Was the singer Ramakrishna really suppressed??

[schimata2]

Hi all,

I am not asking this question just because I am an ardent fan of SP Balu.

Thanks to the Thanksgiving holidays and I am liesurely enjoying browsing some good videos in youtube today.

I happened to run in to this video, An openheart discussion with Ramakrishna by RK.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bxh5zUNEqvw

First let me clarify that it was a great interview and I felt really sorry for Ramakrishna gaaru. I admire his down-to-earth attitude and at many instanaces, he praised Balu too.

I have an immense amount of respect for Ramakrishna gaaru and I can certainly empathise his frustration and agony. But being a Balu's veerAbhimAni, I can not sit quietly after watching this video.

His claims:
1. He sang 5000 songs in Telugu films.

I strongly refute this statement. Balu, who sang day and night for nearly 25 years, could sing only around 11, 000 songs in Telugu and in total, his count of all film songs is only 36, 000.

Ramakrishna's career started in 72 and it culminated for 4, 5 years since then and then rapidly started withering down after Alu magalu (1977) movie. Even if you assume he sang in every movie in these 5 years (100 movies a year, each with 5 songs --> the total is just 2500). Then how come he sang 5000 songs!!! I never heard he was roaringly popular (like Balu) in Tamil or Kannada either. At the most, he might have sung a hundred or two in those two languages.

It is my first humble question to either Ramakrishna gaaru or Ramakrishna gaari fans as to how he was able to sing 5000 film songs so far!!

2. All top four stars (NTR, ANR, Sobhan Babu and Krisham Raju) liked his voice immensely
I want to go one by one -
a) NTR: Balu sang a small padhyam for NTR in Ekaveera (1969), when Balu was just 23 years and then a full fledged song in kODalu diddina kApuam (1970). Needless to say, NTR would accept only Ghantasala and no one else. Secondly, I never heard his strong penchant for Ramakrishna during the ealy/mid 70's. It is true that he preferred Ramakrishna over Balu for Sree Krishna padhyams in DVS Karna (1977) and then Brahmam gaari charitra (1984).. Brahmam gaari charitra movie could be just a favor and nothing more than that. Until Ghantasala's death (1974), NTR's sole choice was Ghantasala. After eduru lEni manishi (1975), there was no need for NTR to replace the newly found Balu' thick voice that perfectly suited his body language. There is no proof that NTR ever went after Ramakrishna.

b) ANR: He is the only star that strongly preferred Ramakrishna from starting from vichitra bandham (1972) until dEvadAsu maLLee puTTADu (1978). Just listen to three songs (erakka pOyi, telusukO ee jeevita satyam, chigurEsE) in Alu magalu and it clearly explains as to why ANR had to accept Balu. ANR recently acknowledged that Balu is a jaggarnaut and even Ghantasala could not match him as a singer in certain departments.

c) Sobhan Babu: I aways wonder how come Sobhan Babu forgot wonderful melodies such as aNuvaNuvunA, ennALLo vEchina udayam etc that were sung by Balu for him. Secondly, Balu started off his career with ahO Emi ee vinta mOham charaNam for Sobhan Babu only. Balu once quoted that it was VB Rajendra Prasad who felt that Balu should be singing for Sobhan Babu, when Sobhan Babu and his fans also were used to Ramakrishna's voice. After "andarU dongalE" (which was directed by VBRP), he must have felt that Balu coud be a better choice for his next "manchi manushulu" movie. And his guess was 100% correct and Sobhan Babu, unlike ANR, started accepting Balu for the immediate movies such as balipeeTham, bAbu, jEbu donga etc.. Balu, in one of his late 70's film magazine interviews, opinied that though people felt that his voice exactly matched for Krishna, his personal feeling was that his voice was a bit closer to Sobhan Bau's modulation than for Krishna's.

d) Krishnam Raju:
Well, until kaTakaTAla rudrayya (1978) movie happened to him, he was never a big star, though he was a dependable hero with hits such as bhakta kannappa and amara deepam and crossed his league of heroes such as Ramakrishna, Ranganadh, and Murali Mohan and secured his slot as a fifth star in the row (after the top four). He did occasionally encourage Ramakrishna in his mid 70's movies starting from kRshNavEni for the next 4, 5 years. But he never categorically preferred RK over Balu at any point (unlike ANR and Sobhan Babu).

So, from these four points, it is clear that except ANR, no one else truly stuck to Ramakrishna for a longer period. Once Balu was proven far better, they all simply left him in the lurch and went with the public demand.. SP Balu.


3. Only his share of songs were hit in certain movies..
Ramakrishna gaaru said he approached a few music directors 10 years ago for some songs and he quoted "mA iddari katha" movie. But it was released almost 33 year ago!! I agree that only song was hit in that movie.. but it was because of the tune IMHO. In fact, the song was just made for Balu, but to Ramakrishna's luck, it ended up in his lap, as Ramakrishna sang for the elder brother and Balu for younger brother in that movie (NTR's dual roles). Every time I listen to this song http://www.chimatamusic.com/telugu_songs/Search-Telugu-Movie-Songs.php?st=li+ga+vundi&sa=Modify+Search%21, I feel that Balu should have sung this song!!


