It is not just him; a pall of gloom has descended upon the Konetampettai village, his mother Shakuntala’s native village. But he played a forever disappointed father, who loses sleep over the uncertain future of his unruly son. He told Vasanth that if the movie fails, he has nothing to lose but the young director will be doomed even before he starts. Subscribe to Morning Filter & Evening Wrap newsletter, Watch | All about Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, ‘With SPB’s voice for company and comfort, peaceful solitude seemed overrated’, Farmers stage protest in Villupuram, arrested, ‘Paadum Nila’ S.P. Be it fun or love songs, for which his voice was deemed tailor-made, to sentimental, pathos-filled numbers, SPB could deliver them with an aplomb and panache that were to become his defining skills in playback singing. In Anbe Sangeetha (1979), as his voice rises with Chinna Pura Ondru it is redolent of his friend and senior KJ Yesudas. The song was a runaway hit, and the two ended the rivalry and went on to produce several hits, an actor said. The other highlight of this rhythmically rambunctious number is its catchy background harmony --- as it happens, SPB is also said to have given his voice to that also. In the romantic drama, which was directed by Shankar, SPB had played the role of an easy-going police constable and a warm and doting father, who gets his son drunk so that he can mend his son’s broken heart. Contrary to SPB’s concerns, the film became a huge hit successfully running for 285 days in Tamil Nadu theaters. They were built as rivals in the industry but they shared such respect, camaraderie and friendship off it. And then there was this famous incident involving singer S Janaki who singled out SPB as the best singer in a competition even though the winner's title was given to someone else. He had the range. And yet, there was no match for the might of his singing prowess. As after this film, he became a go-to actor to play the hero’s father. Do not type comments in all capital letters, or in all lower case letters, or using abbreviated text. He also knew that it was a divine gift. Please write complete sentences. Manoj Kumar RThe writer is a new media journalist with a keen interest in films, to... read more, Copyright © 2020 The Indian Express [P] Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Just YouTube SPB + Ilaiyaraaja, your playlist will keep you occupied for weeks together. We also reiterate here the promise that our team of reporters, copy editors, fact-checkers, designers, and photographers will deliver quality journalism that stays away from vested interest and political propaganda. He was one wholesome musical package. Ditto for the likes of Prabhu, Karthik and Ramarajan. In a sense, it is tempting to argue that SPB's singing ability could have been the muse for Raaja to come up with the mind-boggling tunes that he so prolifically provided us through the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. To enable wide dissemination of news that is in public interest, we have increased the number of articles that can be read free, and extended free trial periods. SPB delivers the song with a loveable insouciance and infectious pulsation. All Rights Reserved. New flavours and feelings were being infused by emerging talents in the Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam industries. And then there was ace Tamil director K Balachander, who stuck his neck out and insisted that music directors Laxmikant-Pyarelal take only SPB for singing in his (KB's) Hindi film Ek Duje Keliye.