", look after his
voice and interests, and may be fulfill his dream of mastering
classical music, he told India West in a recent interview.

Since he hasn't learned classical music, what are his credentials as a musician
(he is a music director too, and specially loves doing background scores,
like he did for the Hindi films Hum Panch and Mache Mayuri, at the
recommendation of the composers Laxmikant-Pyarelal) and a singer?

"A good ear fot music and a penchant for listening", smiles the singer amiably,
"I learnt notation on my own and can, to an extent, play the harmonium and the
flute" (that puts him in the Kishore Kumar and K.L.Saigal league of
self-trained singing genuises). "In my home-town Nellore, in Andhra Pradesh,
my father earned his living reciting HArikatha (stories about God and religion)
at social and religious gatherings. He knew a little classical music and
I guess I must have inherited his flair."

The father was keen on an academic career for young Sripathi, and the boy
himself set out to do so, even joining an engineering college in Madras, but
once SPB's interest in singing was confirmed his father advised him to make a
choice on his own.

Destiny made him bid good-bye to the engineering course when (at a college
function) his voice caught the attention of music director Kodandpani. "He
asked me if I would like to sing for films. I agreed. And that's how I entered
films - by accident." His mentor even took him to other composers and made them
listen to his singing. "If it hadn't been for him, there would no Bala. Simple"
he says matter-of-factly.

Today, the singer has a modern recording studio in Madras named after
his mentor. "It was the least I could do in his memory", says Balasubramaniam.

Once he had made his choice, Balu purused success single-mindedly. Every
struggle saw him become more determined, and every pitfall increased his
determination. His single-mindedness was strengthened by his early fondness
for yoga.

Though his first song recording in December 1966 was for a Telugu film
called "Sri Sri Sri Maryada Rammana", he had to struggle for two years more
before making it in Tamil films, as initially the famous composer
M.S.Viswanathan found his diction faulty. Then came his Malayalam break under
the famous composer Devarajan. Says SPB:" I was introduced to that great man
by Sekhar, father of A.R.Rahman." Meanwhile, he also got a break in Kannada
films.

His Hindi break, of course came when filmmaker L.V.Prasad decided to make
"Ek Duje Ke Liye", the telugu remake of Marocharitra, a love story between
a south Indian boy and a north India girl. "As Kamal Hassan was playing
a south Indian boy, I accepted the challenge since I knew HIndi reasonably well
- it was my second language in school all through - and I had grown up listening
to K.L.Saigal, among others. I was a HIndi film music buff but worried about
my accent. I was introduced to Laxmikant-Pyarelal who had a couple of sittings
with me and they made me sing Hindi songs. They liked me and I sang all the
five songs for Kamal in the film."

He has sung some 26,000 songs to date and has recorded songs in Tulu, Oriya
and Bengali languages also.

His list of awards and distinctions is extensive, but SPB had to struggle
for eight years in Hindi films too. "Anyways, sensations fixxle out fast," he
pointed out with another of his disarming smiles.

After Ek Duje..., L-P continued to give him many songs and followed by
R.D.Burman and Bappi Lahiri, who also gave him a change in Hindi films. "Ek
Duje..." itself wrote commercial and musical history in 1981. "But though I did
sing for heroes like Jeetendra, Anil Kapoor, Govinda, Mithun and even Dharmendra
and Rajesh Khanna, I feel I was identified only with southern heroes like Kamal
(whose career soon nose-dived in Hindi films) and Rajnikant whose forte was
action, not songs."

It was only in the late 1980s when the Rajshris introduced him to a
small-fry composer with big ideas - Ramlaxman, an ardent bhakt of SPB that SPB
finally got a full-fledged chance to identify his voice with a hep, young
now-generation Bombay hero like Salman Khan in "Maine Pyar Kiya". "This would
seem like the most probable answer to the million-dollar question as to why
"Maine Pyar iya" did for me what "Ek Duje Ke Liye" could not." The thundering
success of the film and its music and the fast shift from disco to melody at
that time did the rest. "I think the time should come for everything to happen,"
he sums up.

