Suswarala Janaki paataki 50 yellu!

[Surya]

యస్ జానకి సరిగ్గా యాభై సంవత్సరాల క్రిందట ఇదే రోజున తన మొదటి సినిమా పాటని, ఒక తమిళ చిత్రం‌లో పాడిందట.

ఈ స్వర్ణోత్సవ వేళ, నాలాంటి అభిమానులెందరికో ఇన్ని వసంతాలు అమృతాన్ని అందించిన ఆ వైవిద్యభరితమైన మధుర గానానికి ఇవే నా హృదయపూర్వక నమఃసుమాంజలిలు!

ఈ సందర్బముగా నాకు నచ్చిన కొన్ని జానకి పాటలు గుర్తుకు చేసుకుంటున్నాను:

నీలి మేఘాలలో... బావామరదళ్ళు

పగలే వెన్నెల...పూజాఫలం

నవరా ఓ కురువరా...నర్తనశాల

కొండలన్నీ తిరిగేను...వసంతసేన

ఓరబ్బీ చెబుతాను...ఖైదీ బాబాయ్

ఏ దివిలో విరిసిన పారిజాతమో...కన్నెవయసు

సిరిమల్లె పూవల్లె నవ్వు...జ్యోతి

నీకేల ఇంత నిరాశ...ఆరాధన

మౌనమేలనోయి ఈ మరపురాని రేయి...సాగరసంగమం

నీ కౌగిలిలో తలదాచి...కార్తీకదీపం

పరువమా చిలిపి పరుగు తీయకు...మౌనగీతం

ఎన్నెల్లొ గోదారి అందం...సితార


ఇంకా ఎన్నో ఎన్నెన్నో...

[NANDAKISHOR K]

సూర్య గారు,

మీరు మిస్ చేసిన పాటలు ఎందుకంటె నా దృష్టిలొ జానకి అంటే ఈ క్రింది పాటలు

1. నీ లీల పాడెద దేవ -- మురిపించె మువ్వలు

2. గున్న మామిడి కొమ్మ - బాల మిత్రుల కథ

3. పువ్వులు పూయును పదివేలు - గురువును మించిన శిష్యుడు

4. ఒహొ ఒహొ పావురమా మంచి మనసులు

5. కళ్ళలొ ఉన్నదేదొ అంతులేని కథ

మీరేమంటారు ????

[NANDAKISHOR K]

surya,

Nenu susheelaradhakunni, kaakapothe jaanaki ante agauravam emi ledhu. Just the way lata fans feel about Asha.

Of the umpteen songs sung together by susheela and janaki I always think susheela sounds better. But in this particular song jaanaki was equally impressive and that is from kanchukota -- Sarileru neekevvaru narapala sudhakara sariraru neekevvaru.

Kishor

[schimata2]

Surya, Kishor..

Both are equally talented and god-sent gifts to us. Definitely Suseela had an obvious upper hand in 50s, 60s & 70s. But Janaki caught up to the speed in 80s (and even surpassed Suseela), thanks to Ilaya Raja's constant encouragement.

When Telugu people were under Suseela's trance for three continuous decades (50, 60 and 70s), Janaki did not give up her hopes.. instead she shined in Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Oriya industries. After the mid-70's, other hand Suseela seemed to have stuck to Telugu industry mostly it seems. Correct me if I am wrong. So I would say Janaki may be the most popular South Indian singer, while Suseela is the most popular Telugu singer.

Even my first choice is Suseela gAru.. but again I would say.. there should not be any comparison between them and both are just equally great.

Srini

[NANDAKISHOR K]

hi srini

I still would like to give my view about it. Janaki is the most popular singer in south india only after 1974+. Till then Susheela was the sole empress in Tamil(her pronounciation of tamil is considered to be the best even better than tamil native singer), to a great extent in Malayalam(though leela was potential competetor to her in malayalam as well as telugu in early 50s and Jikki potential competitor in Telugu in late 50s as well as early 60s.

