SPB and VB – Underrated Special
Its Special, because today Im presenting you a tribute to the music directors who have woven wonderful compositions and in parallel are masters in thier own profession. One word that can used for these guys is ‘multitalented-genius’. This is rather a tough task as these guys hail from different genre, but would be easy for you to relate with and more if are cine music lover.
They are:
“SP Balasubramaiam and Vishal Bharadwaj”
You might say ‘WHAT’, are they both underrated???? I would say ‘Yes’ and thats because they are the best in what they do, but the parallels that they were involved with or have been doing is not recognized to the extent to which we as ardent film fanatics would have liked. And on the other hand, I am getting quite vulnerable in the context that would I be able to do justice to the ‘Underrated’ or not, because its quite a ‘argumentative’ scenario I would say. These guys or I would call them ’specialists’ that I am talking about could get into this scenario and spark of a dicussion which would be interesting. Chalo lets have a ‘Sprite’ and hit the right direction.
SPB – The one and only SP Balasubrmaniam – He needs no introduction. He is a singer, actor, producer, dubbing artist, can sing in all languages…a doctrate, padmasri and…The ‘Thespian’ also has composed wonderful songs in the past which have gone quite unnoticed. Many would’nt know if he were ever a composer. Yes, he was. He has given what his contemporaries did and the melodies he crafted still echo in our ears, the only difference being we would’nt know who the composer is. For instance most of us might have heard the song ‘Pibare rama rasam..’ from ‘Padamati Sandhya Ragam’ and this song is composed by SPB and the alap before the song is great. Infact, the complete film track is simply awesome. The time when the Ilayarajas, KVMahadevans were ruling the music stream, he came with some wonderful songs which enthralled and awed many. ‘Ee thurupu, a paschima…sangaminche e shubavela…’ song still gives me goose bumps each time I hear it, such a wonderful composition. Apart from being a prodigy in singing, composition also came like blood in vien for him.
He has composed music for movies like ‘Kanya Kumari(1977)’ to ‘Vivaha Bhojanambu(1989)’ spanning more than a decade. Working with directors like Bapu, Jandhyala and Dasari and combining with lyricists like Arudra, Veturi, Sirivennala Sita Rama Shastry, he has given some great songs. The song ‘Ee padam..’ from ‘Mayuri(1984)’ became a house hold song and was a super hit. One song I like a lot is ‘Jabili vachindi ma palleki..’ from ‘Chinnodu Peddodu’ and the in sync talk by Chandra Mohan, that was a quite an experiment. Some wonderful intriguing compositions from ‘Turupu velle railu’ like ‘emitidi emitidi…’ and ‘chuttu chengavi cheera’. And I love the song ‘Vivahale nasinchalii…’ from ‘Vivaha Bhojamanu’.
Two albums which stand out as classics are ‘Padamati Sandhya Ragam’ and ‘Mayuri’ for the whole texture and subject based music. And also for the experimental music early in his career in ‘Turupu velle railu’. One achievement which went unnoticed was that he also won the State Award ‘Best Music Director’ for his work in ‘Mayuri’ in 1984/85. The more we look into his work the more we get to see the gems. This is a short yet informative post on him, but his compositions speak of more and I would suggest that we listen to his works. Credits to ‘chimatamusic.com’(Special for Telugu Songs) which has range of songs composed by him. Login and then shoooot!!
Now coming to the other genius, having carved a niche for himself as a director par excellene and a director who is contemporary and his work speaks of the modern Indian cinema and the inclination it has got towards quality and the value it wishes to add to the World Cinema. Trust me, he has been as composer for almost decade and a half composing various jingles ad music, tele music(Jungle Book) before getting a break in the Hindi cinema mainstream. Most of you must be knowing that he is a composer, but lately his compositions have got unnoticed and his gems have been forgotten. Between the thick cloud of contemporaries and the competition his compositions stood like lighting, taking apart the competition, and yes unfortunately his compositions couldnt gather benefits which is normally expected of songs from a grosser. What I am talking about? Albums like ‘Maachis’, ‘Satya’, ‘Love Ke Liye Kuch Bhi Karega’, ‘Hu Tu Tu’, ‘Paanch’, ‘Omkara’, ‘Nishabh’, ‘U, Me aur Hum’…and the compositions in it.