In the post-Maine Pyar Kiya phase, SPB sang most of his present tally of
around 400 HIndi film songs, most of them under Anand-Milind and Ramlaxman.
Among his hit songs were those songs in
Vansh, Prem Qaidi, Chandramukhi, Love, Mera Pati Sirf Mera Hai (Anand-Milind),
Pathar Ke Phool, I love you, 100 Days, Hum Apke Hain Koun (RamLaxman),
Saajan and Majhdaar (Nadeem-Shravan),
Gardish (R.D.Burman),
Andaz Apna Apna (Tushar Batia), and
Roja, HUmse Hain Muqabla (A.R.Rahman ).
Strangely, during this phase, the music directors who had earlier stood by him,
L-P, RDB and Bappi Lahiri took him sparingly.

"It is again because of time," sums up the singer. "LP have paid me
the unforgettable compliment of calling me the most talented and versatile
singer around and have given me many of my finest songs. RDB was a great
composer and he has been the most versatile music director. He was also the
first Bombay composer to use my voice after L-P. For Bappi Lahiri, I do sing
occasionally."

SPB's list also includes Rajesh Roshan, NiKhil-Vinay, Jatin-Lalit and
Anu Malik, who at time called his singing gimmicky. "No gimickry can cover up
an incorrect accent," discloses SPB in answer to the charge often levelled
against him. "Besides, I cannot do that in every song, like say a sad song,
and in case I cannot indulge in it without the sanction of the composer and
the director." Anu Malik's songs for him include "The Gentleman" hit
"Roop Suhana Lagta Hai" and others in "Haathkadi" and "Shabnam".

About his accent, Balu admits that he has not reached perfection despite
the great improvement he has made over the years. "But singing is basically
an art of expressing and conveyting a particular thought. The knowledge of the
language or atleast the meaning of the words one is singing is very important,
for without that the song will have an incorrect feel, and the singer cnnot put
in much feeling," he observes. "When I sang in Bengali, Tulu and Oriya, I
made it a point that they should explain the full meaning of the lyrics to me.
That way, accent becomes secondary."

The fact that the talent to sing is paramount and the accent is secondary
was proved when SPB got an oppurtunity to sing under Naushad in "Tere Payal
Mere Geet". "To sing for a purist like him was distant dream for me," recalls
Balu, adding, "But it became a reality when Uttam Singh, the arranger who works
for RamLaxman, Ilaiyaraaja and Naushad introduced me to him. I had my doubts
about my being able to satisfy his exacting needs. But I thought I should
atleast sing in his presence because if he rejects me that would also be
a privilege." But after listening to him, Naushad went ahead and
recorded songs. He also complimented Balu lavishly and affectionately "on my
singing and faultless diction." It was the greatest compliment he received
in his entire career, the singer said.

Balasubramaniam's special asset has always been his lightning grasp of
a composition given to him. This, along with technological advances like
dubbing, is responsible for his phenemonal output. "When I come to Bombay,
my secretary arranges my callsheets (dates in Bombay lingo) so that I dub as
many tracks as possible. For example, in a duet, the music track and the other
singer's track are kept ready." SPB favors these technical advances for this
and two other reasons. "If you make a mistake, that portion can be punched in
and you don't have to repeat the entire song. And secondly, the final take can
be perfect. Earlier, minor mistakes had to be retained because of the
difficulties in doing the entire song again."

However, the disadvantage has been that with very few exceptions, Balu
has had very few exceptions, Balu has had very little oppurtunity to sing
"live" with this very good friend Lata Mangeshkar.

"But all our songs in "Ek Duje Ke Liye were recorded live," he says. This
also vindicates his stand on modern gadgetry. For between thm, the peerless
Lata and the superb SPB have complemented each other so beautifully in their
many duets that no one would have believed that they had dubbed them
separately.

