No , I am not talking about Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) but the famous film play back singer P.B. Srinivas.I love his honey laced voice. I think it’s PBS voice which gave the (in)famous tamil actor Gemini Ganesan his title “ Kadal Mannan” (Romance King).
If you walk past my house everyday , you’ll most probably hear his music playing in the CD. If I am not at home you might bump into Meat loaf, Nazareth, or soft rock hits from 1960 -99 era. But we both like P. B. Srinivas . Thank god I fell in love with a guy who speaks the same language.
After my formal engagement ceremony in ’96 , we started going out to restaurant once or twice week for dinner after work . CB used to pick me up from my office in Numgambakkam High Road, Chennai. We frequented Woodlands Drive-In restaurant in Chennai due to proximity to my office and for their delicious “Channa Bathura”. I had the first taste of channa bathura at Woodland’s restaurant. We always sat next to the table where P. B. Srinivas used to sit. He was a regular visitor and we saw him every single time . He was always busy writing or reading so never thought of approaching him. I missed a golden opportunity to talk in person with my favorite singer. I never had big urge (fanfare) with my favorite singers at that time but now I do. Either my life in US or becoming a mom brought that change. If I ever see him now , I would run to him like a crazy teenager wanting to get his autograph.
His voice captivates every generation in my family right from my grandmother, my mom and her sisters and brothers ,my sister and her daughter and me and NR. I was pleasantly surprised to hear my five years old niece singing P. B. Srinivas hits when I visited her in 1999 from US. They moved from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu just a few months back before my visit. So, my niece had no chance of hearing old tamil songs in the radio. Within few months she learnt the lyrics just by listening to his songs in TV and would sing along with us.
Though we used to hear lot of tamil and hindi songs from Radio I wasn’t familiar with every play back singer’s name or the movie exception being some hindi songs . My mom used to tell us the name of the singer so I got familiar with Mukesh, Dilip kumar and other hindi singers.
My first introduction to P.B. Srinivas came during my middle school year. On one of those years the district N.S.S officer was the Chief Guest for our school annual day. After his speech he sang his favorite song which is P.B.Srinivas memorable melody “Chinna Chinna Kannanukku”. There was pin drop silence from the audience Even the Kindergartener’s were mesmerized by his voice. And suddenly we heard female voice sobbing and crying uncontrollably. It was my sixth grade history teacher Leema . Later that day, I learnt she lost her infant (baby boy) to tetanus just a month back and could not bear hearing him sing that song.
The incident that happened at the school day function made me listen to lot of P.B. Srinivas songs . I became a hard-core fan of him. His voice gave life to Kannadasan’s lyrics and he made each song a memorable one.
Here are few of my favourite songs by P.B.Srinivas
1. Chinna chinna Kannakukku
2. Kaatru Veliyidal Kannamma (Bharathiar song)- Kappallotiya Tamizhan
4. Ninapaithalam nadanthuvitall
5. Oruthi oruvanai ninaithuvittal
6. En Aruey nee
7. Thennankeetru Oonjalile
8. Intha mandrathil odivarum
9. Mouname Parvai oru pattu pada vendum
10. Nilavey ennidam Nerungathey (not able to find any link for this song)
P.S: While searching the songs for this pr, I saw the actual film videos for couple of song fo the first time. OMG. It's good thing I heard his voice on radio first than seeing the movies : ).
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