My personal opinion is that God created only 5 female singers(Sajjad said only two singers- in his words - " pata nahin kyon khuda noorjahan aur lata ko duniya mein bhejhke phir kisiko paida nahin kiya) of which three come in one category and the other two in a lightly low category.

Lata, Noorjehan and Susheela come under the first category. Many southindians feel that susheela is a little bit better than these two because she could sing all the indian languages with ease including Malayalam whereas lata couldnt do that much justice while singing south indian language songs.

Suraiya and Bhanumathi come in the next category. These two were very highly talented, had a very different voice culture(gaathra dharmam), both were highly unimitable(there are no clones for these two), both were eccentric.

leela, Jikki, Asha, Geetadutt although all these were great singers but they had their limitations.

Excuse me I have deliberately left Chitra, Anuradha paudwal, Alkayagnik, Vanijairam because they come under rest of india category.

There were some more singers who were only a few film wonders like Hemlata, Sudha malhotra, S varalakshmi(have you ever listened to her song Mirajalagalada naa yaanathi- Sri krishna tulabharam- far far better than susheela(I swear)'s version), G varalakshmi, Khurshid, etc.

Kishor

[hanuman]

Kishor, I suppose your omission of Janaki from your list of singers was a mere accident . Any way, the way I feel about this ranking is that -- after certain extent, any established singer (which includes all singers in your list) has her/his own uniqueness and charm and who you like most/least becomes a matter of personal preferrence.

For example, you ranked Bhanumathi very high which I personally agree with but I know of several friends and relatives who just can't stand her voice!

As another example, I never liked T.M. Soundarrajan's voice in the earlier part of my life and I used to have arguments (friendly of course) with my Tamil classmates/friends about that. Later, however, I started appreciating his voice and I realized how great a singer he was.

[NANDAKISHOR K]

hanuman,

You noticed correctly. Omission of Janaki was an accident, I wanted to put her in the likes of Asha, Geetadutt and co.

No certainly I didnt rank these singers based just on the popularity or other things.

Susheela - I rate her as the best because of all the singers including Lata and Noorjehan or for that matter any other, she is the only one who sang Devotional songs and padyams with equal ease and aplomb. Listen to lata singing Jayadeva ashtapadi and that with of Susheela. (Being an orthodox person I prefer that singing Devotional song is the most difficult thing and this is where Ghantasala is scores scores, miles miles sorry light years ahead of others). Listening to Padyams of Bhakta prahlada(Evvani che jagam, indugaladani ) Chenchu lakshmi(paala kadali pai) etc or Samskrutha padalunna songs kaani Susheela gave that immortal touch.
Listening to Bhagavadgeeta recital by Lata I feel that susheela in many films rendered the slokas in the title cards was far more better.

Reg Bhanumathi - Same is the Case. Even core Carnatic musicians were wondering how a cine singer can sing Thyagaraya kirtanas so well. Nerella venumadhav himself accepted that Bhanumathi"s voice is the most difficult voice to imitate. Many people are averse to Bhanumathi because of her highly egotistic personality and her overacting, but her voice has swayed people in the late forties.

Reg your observation on the TM sounderrajan , YES I TOO ACCEPT IT. I used to hate Mukesh songs and used to tell my friends that he is "Ek sur kaa badshah and he sings all the songs in same mood(eg mana krishna meeda oka joke undi kadha, aayana Raadha nenu ninnu premisthunnanu and Raadha maa amma chanipoyindi ane rendu dialogues emathram expression gani voice gaani theda raakunda cheptadu eni). But gradually after listening to his songs I became such a fan of Mukesh that I have collected almost 500 songs of the total 840 songs he sang. But if you give mukesh the ranking among his contemporaries he was the weakest(Also confirmed by the Great Mannadey himself in a conversation with me).

kishor

[SURENDRA VEMARAJU]

Dear All,
It's feast to our eyes seeing the praises of all Old Era Singers ( Ms.Bhanumathi/Susheela/Janaki) this is my nostalgic statement Iam forced to make as all the mentioned singers are made redundant by the new wave of Youth Music. I still remember Ms.Susheela coming out in one of the interviews on why she is our of singing dias. She replied that although she is ready to sing there are no Organizers who have called her and she feels little hurt on that issue but accepts the change.WHAT ARE WE LISTNERS UP TO I DO NOT UNDERSTAND.WHY WE HAVE TO BURY ETERNAL QUALITY UNDER FOR NEW WAVES WHICH EBB WITH TIME .