Balsubramaniam toured with Lata Mangeshkar during her tour of the U.S.
recently. Both Balu and Lata attended the AAPIO annual program in July which
President Clinton inaugurated in Chicago.

Apart from singing and music direction, Balu is also an actor. When he was
44, "by a freak chance, a film called "Keladi Kanmani" in which I had my first
major role became a huge hit and I was flooded with offers," he grins. "Acting
gives me a break from singing all the time. Besides, anyway we act in front of
the mikes."

Recently, SPB was great as Prabhu Deva's cop-brother in Kaadhalan (dubbed
in Hindi as "Humse Hain Muqabla"). Balu admires A.R.Rahman, but his all-time
idol is M.S.Viswnathan, and R.D.Burman on the Hindi scene. Among the old-timers
from Bombay, he rates S.D.Burman, Madan Mohan, Roshan, Khaiyyam and Jaidev
very highly. While he is a great fan of our singing greats, among his
contemporaries, he has raves about Suresh Wadkar. He loves jazz, but not disco,
and his hobby is photography - time permitting of course.

Subramaniam's wife Savithri is, he says: "A good listener." His son is
studying in New York, while his daughter has completed her studies in radiation
therapy, also in the U.S.

And so the singer strides on, charming millions of fans with his soothing,
unique and melodious voice, and taking time out to act and compose music as
well.

He decisively rates "Aate Jaate" as "Maine Payar Kiya"'s best song, even
though he got a National Award for "Dil Diwana," and regrets that he did not
get any national award for his songs in "Hum Aapke Hain Koun"! But he is also
happy for Kumar Sanu, who swept all the awards for "1942: A LOve Story."

SPB is too much of a nice person to bear petty grudges.
http://www.geocities.com/~sm0e/R-spb.txt

Vocal music is one of the oldest and most universal art forms. A discovery and celebration of one such voice is Sripathi Panditharadhyula Balasubrahmanyam. His music transcends all barriers - linguistic, geographical and chronological. He is a phenomenal success and incredibly talented. He is S.P. BALASUBRAHMANYAM, popularly known as Balu.

SPB took the Indian film music scene by storm in 1979 with his phenomenally successful rendition for the movie SHANKARABHARANAM. He won his first National Award for the same and came the international fame. After this, there was no looking back. He consistently topped the Indian musical charts.

He has none of the airs of a star. His warm, vibrant nature and almost childlike innocence is infectious. He does not obtrude his presence on others and does give people due respect. He has a magnetic stage presence and enthralls the audience with an exceptional performance, inspiring the other singers to match his emotions and energy with a mesmerizing voice and passionate singing style. An easy-going person, Balu can be bubbly and charming with any age group.

Balu was born on June 4, 1946, in Konetampet, then in Andhra Pradesh, now in Tamil Nadu. His father, Sri. S.P. Sambhamurthy was a fine musician and an excellent exponent of "Harikatha" (a fine art form of entertainment combined with music and story telling).

Blessed with an adorable voice and impeccable musical skills, SPB was never trained to be a singer. A young, Telugu-speaking lad from Andhra Pradesh, like any other boy his age was studying to pursue a career in Engineering. He had a natural flair for singing and participated in most of the singing contests from college. In one such contest, was spotted by his mentor the late, Sri. S.P. Kodandapani. Balu won the first prize and walked out with his first break to sing in the film "SRI SRI SRI MARYADA RAMANNA" in 1966. Thus began a legendary career which became history.

Before he became a full fledged cinema singer, Balu was the leader of a light music troupe that comprising
* Anirutta, who was working in Corporation and was the harmonium artist
* Ilaiyaraaja who joined the group as Guitarist and then moved over to harmonium after Anirutta became busy in his regular job
* Baskar, Ilaiyaraaja's brother who was in charge of Percussion
* Gangai Amaran another brother of Ilaiyaraaja who was the Guitarist after Ilaiyaraaja moved over to Harmonium

Balus first break in Hindi films was EK DUJE KE LIYE. Subsequently, he created history by bagging the National Award for his first song in the first Hindi movie.

