Legendary Indian Playback Singer SP Balasubrahmanyam Succumbs to COVID-19 Aftermath!

The legendary playback singer and composer-actor-producer, SP Balasubrahmanyam has passed away in a Chennai hospital today after a spirited fight against the COVID-19 disease. The singer-composer who dominated the film industries of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Karnataka and Mumbai (Bollywood) for over five decades had tested positive on 5^th August 2020 and was in hospital since. Although the artiste was doing well in the initial stage serious complications developed later and he was put on the ventilator and ECMO (Extra-corporeal Membrane Oxygenation) support. He did test COVID-19 negative on September 7, 2020, but as his breathing problems persisted, he continued to be on ventilator and ECMO support. His condition became extremely critical in the last two days, and finally the music legend had to give in. He was 74.

 

Born into a Telugu family in Tamil Nadu in 1946 and raised mostly in Andhra Pradesh, SP Balasubrahmanyam, better known as ‘SPB’ or ‘Balu’, showed his lively interest in music from an early age, and over the years started singing in various local competitions winning prizes all the time. He made his debut as a playback singer for a Telugu movie in 1966 where the music score was done by his music mentor SP Kodandopani. Within days he made his Kannada playback singing debut and forayed into the Tamil movies in 1969, and then to the Malayalam film industry in the same year. SPB’s illustrious and spectacular musical journey began: his becoming the voice of the legendary actors of Southern India like Gemini Ganesan, MG Ramchandran (MGR), NT Rama Rao (NTR), Shivaji Ganesan and to Kamal Hassan for whom he sang for Hindi movies too, Rajinikanth and then to the super heroes of Bollywood, from Salman Khan to Shahrukh Khan.

 

Balasubrahmanyam achieved international fame by singing for the unforgettable Telugu movie Sankarabharanam in 1980, directed by K Vishwanath. Balu was never trained in classical music, particularly the Carnatic style; but yet, he made history by adapting his singing aesthetics to suit the character of a classical music protagonist in the movie. SPB won his first National Award as the best male playback singer in this movie. The very next year, that is 1981, he took the Hindi film industry, Bollywood, by storm: singing lilting numbers for Kamal Hassan in the superhit movie ‘Ek Duuje Ke Liye’, a remake of an original Telugu film, for which he got his second National Award as the best male playback singer in Hindi. And SPB became the most sought-after voice in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi language films with music directors ranging from the legendary Ilaiyaraaja, S Janaki, KV Mahadevan to AR Rahman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, RD Burman, Ram-Laxman, Anand-Milind and others.

 

In a career of over five decades SPB sang over 40,000 songs in 16 Indian languages. He had won 6 National Awards for his playback singing in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi; won 6 Filmfare awards for southern zone; he was conferred Padma Shri in 2001 and Padma Bhushan in 2011; he was honored with the ‘Indian Film Personality of the Year’ in 2016; and numerous other state awards from his four southern states. For an achiever of his stature the list of national awards seemed to be lesser in numbers which is largely due to the fact that the ‘national’ Hindi film industry or Bollywood enjoyed far greater reach, visibility, popularity and patronage across the nation, and therefore, many legendary greats of southern India had to remain content mostly with state recognition.  

 

SP Balasubrahmanyam is perhaps the only Indian playback singer to have enjoyed five-decade long fame without a plateau with fan following across India and the world irrespective of the language barriers. His greatness was in his delightfully melodious yet manly voice, his immense prowess of natural modulations, his intrinsic ability to play-act with the required emotions and his inborn talent to adapt his singing style as suits the characters/heroes of movies across five main and numerous other languages, like the legendary Mohammad Rafi did so naturally from the forties till his demise in 1980. Incidentally, Rafi had been his model singer and a real guru throughout his career, loving the Hindi film-song icon always. Perhaps, for this reason he thrived in Bollywood for much longer than other southern-region singers like Yesudas and Vani Jayram. Of course, he too did have hiatus of about 15 years from Bollywood, coming back only in 2013 to sing for Sharukh Khan in the superhit movie Chennai Express. However, the great artiste kept on singing-composing in southern languages till his last days.

