Man who rocked Tamil pop, yodelling into hearts

By R Rangaraj
Chennai: When people first heard "Pombala Oruthi Irundhalam" from the 1967 hit ‘Athey Kangal’ there were a few words that sounded gibberish. Those turned out to be Sourashtrian words meaning "Let me go, I am afraid". The idea of infusing a different language into a Tamil song was the brainchild of two legendary Tamil playback singers from the Sourashtrian community — A L Raghavan and T M Sounderarajan.
In the passing of Raghavan on June 19 in Chennai at the age of 86, the Tamil film music industry lost a singer, who was always ready to explore new territories while specialising in pop, yodelling and comedy songs with a verve of his own. He came to represent a new generation of Tamil singers who could sing Western pop. His voice with comedian Nagesh on screen was one of the perfect pairings aimed at wooing the youth.
As Tamil pop began to be hummed in every household, Raghavan maintained a versatility in his Western-comedy songs from "Once a papa met a mama" in ‘Anbe Vaa’ (1966) to "Jigubugu Jigubugu Naan Engine" of ‘Motor Sundaram Pillai’ (1966) and "Poda Chonnal Pottukiren" in ‘Poova Thalaiya’ (1969), there was an amalgamation of rhythm and melody with comedy. His songs would be interspersed with effortless yodeling. A style that Raghavan developed over the years and a contrast from his early years in theatre and classical music.
Ayyampettai Lakshmanan Raghavan born in April 1934 was son of stage actor A R Lakshmana Bhagavathar. His father could sing, learned to play the violin and mridangam, and made a name for himself in Thanjavur. He had acted along with Kali N Rathnam in films like ‘Punjab Kesari’ (1938) and ‘Chandragupta Chanakya’ (1940). Bhagavathar died early due to cholera, and Raghavan had to take over the family responsibility at the age of eight.
Raghavan joined OAAR Arunachalam Chettiar’s Baala Gaana Vinodha Sabha and began playing small roles, mainly in mythological plays where he had to act and sing. In 1945-46, the company staged ‘Thirumazhisai Alwaar’ in Chennai. The company resorted to a novel promotional campaign by drawing the ‘naamam’ (tilaka worn by Vaishnavites) with the letters Thirumazhisai Aalwaar on the sides of trams plying on Anna Salai. Huge crowds attended the play and among them was Somu Chettiar, owner of Jupiter Pictures. He was so impressed by Raghavan’s acting and singing that he decided to cast him as Bala Krishnan in his film ‘Krishna Vijayam’ (1950). So keen was Chettiar, that he handed over `5,000 to the owner of the theatre troupe, with whom Raghavan had a contract, to end the agreement.
Starting at the bottom, Raghavan’s vocal journey in films began with singing as chorus. It was in 1950, that music director C S Jayaraman gave him a song along with K R Ramaswami and T R Rajakumari, who sang for their own parts, while Raghavan had to render playback for Kamala. Young Raghavan had to stand on a table between Ramaswami and Rajakumari to reach the microphone.
After his four-year stint with Jupiter Pictures, Raghavan moved to Chennai to work in the plays of S V Sahasranamam and Sivaji Ganesan. Once, while singing for a play in the city, music composers M S Viswanathan and G K Venkatesh heard him. MSV hired him to sing "Hello My Dear Raami" (‘Pudhaiyal’, 1957), alongside J P Chandrababu. In the next few films, Raghavan managed to yodle ff and on, which was new to Chennai in those days.
Raghavan’s career had set off to a good start with K V Mahadevan’s "Oru Murai Paarthale Podhum" in ‘Panchali’ (1962). Among his biggest hits were "Andru Oomaip Pennaallo’ for Gemini Ganesan in ‘Parthal Pasi Theerum’ (1962), but it was "Enginrundhaalam Vaazhga" (Nenjil Oar Aalayam) that turned out to be an all-time classic. The lyrics by Kannadasan succinctly portrayed the dilemma of a doctor when confronted with his long lost love who seeks his help to save her husband’s life.
Despite these evergreen emotional songs, Raghavan could never shake off the image of being the voice of a comedian. Raghavan was never really considered as the voice of the hero. Once, he did sing for Sivaji in ‘Naan Vanangum Deivam’ (1963), but the film distributors felt his voice wasn’t suitable for Sivaji. The duet had to be used for comedian T R Ramachandran, instead of Sivaji Ganesan.
A duet composed for Idhayathil Nee, ‘Thingalukku’ by Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy was left out as singer S Janaki found that the tune was similar to Azhagukkum Malarukkum recorded for Nenjam Marapathillai a few days ago. This song could have boosted his career. For Raghavan, it was a case of missed opportunities that continued to dog his life.
As musical assignments dwindled, Raghavan turned to production. Partnering with TMS, he launched Soundar Raghavan Movies to make ‘Kallum Kaniyaagum’. Though its songs were popular, the film didn’t do well at the box-office and TMS wanted to end the adventure. But Raghavan produced one more film, ‘Kannil Theriyum Kadhaigal (1980) (against the wishes of his wife, former actress M N Rajam), employing five music directors — K V Mahadevan, T R Pappa, M S Viswanathan, Shankar Ganesh and Ilayaraja. The songs were hits but the film flopped, creating more financial problems for Raghavan. But for all his ups and downs, Tamil film music lovers would probably pay their tribute to him with his song "Engirundhaalum Vaazhga" (May you live well, wherever you are).
(The writer is president, Chennai 2000 Plus Trust)