So far, Balu has sung over a record 36,000 plus songs in a span of 39 years, in all languages which include several albums of contemporary Indian music, private albums for devotional songs and movies. It is amazing to see the ease with which Balu can render his voice for any language namely, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, Tulu, Oriya, Assamese and Punjabi.

There has been no arena of music left for experimentation.

* From singing to composing was a short leap, compiling music for 45 films in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi.
* Dubbing for south Indian stars is another venture that brought him recognition for his deep and astounding voice. He even received the best dubbing artiste award for ANNAMAYYA for lending his voice to Suman, who played Lord Balaji in the movie.
* He has also successfully portrayed character roles in as many as 45 films in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada

Awards & Achievements


PRESTIGIOUS TITLES
Year Title Presented by
2001 PadmaShree Award President of India K.R. Narayanan
1999 Doctorate from Pottisreeramulu University (A.P). Governor Rangarajan.


NATIONAL AWARDS
Year Name of the movie Language Song Music Director Producer
1996 Minsara Kanavu Tamil Thanga Thamarai Magalae A.R.Rahman A.V.M.Saravanan
1995 Gana Yogi Panchakshara Gavayi Kannada Hamsalekha
1988 Rudra Veena Telugu Cheppaalani Undi Illayaraja Nagendra Babu
1983 Sagara Sangamam Telugu Illayaraja Edida Nageswara Rao for Poornodaya Films
1981 Ek Duje Keliye Hindi Tere Mere Beech Mein Laxmikant Pyarelal L.V.Prasad
1979 Sankarabharanam Telugu Om Kaara Nadaanu K.V.Mahadevan Poornodaya Art Creations


STATE AWARDS
Year Title Presented by
2002 Best Playback Singer - Nandi Award Andhra Pradesh Government
2000 Best Playback Singer Award Tamil Nadu Government
2000 Andhra Pradesh Government Award - Received 10 times Andhra Pradesh Government
1981 Kalai Mamani Tamilnadu Government


OTHER AWARDS
Month & Year Title Presented by
April, 2002 'Rashtriya Vikas Shiromani Award (Life time)' in 2002 Delhi Telugu Academy's
August, 2002 "Dr. Bezawada Gopala Reddy Award" given during a function in Nellore
January, 2002 Swaralaya-Kairali-Yesudas' award in 2002
September, 2002 Life time Achievement Award "Play back King" TVS Victor Aalaapana Music Awards
August, 2001 Sangeeta Ganga award in 2001 Rani Satish (Minister of State for Kannada and Culture)
January, 2000 Innumerable Awards from Magazines & Associations fostering films
January, 2000 Mia Tansen Award Sur Singar Sanjad (Bombay) for best classical rendition of a song from 'Tere Payal Mere Geeth' composed by Naushad Sab
January, 1990 Film Fare Award for the film 'Maine Pyar Kiya'


ACHIEVEMENTS
# Has recorded over 36,000 songs in a span of 35 years, which include film songs and devotional numbers recorded by various recording companies of the country. It's a world record which will be soon entering into the Guinness Book of World Records.
# Has recorded 17 songs in Kannada for the composer Upendra Kumar in Bangalore from 9.00 a.m. to 9.00 p.m. on February 8, 1981 which is a record.
# Has recorded 19 songs in Tamil in a day, and 16 songs in Hindi in a day, which is a notable achievement.

s.p.blasubrahmaniyam

s.p.balasubrahmaniyam

s.p.balasubrahmaniyam
"Especially for Magi"

The Mega Event - "Meet & Greet SPB 2007"
(to commemorate his 40 years of singing and also launch of the SPBFans Charitable Foundation)


Venue : Hotel Hari International, Bangalore
Date : 28th January 2007.
Time : 3.00 ~ 7:00 pm (planned) ; 4:30pm to 8:30pm (actual)

Dear SPB Fans,

Many of you who had not attended the meet have been very eager to have an insight into the happenings at the meet and have been sending many emails. Due to time constraints, the details could not be posted and please accept my apologies for the delay. On behalf of the SPB Fans group i am posting this article for the benefit of all.