 

We salute the great musician and mourn his tragic demise, with the whole nation as condolence messages have been pouring in from film personalities, politicians, leaders, stalwarts in all the professional fields and his millions of fans. Apart from his singing Balu has always been loved by all for his simplicity, his lovable interactions with the public, his communication through the media and his bright jovial nature.

And a Cricket Legend Goes: Dean Mervyn Jones Dies in Mumbai!

Dean Mervyn Jones, DM Jones as it appeared in the scorecards for Australia in the mid-eighties to early nineties for both Tests and one-day internationals (ODI), passed away suddenly in Mumbai today of a massive cardiac arrest. He was in the city for being a part of the broadcast team operating from Mumbai for the on-going new normal Indian Premier League 2020 in UAE. As per reports Dean took part in a discussion, and was then chatting with others in the hotel lobby when he suddenly collapsed, falling on the ground. He was taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. He was just 59 and was in very sound health. Well, in this gloomy COVID-19 times death no longer needs an excuse to strike. The death of Dean Jones is a great tragedy to befall world cricket, and a terrible shocker for all cricketers, commentators and lovers of the game.

 

We remember Dean Jones as the awe-inspiring No.3 Australian batsman when Australia had been a formidable opponent beating all teams of international cricket including India with ease, under the respective captaincy of Allan Border and Steve Smith. Dean was inducted in the Australian team in 1984 during its West Indies tour, and played 52 tests till 1992 when he was dropped under controversial circumstances. In his Test career DM Jones scored 3631 runs with 11 centuries and 14 half-centuries, his batting average at a terrific 46.55. He was equally successful in the ODI format scoring 6068 runs, 7 centuries, 46 half-centuries yielding a very healthy average of 44.61. He was one of the top batsmen of the world during his tenure as per the relevant ICC rankings. He was named the Cricketer of the Year in 1990 in acknowledgment of his towering performance in the successful Ashes Tour of 1989. He had also been a part of the victorious Australian side in the 1987 ICC Cricket World Cup held in India.

 

Among millions of cricket lovers across the world we also remember him specially for his performance in the historic third Test against India in Chennai (Madras then) in September 1986: under extremely humid conditions, Dean Mervyn Jones, suffering bouts of dehydration on the field, scored a definitive 210 runs in the Australian first innings of a massive 574 for 7 declared. That Test match went on to become only the third ever Tied Test in world cricket with India, set 348 runs to win on the fifth and final day, and the hosts getting all out for 347, scores level. Dean Jones played his last ODI against South Africa in 1994.  

 

After his rather controversial exits from both the Test and ODI formats Dean Jones continued to remain in limelight as a commentator in live cricket matches and tournaments, and as a livewire anchor in various television sports series. His special love for India brought him here very often, participating in various new cricket talent-hunt and humanitarian projects, and it is indeed tragic that he should breathe his last in the cricketing city of Mumbai. Dean Jones had always been spirited, dramatic, humorous and outspoken in his roles as commentators and anchors. His speaking-the-mind utterances often landed him in trouble, both during his playing and commentator tenures, leading to sackings from the team or breach of contracts.

 

A cricket legend goes for the heavenly abode; sad, shocking and untimely demise of a lively former cricketer, commentator, television anchor and cricket coach. He will always be remembered as the outstanding No.3 Australian batsman who came in after the fall of one of the legendary openers, Marsh and Boon, invariably and regaled his home fans and all other cricket lovers across the globe with aggressive attacking shots: fours and sixes in abundance. We mourn the death a cricket legend deeply.

 

At a personal level, I would like to mention another tragic loss of an outstanding physician, Dr. Ashwini Kumar Sarma, in a town in Assam on 18^th September 2020; not because he was my brother-in-law, but because of the striking similarities between the two tragedies. The doctor also succumbed to a sudden, massive and inexplicable cardiac arrest during his afternoon nap and it was all over in just five minutes. He was rushed to a nearby hospital and was declared dead on arrival, before anybody could even guess what happened. He was also 59, and in reasonably good health. Humans cannot understand the bizarre ways of Death, ever.