In a normal case a composer of films like “Maachis’ or “Satya” would have garnered more accliam and attention currently, sadly a decade back that was not the case and I am sure he has had his share of struggle, but fortunatlely Gulzar saab liking and appreciating his work would have been a morale booster for him. And not to forget RGV having him as the composer of many of his projects. His works included classic songs like ‘Pani Pani re..’ and also bangda type ‘Sapno me milthi hain…’ which was cheered by everyone, and I remember a New Year party night in 1998 playing ‘Sapno milthi hain..’ and ‘Kallu mama..’ nonstop for hours, we all danced on these songs. One of my favourites is ‘Naino ki mat maniyo…Naino ki mat suniyo’ from Omkara, WOW! A great composition. I just heard it and each time I hear it I get goose bumps….Im hearing it again…and again…and again…Its just like trans. There are many other songs of his which would make you feel that way, another song is from Nishabd…a very underrated song….sung by one and only Big B…..’Rozzanaaa….’, simple superb! You dint hear to it yet???? Just listen and get into the groove. The greatest thing about VB is his simplicity in fusioning Hindustani classical into Western tempo and make it sound very ‘rurally’ Indian….which we like!!!
Hats off to both the music directors!!
This is my first post as an Author of the Elite club. Thanks once again!!!
Tags: SPB, sridhar mayur, underrated special, vb
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Welcome Sridhar…
SPB as a music director…maybe underrated..I have not heard much of him…
But Vishal Bhardwaj..being termed the same..I donot agree…its a wrong statement…
and you left out most of his great pieces
Makdee – Din Dhalta hai Mai..(Exceptional composition superbly sung by Upagna Pandya)
Maqbool – Tu meri rubaroo hain…(Daler Mehndi..Qawwali..magical)
Maachis – Chappa Chappa..( Hariharan and Wadkar..folk)
Sridhar-welcome aboard.
Yes very few people know that SPB has been a composer too & from that angle its right to say that he is underrated as a composer.
But again I will certainly not agree in respect of V.B.I think he has been very well appreciated and respected in this respect.Its just VB prefers to focus on his filmmaing more than music composition, but he will continue to do compose too.
Well my previous comment should read like this-
” I think he has been well appreciated and respected for this aspect.Its just that VB prefers to focus on his filmmaking more than music composition these days,but he will continue to compose too”
sorry for the typo error.
vishal bhardwaj is music director of “Paanch” also…composer of india’s first rock type song (main khuda)…
really he is genius…
Gr8 post dude! I haven’t heard much of SPB except the classic “Sach Mere Yaar Hai”, would hear it soon:)
@ RamV – I would term myself as a great fan of VB. What I mentioned are my favourites, its not that I missed something. Thats the beauty of having a discussion….I could have very well put all his compositions…..just copy and paste…I do that in all my posts dude. So, you really think he has got the credit and recognition for his compositions, speak to your colleagues, friends, fiancee..etc and find out…and I mean they should be aware of the composer VB and his songs…NOT just his songs. Thats the important point. Thats my point of view, I would respect yours too. Thank you.
@Sethu – Thanks mate. VB’s earlier compositions have just vanished and forgotten! Remember ‘Badalon Se..Bandh Bandh ke..’ and ‘Chod aye hum…woh galiyaan..’. People may remember the song, but have forgotten the composer.
@Uddhav Parab – Thank you. “Sach Mere Yaar Hai” is a great song composed by RDB.
No one remains underrated for long time. They get what they deserve.
Thanks Vishal, thats some saying. Those are real words of encouragement for the Underrated. I mean it.