As all of you know that the physical activities of the event at Bangalore were organized by Sowmya & Maggie with our Webmaster, Venkat & Ashok coordinating other activities from here at Chennai. The other activities include preparation of banners for the event, memento for our SPB, memento for the participants, travel arrangements for the Chennai Fans and program schedule for the event

My first physical contact with this event was the boarding of the Minibus (at Chennai) which carried 20 eager participants from Chennai. The travel started at around 5:00am and left Chennai at 6:00am. Ashok briefed us about the schedule for the event and he also displayed to us the memento that was to be presented to our SPB which was a unique wood carving of our SPB’s profile. It was really good. Please go through the photo album posted by Covai Ravee / Vikas earlier. Thanks to Venkat & Harikrishna for making this unique memento ready. There was also a momento for the participants of the meet to be presented by our SPB in the form of a Desk Top Calender with the front page carrying 6 photos of our SPB and these same photos appearing again alongside the months with 1 for every two months. It was really great and would be a great memoir for the meet and a treasured possession for the fans . Each one was to be autographed by our SPB before being presented at the meet. We all had a great time singing our SPB songs (numbering around 50) with Balaji and Ashok taking the lead and the others lending their voices in a chorus with Madhumati and Priya also joining in and playing a major role. We reached Bangalore quite late than planned at around 2:45pm and after freshening up, were all assembled in the Hall at around 3:30pm.

This event if you remember (from various emails) was also planned to be a launch pad for the “SPB Fans Charitable Foundation” a registered entity now. As understood (me being a new member – 2 months old) our group has been doing charitable activities in the previous years at a small level and it was long felt that there should be an organized setup to take it to a higher level. This was the very reason why our SPB was ready to associate himself with this SPB Fan Group which was oriented toward social activities and not just serving as a forum for discussing about him and his portfolios. Towards this, our Chennai coordinators had made ready three banners announcing the launch of the foundation (with our SPB’s photo at the centre) and these were displayed at three strategic locations in the Hall. The main banner acted as a backdrop to our SPB’s seating (refer to the photographs).

The Hall was filled up with around 65 to 70 members and with some Press persons (Hindu, Deccan Herald….) also who had been invited to cover the event. From our side a Still Camera and Video Graphers were arranged to cover the event (courtesy the Chennai coordinators). Every one of us eagerly awaited the arrival of our SPB and each head turn of a person seated nearby presented an illusion that SPB would have arrived. The time was well past the scheduled start and we were all tensed up indeed. At around 4:30pm our compere Mr.RangaRaj announced that our SPB was on the way and that in order to avoid further delays later, requested us to have our High Tea before he arrived and that our SPB would eventually join with us. While we were half through with the High Tea, our Great SPB arrived at 4:40pm much to the excitement of all present. He was dressed up in a dark coloured pant, a light blue full sleeved shirt and sandals. He was straightaway escorted by WM for snacks and Tea. Those of us who were quite excited and impatient as well, started crowding around him and taking photographs of him attending to his snacks. Our SPB took all these in good spirits and at one point of time enquired if there would be a photo session and he would be with us for photos then. This did not deter the die hard fans and we still continued hovering over him and at one point of time he uttered a noble sentence “You all go to your seats and I will come to you”.