Coming to the "Film Industry Politics"..

Ramakrishna gaaru has spoken of the film politics that were responsible for his downfall. But has he ever thought about the below points?

1. First Ramakrishna gaaru got an awesome head-start with an enviable recommendation from ANR. Bapu/Ramana were keen on giving Balu an opportunity in andAla rAmuDu, but they had to reluctantly accommodate Ramakrishna at the insistence of ANR.. imagine how Balu must have felt traumatized!! Did Ramakrishna ever hitherto mention this point in any of his interviews?

2. Sobhan Bau was so adamant that he strongly declined Balu's voice in idAlOkam (1973) movie albeit of the desperate pleads from the music Director, Chakravarthi. Chakravarthi even tried to convince SB that Balu would sing for only one role (either father or son role, both played by SB), but in vain. Finally Balu had to adjust with two songs for Chandra Mohan and one song for Allu in that movie. Does this point not amount to "Politics"???

I have no hard feeling against Ramakrishna gaaru.. It is certainly sad to hear that music directors such as Chakravarthi, Sathyam etc insulted Ramakrishna with an immense amount of affection on Balu.

The bottom line of my point: Balu, as a person, can not be responsible for the dead-end of the career of other prominent singers (Ramakrishna, G Anand etc), but Balu's talent certainly was and you all agree that having that kind of talent is not Balu's fault.

[nyshadham]

excellent. chala bagaa cheppaaru.

[hanuman]

I just finished listening to the interview.
1. 5,000 is definitely an exaggeration but he might have included several remixes and other versions of the same song. Still they won't add up to 5,000 but he can probably be forgiven for that.

2. He clearly said that NTR promised to use him for all *mythological* movies and not for all movies in general, which was true.

3. It was a factual error (30 years vs 10 years) but in the flow of conversation that doesn't sound outrageous.

I don't think he implied even indirectly that Balu was responsible for his downfall but he did single out Chakravarthy.

In my opinion here are the factors that lead to his downfall.

1. He shot to fame very quickly, rather too quickly for his own good. He tasted success very fast and he did not learn the subtle aspects of social dynamics (a point he himself admitted indirectly).

2. Balu, apart from his immense talent, also has great interpersonal skills. His gradual rise to stardom and also his initial days of struggle helped him polish these skills further.

3. Compared to Tamil industry, Telugu industry in those days never encouraged multiple singers to flourish at the same time. Even though Balu had lion's share of songs, Tamil film industry still had a significant share for Yesudas, and some reasonable share for others like Malaysia Vasudevan and Jayachandran. Telugu producers could have given 80% share to Balu and give some 10% to Ramakrishna and 10% for others like G. Anand but unfortunately it did not happen.

[agent116]

Srini!! 5000 songs ante....private bhakti albums + kutumba niyantrana songs + anTanaani vaadevadante maa venta raani vaade ..type songs..anni kalipi anukuntaa..
interview lo ..oka chota...grahaala influence..oka samvatsaram ..two years vunntundi gaani...deenamma kadupu maada..jeevithaantham vuntundi enti anDi ..kharma..annappudu..paapam.. jaali vesindi..

nenu anukotam..chakravathi ..ramakrishna ni..chance lu ivvakunda...debba kottadame kaakundaa..chance lu icchi koodaa..debba kottaadu..
for example...babu movie lo...oka janta kalisina tharunaana...song lo...poraa po..pothe po..naasanam ayi po...laanti gambheeramaina words
vunna bit ni..ramakrishna ki icchi..screw chesaadu..song ni..ramakrishna ni..

Ramakrishna ki ..NTR konchem lift icchinattu kanipistundi..
vemulavaada bhimakavi lo...NTR ki paadina..anukuntunnaanu..nenoo anukuntunnaanu.. song baane vuntundi..
Non-NTR movies lo..yuvataram kadilindi lo..koodaa oka manchi song paDindi ramakrishna ki..aasayaala pandiri lo...

SPB havaa nadiche time lo..Katta subbarao okkade .. konchem dhairyam chesi..aayana movies lo..oka kotta singer tho paadinchaadu.

alludugaru zindabad - sannajaaji kottindi amma naayano (ee song monna youtube lo choosaa..sobhanbabu drink chestu..mOkaaLLa varaku shoes vesukuni..jaimaalni tho paadathaadu..mass song)

konte mogudu penki pellam - jojo muddula pellaama


Ramakrishna career gearup avvadam lo..susila factor vundi vundaali...
aavida ..dukkipati madhusudhana rao + Mahadevan ni.. influence chesi..vichitra bandham lo..chance ippinchi vundavacchu..

[Lindsijutty]

I know this may seem like some Albanian propaganda, but no Im being honest here, many historians claim that he was of some Illyrian origin due to his mother Olympias being of Epirotan-Illyrian origin. What are your thoughts?

-ErenTheAlbanian

[AndressoureMM]

I didnt listen as there wouldnt be much to please...did the RV tunes feature Lemmy, since he wasnt an original member?