Oye filmi! Filmi Oye! Welcome to the madness. Keep writing. Great post. Though I would have appreciated much more dope on VB!
Thanks Magik, thank uuuuuuuuuuu……
Haan aur thoda liktha tho mazaa atha lekin I felt somewhere that I may prolong it….
You gotta be kidding me. SPB is a living legend in Tamil movie industry. He is the Lata Mangeshkar, the Kishore Kumar, the Rafi or Tamil cinema. Underrated? No way. (May be in Bollywood, but then he never intended to make Bollywood his forte.)
Vishal Bhardwaj – as a music director, I agree, he can be considered as under-rated. But as a director, he is considered one of the best in India today.
SPB has composed music for some superhit Thamizh songs for the following films
1. Thudikkum Karangal (*ing Rajinikanth, directed by Shridhar)
2. Sigaram (Directed by ananthu and * ing himself in the lead role – awesome Vannam konda vennilave)
3. Recently he scored for his production ‘Unnai charan adaindhaen *ing SP charan and Venkat Prabhu)
He is the guy with midas touch – turns everything into gold – he only has to either sing or tune it.
He has dubbed the voice of Anil Kapoor in Thamizh SDM.
Vishal Bhardwaj is not underrated as far as PFC is considered..There have been many articles abt VB as a director as well as MD..Jahan Tum Le chalo was a great album from him..Chup Ke se had some great songs..I didn’t like U Me or Hum songs though..
Vishal Bhardwaj is truly under-rated as a composer. He is perhaps the only original composer to have emerged in the last two decades. I have worked extensively with him and he brings a deep understanding of cinema (much before he turned director), poetry and melody to the table.
Another lesser known fact about Vishal is that he was the original choice for SLB’s DEVDAS and Vinod Chopra’s Mission Kashmir. Vishal spent months preparing tunes for both these films but destiny had larger designs for him. If these films had materialized for him maybe we would have missed out his immense talent as a writer-director! There are so many compositions that Vishal created in his days of struggle which have yet to see light of day. I hope they get released for the sake of music lovers who have these silly melodies thrust down their throats in the name of music! Vishal’s ‘Tum Mere ho’ from a forgettable film called Betaabi still remains a great melody. Then a film called Shyam-Ghanshyam had a couple of brilliant melodies. The final released versions of these songs however were tampered versions with ‘inputs’ from his producers. We abuse our talent and then complain of them being under-rated. Phew!
@Vishal – Hey! Im talking about the Music Director SPB, not the singer. Please read my post again. I am not complaining that you have’nt read, but just give it thorough look and the compositions that I’ve mentioned. You’ve compared him with Lata Mangeshkar, Kishore Kumar, Rafi agreed he is in the same league, but at a time when we saw gems of Ilayaraja and KVMahadevan, he also gave us great songs. He is underrated as a composer. Its not a statement that I am making to argue, its to make people recognize the good work that has not been noticed.
@VP – Wow! That was some dope on SPB’s compositions. Thanks mate.
@sharath – Thanks for agreeing that VB is underrated. My article is not just to procliam that I am writing to impress someone in PFC, arictles may be written on him, but nothing wrong in writing good stuff on him again and make more and more people recognize what he’s done as a MD. Do you think thats wrong?
@Hansal – Thanks for the ‘extra’ input on VB and his works. Hope to see the works of VB in future and I hope he himself would use them in his movies. Its great that you worked with him. Craving for the music of ‘Kaminey’. As you intially stated he is under-rated as a composer. I am a Big fan and believe in the ‘genius’ of his works, it could be composing or film direction. Waiting for your next too.
@Sridhar
VB as a MD is definitely underrated among public.When I visited PFC I thought that might be the case here also,but I was surprised by the love for VBs music here.Next to ARR,VB might be having most fanatic fans here.I was only stating that.Guys here not only track VBs music but also talented Rekha Bharadwaj and his albums like Jahan Tum Le chalo
http://passionforcinema.com/sorry-vishal-but-i-love-rekha-bharadwaj/