Following this, our Great was escorted to his seat. Before getting seated, he was presented flower bouquets by a few children which he gleefully accepted and he spent a few moments whispering to the young children. He also ensured that the bouquets were presented in the right position so that the photographs came out well (considering the position of the camera spotlights ..). Quite thoughtful of him to ensure that nothing went wrong for the fans.
Then, our SPB was shown his honorable seat and he was handed over a pile of mementos (desktop calendars) for his autograph. This was later to be presented by him individually to each and every participant. While he was on the signing spree, our compere Mr.RangaRaj welcomed the Hero of the Event and outlined the list of activities for the evening as follows :

1) Welcome Speech
2) Launch of a Revamped SPB Website www.spbindia.com (courtesy : SEAMIT for designing the site)
3) Photo Session combined with Presentation of Memento to each participant
4) Screening of a surprise Video Show to our SPB
5) Our SPB’s small Speech
6) Presentation of Memento to our SPB
7) Launch of the SPBFans Charitable Foundation
8) Question & Answer Session
9) Closing up

I will not dwell much on the Welcome Speech as it is a formal opening to any event. Our SPB was signing the desktop calendars while our compere started his welcome speech

Next was the launch of the Revamped SPB Website. The revamping of the site was handled by Mr.Vishwak of SEAMIT and he himself made a presentation through a Slide Show explaining the various features. The opening page of the site has a greeting message by our SPB. It has all the features of the previous site plus a few additions. Please visit the website to explore the modified version. Our SPB formally pressed the button on the Keyboard to launch it. This was followed by the Photo session. Wishing you all happy SPB browsing.

Upfront, our SPB made it clear to everyone that he did not want anyone bend down and touch his feet nor prostrate in front of him as it would embarrass him. (in spite of this some die hard fans did do that). The fans one by one were asked to come over to our SPB and take photographs and also receive the autographed memento (desktop calendar). There were quite a few fans who had come along with their family also. It was a great moment indeed especially for first timers like me who got to see him for the first time in real. I would like to mention one touching gesture by our SPB which will not be known to others. It seems one of our SPB fans (seated near me from Chennai) had taken photographs twice with him at the event and unfortunately both turned out to be unclear and were not good. The Fan hesitantly approached our SPB again for taking photograph for the third time informing him that he was sorry. You know what our SPB had said to this fan “Come on, it is my responsibility to ensure that you have taken a good photo with me – I want to take photo with you anyway”. The fan was really moved when he narrated this to me personally. What a great and heart moving gesture by our Great. Such gestures is also one of the reasons which attracts us all to the Great. Hats-off to him. There was also another gesture. When Ms.Sowmya went up to him alone for the photo session he made it a point to ask her to call her husband also (I understood that she was recently married) and then took a photo. What else to say about this Great Man. Thoughtfulness personified. Right through the photo session he was cool and calm and enthusiastically conducted himself giving an overall pleasant experience to one and all. At one instance, when one of the individual photographers had a problem with his camera he gave out a call to everyone to check their respective cameras so that they come out with good pictures without any disappointment. Our SPB was dumbfounded by one fan when he turned up for his autograph on a photo taken at the event itself. He wondered how that was possible and queried whether he was carrying a personal printer with him. There were many fans who took repeated autographs on note books, pieces of paper, diaries and so on and our SPB acknowledged everyone with a charismatic smile. The entire Hotel Staff also utilised this opportunity of getting themselves photographed with him and also obtaining his autograph.