Why Navaratri and Durga Puja Delayed in 2020!

The 11-day Ganesh Festival, celebrated all over Maharashtra and other parts of the country, ushers in the festive season in India, it normally falls during August-September every year as per the calculations of the lunisolar Hindu Calendar. After the immersion on the 14^th day of the bright phase or the waxing moon phase or Shukla Paksha of the lunar month, full moon or Purnima occurs the next day, and the following fortnight of the darkening phase or the waning phase or Krishna Paksha is observed as Pitru Paksha when people pay homage to their ancestors and perform the main shradh or funeral rituals on the culminating day of the new moon or Amavasya, that is Mahalaya. Next day, the brightening phase of the moon starts again which is called Devi Paksha and during this divine fortnight of the Goddess awakening, Navaratri and Durga Puja are celebrated. Hymns of Goddess Durga resonate the air on the auspicious day of Mahalaya, and people of India, energized by the sweet tinge of the Autumn season, immerse themselves in worshiping their favorite Goddesses along with the festivities that effectively break all religious and other barriers. However, this year 2020, after Mahalaya on the 17^th of September, Navaratri is not going to start from the next day and Durga Puja not going to start six days later. You’ll have to wait exactly a month for Navaratri and 35 days for Durga Puja. Most of us already know this when both almanacs of the Hindu calendar agreed on this and announced the delay during Durga Puja celebrations last year, that is 2019.

The basic reason for this delay is the fact that the month of Ashwin that starts on September 17 happens to be mala maas or unholy month as two new moons (Amavasya) occur during the 30 days, the first Amavasya is the Mahalaya day on 17 September and the second one on 16^th October. As per the holy scriptures, a month is considered unholy if two new moons occur and all auspicious rituals except for funeral rites are avoided. This phenomenon repeats itself approximately every 32.5 months as a result of the intricate additions/omissions process of leap days and leap months in the Hindu calendar, and a mala maas can be applicable to any of the 12 months. On earlier occasions, Ashwin had been the unholy month in 1982 and in 2001. Therefore in 2020, the nine-day Navaratri festivities are going to start from October 17 and the Mahashasthi, the start of the five-day Durga Puja, would  be on the 22^nd October; both festivals falling in the month of Kartik. Vijay Dashami or Dussehrais to be observed on October 26. The rest of the Indian festival calendar will not be affected.

The Indian festive season began this year on a subdued and sober note due to the raging COVID-19 pandemic. The government of Maharashtra had appealed to all the devotees to avoid the usual festivities and the idols were set to not exceed four feet in height. The most visited and the famous Lalbaughchya Raja celebrations in Mumbai were cancelled well in advance with the organizers announcing medical camps instead during the days. Excellent arrangements were made on the immersion day with the state government providing artificial ponds and water tankers at every nook and corner of Mumbai and the state, most of the idols being eco-friendly. Indeed, idol makers bore the brunt of the scaled-down festivities.

The scale of festivities during the upcoming Navaratri and Durga Puja festivals is also caught in the agony of uncertainty with the pandemic surge refusing to cooperate. This is also yet to be seen if the mala maas delay would eventually help the organizers and the public participate in the festivities more freely and wholeheartedly. The idol makers continue to suffer though, with the usual flurry of activities and orders totally missing so far.

Goddess Durga is believed to be a demon-killer and a destroyer of all evil forces on earth. The mother-shakti forms of the Goddess descend on earth every year with this very objective and the mortals on earth intone and evoke the Devi’s wrath on the wrong-doers. People of India in 2020, caught up in the throes of one of the worst years in history, would hope fervently that the Goddess shower mercy on them and deliver them of the misery, sufferings and deaths. However, the people must also observe the sacred duties on their part as the challenging times demand. The wait goes on…