Remembering Ravu Balasaraswathi: The First Playback Singer of Telugu Cinema

By R RangarajShe was a child star, performing as singer and actor, lending her voice for a gramophone record of HMV at the age of six, before going on to become Telugu cinema’s first playback singer and All India Radio’s first light-music artist.The silken voice that captivated Telugu and Tamil audiences from the 1930s to the 1950s is no more. Ravu Balasaraswathi Devi died at the age of 97 at the residence of her grandson in Hyderabad on Oct 15.Bala sang more than 100 songs in Tamil and Telugu films, though only about 25 are readily available today. She also acted in several films. A chance meeting at the Race Club in Guindy, Chennai, led to her marriage to the Maharaja of Kolanka. But she was duped of her wealth and assets after his death and spent her final years in penury.Bala sang a lullaby for Padmini, ‘Neela vanna kanna vaada’, in the Tamil film ‘Mangaiyar Thilagam’ (1955), which turned out to be a big hit. She then carried the tag 'lullaby singer' though she was just at ease in singing romantic numbers.Born to Parthasarathi Rao and Visalakshi Amma at Venkatagiri in Andhra Pradesh, young Bala grasped music quickly as she watched plays that were staged and silent films screened at a theatre in Guntur, which her father owned. She stunned everyone while rendering the song ‘Namaste naa praana naatha’ on stage when she was just four. Having listened to the gramophone collections of her father, it was easy for her to sing for a gramophone record 'Dorike dorike naaku’ at the age of six, an opportunity provided by lyricist-composer Koparappu Subbarao.When Bala stayed for a while at the home of her maternal grandfather, an advocate, in Chennai, she got an offer to act in a film. She played Ganga in the Telugu film ‘Sati Anusuya & Bhaktha Druva’ (1936), with her song 'Ethethethaari Naakachata’ in her first film receiving massive endorsement. Noted Tamil filmmaker K Subramanm spotted her immense talent and thus she acted in the Tamil films ‘Bhaktha Kuchela’ (1936), ‘Balayogini’ (1937) and ‘Thiruneelakantar’ (1939).Bala played Tukaram’s little daughter in the bilingual ‘Tukaram’ (1938) which had the famous Carnatic musician Musiri Subramaniya Iyer and CSR Anjaneyulu playing the title role in the Tamil and Telugu versions.In 1940, Balasaraswathi acted with Rajeswara Rao in Illalu. Taking a liking to Bala's voice, Rajeswara Rao as a music director gave her several songs in non-film Telugu songs which brought about a successful genre of light music, with ‘Aatotalonokati Aardhanalayamu’ being popular even to this day.She made history of sorts by rendering playback for the first time in Telugu cinema, in ‘Bhagyalakshmi’ (1943) for Kamala Kotnis, the popular song being 'Thinne meedha sinnoda.’ She sang two more numbers for Kotnis, went on to learn Hindustani in Mumbai and western classical music in Chennai. At 15, she was in demand for Telugu and Tamil cinema as an actor and singer.It was Chennai that changed her life forever. Her looks, captivating voice and splendid English had another admirer — the Maharaja of Kolanka, who wanted to marry her after seeing her at the Race Club in Guindy. He was 34, married, with children, and Bala was 15. Her parents agreed to the marriage proposal. Bala was said to have fallen in love with the man whom she described as "so handsome with large eyes”.Bala was now largely confined to a stately palace in the Kolanka Estate in East Godavari District for most of the year. Unfortunately, the shift to royalty gradually led to fewer screen stints — the Telugu film ‘Radhika’ (1947), produced by her father, and the Tamil movie ‘Bilhana’ (1948). Her husband did not encourage her acting.Fortunately, she had several well-wishers such as actor Bhanumathi, who reached out to her to continue singing for Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films. In 1949, when Bhanumati and husband Ramakrishna made ‘Laila Majnu’, Bhanumati urged Bala to sing ‘Ela Pagaye’ in Telugu and its Tamil version ‘Veen pazhi thaano’. Both became very popular. Its legendary composer C R Subburaman held Bala in high esteem.During the odd visit to Chennai, Bala sang a few songs for Tamil films, displaying a wide range. The success of ‘Neela Vanna Kanna Vaa Vaa composed by S Dakshinamurthy with lyrics by Marudhakasi (the song was a remake from a Marathi composition in ‘Vahinchiya Paandiya’ tuned by Sudhir Phadke), led to a rash of lullabies such as ‘Innisaiye ganarasa innamudhe ennuriye’ (from ‘Bilhana’ in 1948), ‘Amma Amma’ (from ‘Aandi Petra Selvam’ in 1957) and ‘Seeraarum paingkiliye’ (from ‘Thaayilla Pillai’ in 1961), earning for her the tag of 'lullaby singer'.On the other hand, the title would not do justice to the versatility of Bala as a singer. She sang with religious fervour in ‘Sri Jaya Saraswathi Devi thaaye’ (‘Bilhana’) and the non-film devotional songs such as ‘Kaana Oraayiram kan vendum’ and ‘Aaduthu paar mayil aaduthu paar’.Bala, had in her repertoire several excellent dance songs, too, such as ‘Sandhosham vendumendraal inge konjam ennai paaru kannaal ’ and ‘Paaramugam yenayya en swami’ in ‘Devadas’ (1953). Film music critic N Saravanan recalls her "romantic flourishes" in songs such as ‘O malaya maaruthame’, a fabulous duet with the renowned vocalist S Rajam in the bilingual ‘Manavathi’, a "treasured moment".Her pathos numbers too had a large number of admirers — ‘Dhayavillaiyo annaiye’ (from ‘Naan Vanangum Deivam’ in 1963), ‘Oraam maadham udaladhu thalarndhu’ and ‘Maaligai vaazhvum enge’ (from ‘Harichandra’ in 1967) and ‘Sollu nee raja’ (from the 1958 ‘Anbu Enge’) being among her most memorable. Bala sang only a few Tamil songs in the 1960s. After her husband died in 1974, poverty gripped Bala, as she was duped of her money and assets. Actor Vijayanirmala, who is related to her, brought her out from exile and got her to sing ‘Poyi raave amma’ for the movie Sangam Chekkina Shilpalu (1979). That was Bala’s last film song.Industrialist C C Reddy, gave her a purse of Rs 2 lakh, while J Jayalalithaa, moved by her plight, allotted her a house in 2005, besides payment of Rs 6,000 per month. Bala, who had two sons, later moved to Hyderabad to live with her son and grandson, where she remained until her passing on Oct 15.How Bala lost to Lata MangeshkarRavu Balasaraswathi Devi sang for Hindi film music Naushad in ‘Vaanaratham’ (1956), the Tamil version of the 1955 Hindi movie ‘Udan Khatola’. Her songs ‘Sudar thaarai’ and ‘Aa nenjin nilaimai en solvaen’ are broadcast by radio stations even today.The songs in Hindi were sung by Mohammed Rafi and Lata Mangeshkar. While playback singer T A Mothi was given all of Rafi’s songs to sing in Tamil, Ravu Balasaraswathi got two of Lata’s songs, while Lata rendered the rest. Bala later explained in an interview that Naushad had heard her Tamil records and invited her to Bombay to sing for the Tamil version of the film. “After I recorded two, Ghulam Mohammed praised me and asked me to stay back. Lata saw this, and the next day, the rest of my songs were cancelled. She refused to sing unless I was sent home. At that time, they had no one else to sing in Hindi and so were forced to oblige her,” said Bala.(The writer is a Chennai-based journalist)