Following this, was the surprise Video show played to our SPB. I would like to put in a few words about this. This was totally a surprise package and it was not made known upfront to others except a few who were involved in a fan meeting on 31st Dec 2006 at Chennai. All the speakers in this video were requested not to inform our SPB about the interview and I understand that even the Web Master was not aware of a major position of this Video. This was thought up by our Venkat & Ashok who felt it appropriate to interview some of our SPB’s Cine Colleagues, his mother and his close friends and make a video presentation to SPB on the eve of 40 years completion in singing. It was a really a good one. It started off with our Evergreen SPB partner “S Janakiamma” talking about our SPB, the happy times she had with him during recordings and the small fights (Oodal & Koodal as you may call it) they used to have. She expressed a longing once again for those times when they sang together and she blessed our SPB to continue till 100 years or more. This brought out the childlike enthusiasm of SJ amma. Really touching. PB Srinivas followed next and he went back to those days when our SPB recorded the first song with him, PS and some other Telugu singer. At that time, PBS was not sure that SPB would grow to such great heights and through bhakthi and dedication he had done it he said. Next was “Maanicka Vinaayagam” who highlighted about the human side of our SPB. The next person to speak was none other than the creator of our SPB “his mother”. We learnt that he was addressed as “Mani” by his family and close friends. She said she was blessed to have a son like him and may God bless him all through. During this portion of the video, I observed that our SPB was moved to tears hearing his mother speak about him. His friends 4 of them followed next. Their narrations clearly brought the high regard that our SPB had on friendship. Even to this day, he has never forgotten them in spite of all his name and fame and he makes it a point to be with them whenever possible. One of his friends shared his experiences of our SPB’s first song recording. As many would have heard, the car which was supposed to pick-up our SPB for the recording did not turn up. Worried that they might not have been satisfied with his rehearsals earlier, he thought he was out of consideration for the song. But this friend ensured that he pedaled our SPB on a bicycle and took him all the way to the recording theatre. The guard there was not willing to allow him inside and the friend was willing to place himself and the cycle as security for our SPB to be allowed in to the recording theatre. Meanwhile, hearing the commotion, people inside had summoned our SPB inside. This friend was really moved while narrating and said that he was indeed fortunate to be associated with SPB during those trying period and at the start of his career. Even the other friends spoke of him very highly and of his undying friendship and as fans we got to know one more facet of this Great Man. The Chennai Fans involved in recording this video shown were Venkat & Ashok. Thanks to them for having taken the initiatives and efforts to visit each speaker and also go to Nellore to meet our SPB’s mother and friends and record the interview. What was shown was a concised 20 minutes show edited from a 1-1/2 hour recording by the above team. Three Cheers to the Team.

Next, our SPB was requested to address the fans and also his comments on the Video. He started by saying that the Video embarrassed him as it had all of them talking high of him. As friends and close associates they were bound to do so. It also moved him to a great extent seeing his mother speaking. He said that any mother will tell only the truth about her son and he was indeed fortunate to hear his mother bless him. He stopped with this mentioning that any further talk on this would lead to his emotional breakdown as he was so moved by the occasion. During this speech, he mentioned about the pranks he used to play on Janakiamma. It seems that Janakiamma had the habit of holding a small handkerchief in her hand and keep fidgeting with it during recording of a song. Without that she would not feel comfortable. Our SPB sometimes used to pull at the hanky to distract her attention and she used to respond by slapping him or throwing things like pen, pencil etc. at him. On one such occasion it seems that she did this and walked away from the recording cabin. Later SJamma’s husband who also is a close family friend of our SPB came over to our SPB and told him that she was seated in the car outside and asked him to cajole her and bring back inside the recording room. This brought out the intimate relationship they had in their singing career which has given us so many great duet songs.

He also introduced to us some of his friends and close associates who were there in the meet. One friend had come from Dallas and one of his associates happened to be the owner of the Hotel Hari International where the meet took place

He once again wondered why the fans were so attached to him and what great work he has done for that (modesty to the core) except taking up singing as a profession like any other person. He jokingly said that he had no chance of switching over to any other profession as he was neither skilled nor would his age, past retirement now, would fetch him one. When one enthusiastic fan got up to throw a counter to that, he stopped him saying that he did not expect any answer to that. He expressed his happiness to be associated with this fan group which had the intention to carry out charitable activities as part of the fan club and felt proud that his name was used for this purpose. He was not for fan clubs which had no social cause attached to it. He mentioned that he was aware of many fan clubs started in his name (without his approval) which had no noble purpose attached to it except talking about him and his achievements. However it was not practically possible for him to close down all these. He also mentioned that he always carried a Blackberry with him so that he could attend to all the communication from all his fans wherever he was and also reply immediately depending on the topic. (in fact I received a reply from his blackberry once when I emailed my New Year Greetings to him)

He also requested fans to donate blood and also their organs so that they would be of use in saving a precious life and making life comfortable for many.

