SPB : A Musical History - Part 8: SPB, Chiranjeevi and early 1980s Telugu film music

(You can read the earlier parts here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 , Part 7 )

The Telugu film music saw a gradual decline from the 1960s. The 1970s did provide good quality music but there was decline compared to the 1960s. The 1980s was an extremely bad period for Telugu saved by music directors from outside of the state, mainly Illayaraja. Otherwise the main music directors for Telugu films like Chakravarthy, in decline K V Mahadevan, J V Raghavulu et al produced lot of forgettable music. When I look back at the moves from 1981 to 1985, the percentage of movies which had good music is low. 

Don't mistake me for that person who always feels 'Old is Gold'. The truth was that Tamil was having its most glorious period as far as film music goes. With Illayaraja at his peak, Tamil film music reached heights which no other film music was able to reach before or since. Malayalam too had good music directors in that era like Johnson Master, Raveendran Master, Oseaupachan, MG Radhakrishnan et al, who gave some wonderful music. Telugu on the other hand did not have that sort of talent, unfortunately.

K Balachandar, as usual, used MSV and SPB for his movies. Telugu was no exception. In 'Akali Rajyam'(1981) , it was the same combination. 'Akali Rajyam' was the Telugu remake of the Tamil film 'Varumaiyin Niram Sigappu'. This particular song was a big hit both in Tamil and Telugu. 

'kanne pillavani' sung by SPB and S.Janaki.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi45vU7M-Yo

Observe how SPB's voice suits Kamalahasan. This song gives SPB good scope to add his own brand of tricks, that brief laugh, that 'OK', that sudden start to a line, as if he just discovered the words to fit the tune, that talking to himself. Everything works extremely well in this song.

Another major hit from 1981 was 'Premabhisekham', starring ANR, Sreedevi and Jayasudha. It was a super hit movie, later made into Tamil as well. The songs were also block busters. Music was by Chakravarthy. 'na kallu cheputunnayi'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1od4QRP9fU8

In this SPB uses his Nageshwar Rao voice. You can clearly make out the difference in the way SPB sings this song and how sang the song from 'Akali Rajyam'. 

A couple of songs from the Rajen Nagendra - SPB combination.

From the 1979 movie, 'Intinti Ramayanam', 'mallelu pooche'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QuU9vSr309o

SPB takes extra pains to sound extra soft. To a certain extent I can observe the Rafi influence on SPB in the way he sings this song. Also because of SPB singing deliberately softly, you can observe a change in the tone as the tune moves upwards.

From the 1982 movie, 'Nalugustambalata', 'chinukularali' by SPB and Susheela

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmmURdbafQk

This was another song which Rajen Nagendra transposed from Kannada to Telugu but no one was complaining.

1980s also marked the changing of guard with respect to Telugu heroes. After the first few years of this decade, NTR would enter politics and become the CM of Andhra Pradesh. He would stop doing movies. ANR's graph would also go down slowly. The initial part of the 1980s saw the rise of a actor, who, like Rajnikanth in Tamil, was donning negative roles. He would slowly take on the role of a hero and go on to become the MegaStar. Chiranjeevi was his name.

Chiranjeevi's rise, like Rajnikanth's, was based on self belief and hard work. Chiranjeevi was an excellent dancer. His rise to popularity was slow but steady. His rise to stardom was aided by the music of Illayaraja and the singing of SPB. One of his early hits as a hero was 'Abhilasha', which had a terrific story line and outstanding music. SPB became the voice of Chiranjeevi. He did not have to be unnatural, which he was forced to be when he sang for NTR and ANR. He could now be his own confident self and that resulted in some memorable songs for Chiranjeevi.

From the movie, 'Abhilasha' (1982),  'eureka, navvindi malle chendu' 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82hUDmPYazk

This song captured the spirit of what Chiranjeevi stood for, high energy, dancing and fun. SPB captures the spirit brilliantly with his singing. This high energy song needs SPB to succeed. Raja's tune is ofcourse excellent. The enjoyment in SPB is palpable throughout the song. He gets to do a bit of mimicry towards the end as well. 

From the same movie, 'banthi chamanthi'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqJPTvtqhiA

This is a folk based melody with the orchestration having a strong folk flavor. The sounds were quite new to Telugu. SPB and Janaki were chosen by Illayaraja consistently to deliver his vision and they both delivered it to perfection.

Almost every song of Abhilasha is a gem and so cannot restrict to two. Here is 'urakalai godavari'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_1k-SJa-fI

We will now go to 'Khaidi'(1983), the movie which moved Chiranjeevi movie to super hit status. Music was by Chakravarthy. 'raguluthondhi mogali podha' was a super duper hit in those days.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FIM1-oGH1g

Music Director Chakravarthy was a good friend of SPB. Here SPB is called upon to modulate his voice and as usual he does it with panache. The contrast between Susheela's voice and SPB's voice is also interesting. 

In 1983, Bapu made 'Mantrigari Veeyankudu' with Chiranjeevi. Once again Illayaraja + SPB combination came to the fore. The wonderful 'emani ne' from this movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQOPYi35LqQ

This melody takes advantage of the softness of SPB's voice. 

Then there was the movie, 'Challenge' (1984) Once again Illayaraja - Chiranjeevi - SPB

'idhu vadana kunda radhana'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga2Ed523HXY

'sayamkalam' 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRL-TryX0do

Both the songs require the high energy of SPB. They also provide ample opportunity for Chiranjeevi to display his dancing skills. 

'thalangu dhintha' from the movie 'Jwala' (1985)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJzafKCZOdE

Dancing was Chiranjeevi's forte. Those days were the days of disco and of lighted dance floors. So Chiranjeevi needed songs in that genre and Raja gave what he wanted, as this song illustrates. As usual, he brings in SPB to provide the energy and the style, for Chiranjeevi was also about style. 

Movie like these, songs like these and SPB's voice had a major role to play in establishing the Mega Star credentials of Chiranjeevi.

Moving away from Chiranjeevi, let us look at a couple of Illayaraja melodies for Telugu films (as opposed to melodies that were dubbed to Telugu from Tamil).

First, the brilliant Sudha Saveri raga based, 'janaki kalaganaledu' from 'Rajkumar' (1983)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reUiXHp43C4

Here you see a SPB singing which is in complete contrast to how he sang for Chiranjeevi. Here he is subdued, in total control, for the melody requires that sort of discipline.

Finally, from the movie, 'Oka Radha Iddaru Krishnulu', 'madhura murali'. SPB and Janaki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrxYD24UUA8

This Mohanam raga based number is a high energy number and is something SPB relishes. As you can see it is a fun song. Also observe how casually Janaki sings the song.

In this part we majorly saw the SPB Chiranjeevi combination of the early 1980s, the years that established Chiranjeevi's mega star status. During these times two other major combinations created amazing music. One was the K Vishwanath - Illayaraja combination and the other was Vamsi - Illayaraja combination. In both these combinations, SPB would play a major role.

We will talk about Vishwanath - Raja and Vamsi - Raja in the next part.