However we have TWO SHINING STARS IN OUR SOUTH INDIAN MUSIC SUSHEELA & JANAKI and it is undisputed that anybody can surpass them as the golden era has passed off like Hailey,s comet that shall return back after Generations to come. We are a bit lucky to have seen these comets in their twilight and pity the new generation who have not visualized the charming light of music.

Susheela and Janaki are two DANCUESE OF TELUGU MUSIC OF SWAGATHAM POSTER OFTEN DISPLAYED IN VARIOUS HOMES (if any body can remember)
The above lashes are my outburst which shall subside back and raise again for reasons not known, why cannot these stars be back to Earth and the polluted world be cleansed with ANGEL SINGERS ; SUSHEELA/LATA/JAANAKI

THANKS
SURENDRA

[schimata2]

Well said.. Suren

Srini

[NANDAKISHOR K]

hi srini,

As far as my knowledge goes after PelliPustakam Susheela stopped singing first due her irrepairable loss of her husbands demise(I was told that he was the guiding and inspiring source to susheela). But after a long gap some where in late nineties she had sung two songs, one for a r rahman in Padmavyuham(suhasini) and another inMadhyataragati Mahabharatam(dasari).

It was so refreshing to me at that time when I heard susheela after a long time but I missed the cassette of Madhyataragati mahabharatam. can you somehow find it and upload.

Kishor

[jmk]

** she had sung two songs one for a r rahman in Padmavyuham(suhasini) **

do you mean revathi..??

[NANDAKISHOR K]

hi,

I dont remember exactly who the heroine is in that film, but I know that the heros name is some suresh???. It had a very beautiful story that a criminal of srilanka coming to india with a plastic surgery and joining indian army and the song goes something like this

Kanulaku choopandam, kavithaku ooha andam

May be the heroine is revathi. I read somewhere that the hero is husband of some actress(maybe revathi only)

Kishor

[jmk]

yes..its very good song indeed..
its revathy, and suresh menon her husband only. they both got married in 1988 and later seperated in 2002.

coming to this movie, its very interesting story..directed by suresh menon only i think..in telugu its 'padma vyuham' dubbed from tamil 'pudiya mugam' (new face).

thanks,
jmk.

[dsri1]

Bad luck is that she didnot sing for Shankarabarnam and Ilayaraja dominated 80's and 90's which she didnot sing much.

Which layed path for Janaki.

[vinayzmusic]

Jankai amma has to be rated among the best Singers in the world in my opinion...
She sang some of the best tunes ever made and some of the toughest compositions....Actually her output in Kannada ,Malayalm and Tamil is much more compared to Telugu.She made wonders there.
Ofcourse in telugu also she created magic with songs like Sirimalle Poova,manasa thullipadake ,Sannajaji padaka ,Mounamelanoyi which are some of the finest melodies of telugu Film Music....

With Highest respect to Suseela garu, I think Lataji can never be descrimitaed thinking that her output was not there in other languges than Hindi..She has Given Wonderful melodies in other North Indian Languages Bengali,Marathi as Susselagaru and Janaki garu did in Other South Indian languages.her Bengali Melodies under the baton of Salil Chowdary etc..ar considered as best Bengali songs ever produced.Similarly Her Marathi career was also very fruitful.

I am a strict Devotee of Lataji and Janaki garu with Great respect to all singers .Inmy opinion Melody is synonymous to lataji and In terms of Variety and Versatility anyone is second to Janaki amma....

I wish janaki amma a very succesful and happy Life...