Next was the presentation of a memento to our SPB by our Venkat & Ashok. As explained earlier this memento was unique in the sense that it was a wooden carving done with our SPB’s photograph as the reference. Our SPB’s profile is at a level higher than the base of the canvas and looking at it live gives more insight. It also looks great on the photograph (please also take a look in the photos posted by our Covai Ravee). Our SPB was greatly impressed by this.

The launch of the SPBFans Charitable Foundation was the next agenda. This was done by the fans handing over the filled up registration forms to SPB himself who received it on the behalf of the Foundation. This was one more chance for these participants to come into physical touch with our Great while presenting their form to him. I once again felt the delight of clasping his hands with both my hands to savour the touch and the moment while handing over the form (chinna chinna aasai). Around 35 members enrolled themselves in the Foundation on the spot itself. Hope every SPB Fan becomes a member of this foundation so that we all can contribute to the society in some way in the name of our SPB. As detailed earlier this Foundation will be carrying out charitable activities in an organized set up. During this event, our SPB came out with a very noble announcement that “he would also make a monthly contribution of Rs.10,000 from his earnings”. He assured that this amount would reach the concerned every month. This would be over and above the contributions that he has been already making in the name of a foundation (not publisized much) run in memory of his Father. He mentioned that he did not want to be a silent spectator since this foundation was named after his fans. On the lighter side he said that he felt jealous of the fans and hence wanted to make his own contribution and become a member himself. He also requested all not to make contributions just for the sake of it. He advised us that contributions should be made only after taking care of our own basic needs as the income for many would be meagre.

During the close-up note, our compere thanked our SPB for spending his valuable time with us in spite of the busy schedule.

Our SPB mentioned that he was approached for allotting three days for the Telugu 75 years celebration i.e. 26,27 & 28 Jan. But he declined 28 Jan as he wanted to attend this Fan Meet which was already planned. He also informed us that he had a film shooting for the next two days or so at Bangalore and he had a busy schedule ahead. He thanked all especially the fans who had traveled all the way from Tuticorin, Salem, Chennai, Hubli and Mumbai. He particularly mentioned about Vikas Kamble from Mumbai who had come all the way from Mumbai to see him and also his interest in his South Indian language songs even though he did not know these languages. He sang ‘Telusa Manasaa..” and ‘Ilamai Enum Poongaatru…” for his sake.

I have not covered the Question & Answer session here since this requires some homework in order to capture all the Q&A. This will be posted at a later date after obtaining the details from the respective participant so that nothing is missed out. However during the Q&A, our SPB brought out the extreme regard he had for Mohamed Rafi. He said Rafi was the ultimate playback singer of the world and no one can near him. He said that his own singing was basically modeled around Rafi’s singing and basically his songs had atleast 20% of Rafi’s influence in them. During the initial period of his career he used to go overboard trying to bring in more of Rafi into his singing which he had controlled at a later stage, he said. He also mentioned one instance where Kishore Kumar wanted Rafi to sing for him in one of his home productions. He mentioned that he had two chances of meeting Rafi, once at a nearby recording theatre when he went inside and took his blessings only and later at a concert where he was a front bencher as he could not muster the courage to approach the legendary Rafi.

Another event which I like to mention here is as follows :

The final session of the Meet was over and our SPB had packed up and was almost leaving the Hall. At that time Ms Sowmya approached and requested him to make a brief Video talk regarding the progress of the Prodigy club that was inaugarated by our SPB sometime back and the contributions that this club was making in the field of education. With due honour to our Sowmya, he once again traced back his steps to the dias and gave a brief ex-tempo talk about the club and then left. This showed what great regard he had for the sentiments of his fans and the extent to which he was willing to go to satisfy them. This was one of the points mentioned by him that he could not say "no" to anyone when approached and this occasion was a clear example of this attribute of our Great SPB.

Throughout the event, our SPB spoke in Kannada & English and sometimes in Tamil also for the sake of the Multi-lingual gathering.

(Original post by Mr. Dasrathi)

s.p.balasubrahmaniyam / music-m.m.keervaani (m.m.kreem)