As the legendary singer turns 86, here's a recollection of her songs laced with fond memories..
neevunDedaa konDapai, naa swami..
The divine voice of Gaana Kokila, P.Suseela, literally transports you to heaven and you feel the presence of god.
I had first heard this song in my Maternal uncles music collection. This collection was the biggest early influence in shaping my interest in music and I have been a fan of the legend since then. "mooga manasulu"(remade in Hindi as Milan) got repeated playtime in our household.
My family was partial to it as it evoked strong nostalgia of growing up on the banks of river Godavari and of course the music of KV Mahadevan was a standout.
Nostalgia for me though is growing up in old city of Hyderabad . So I pick another KV Mahadevan song, picturized in Gyan Bagh Palace. The palace is residence of Dhanrajgirs, who were richest bankers in the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad.
During school days I had gone for a family function. All of us kids surrounded the youngest one and started playing with him. He was just starting to speak and when we asked his name he said Ramesh Naidu (that was of course not his name). I wondered who is Ramesh Naidu and was told that he is a national award winning composer. I developed an instant linking for the Suseela number from his classic score for Megha Sandesam.
Those were the days when western boundary of the city was Banjara Hills and perhaps the only reason you would travel further west was for a picnic to Golkonda Fort or Gandipet Lake. Watching movies meant travelling to the heart of the city (Abids) till Konark theatre in Dilsukhnagar came up. One of the earliest movies I recall seeing there was rerun of the classic "Gul-e-bakavali katha". The following song was among the highlights.
Suseela is accompanied by Ghantasala here.
Saluri Rajeswara Rao is another legendary composer whose brought a classical touch to the songs.
My interest in her songs increased due to an interesting incident in college
Our Electronics Head of Dept, Dr. Sastry, told us about his experience when he was evaluating the practicals.
A student got the circuit diagram correct, but the Prof. struck it off and gave a zero. On being questioned, the professor pointed out that it was not "grounded". The student retorted "Sir, if you assume "ground" is there then isn't everything correct". Dr. Sastry told him the story of movie "Donga Ramudu" where the hero wants Chicken curry. But he is served plain rice with a live chicken tied before him. He is asked to eat looking at the chicken and feel that he is having chicken curry. After listening to the story , I saw the movie and got hooked to this song...
The honey laden voice made me longing for more and I started exploring further. Adi Narayana Rao's composition from Suvarna Sundari became an instant favorite.
Anjali Devi literally became Suvarna Sundari after this and the movie was remade in Hindi with same starcast and the the tunes reused.
An even earlier movie of Anjali Devi features a duet with Vyjayanthimala where P Suseela playbacks for the latter.
That is just a sampling of my favorites from Telugu and Suseela has equally impressive body of work in Tamil, Kananda and Malayalam. That calls for another article, perhaps another day another time but I will leave you with a stunner from the tamil movie Parthiban Kanavu. Suseela with AM Raja lip-syncing for Vyjayantimala and Gemini Ganesan.
Very nice. Loved reading this. Good collection and info. Could have added Sundara Suranandana from Pooja Phalam. This song and Anuragamu Virisena from Donga Ramudu have similar context and similar meaning and expressions. Just the words differ.
ReplyDelete