5th August 1927 – 8th March 1974
Once the playback trend started in our films, there were very few actors who could sing. Among this category was a comedian who was even considered as the first singer from South to do yodelling. His ascent in the film industry was phenomenal and sadly the downfall was so tragic. Some extremely talented artists get into the film production business that results in a financial collapse for them and in few other cases , due to their eccentric behaviour , they antagonise their colleagues , thereby affecting their career. The artist that I am going to write about in this blog did both these mistakes and so one can imagine what a mercurial artist he was.
J P Chandrababu ( born Joseph Panimayadas Rodriguez-no one exactly knows how the name Chandrababu stuck to him!) was a tragic case of being immensely talented as a comedian and singer , going on to command a fee that equalled the top heroes of his days, but ultimately passing away at the age of 47 , penniless.
Born on 5th August 1927 to a wealthy Christian family in Thoothukidi ( Tuticorin) , he later moved to Sri Lanka as his father, J.P. Rodriguez who was a freedom fighter, got exiled after getting arrested for participating in the Satyagraha movement for India’s independence. Chandrababu was educated at St Joseph’s college and Aquinas College in Colombo . It was during his stay at Colombo that he got interested in western music as well as the ‘ Baila’ style of Sri Lankan music and he also had an in-born singing skill. He was also very much attracted towards acting and dancing.
After the family shifted back to Chennai ( Madras) in 1943 , he started looking for chances in films although his family was opposed to that. After few years, in 1947 he got his first chance to do a small role for the film Dhana Amaravathi and he even sang his first song in that film. Composed by K V Mahadevan , the song was Un azhagirku Inai Ennathai Solvathu , the link for which I am embedding here.
There are many anecdotes about him but I would not like to focus much on them as the purpose of my blog is to write about music only. He somehow got to act in a small role in a S S Vasan film , who was one of the leading film makers at that time. Slowly his fame spread and he started a career in acting and singing, with comedy being his forte. It is said that he commanded a fee of Rs one lakh at his peak , which was even higher than what some of the heroes of his time were getting.
Again , there are many stories about his erratic behaviour of antagonizing his directors, colleagues etc that led to a decline in his career. I would not like to dwell much into those as these are available in the Internet. There was no doubt about his immense talent in singing , dancing and acting and whatever he did remains memorable to this day. Some of his songs are as iconic as that of the legendary singers like TMS, PBS , Seerkazhi etc. For example, whenever something inexplicable happens, his song Unnume Puriyale Ulagithile comes to our mind. Same is the case of “Buddhiyulle Manitharellam Vetri Kanbathillai”-a song that has become an anthem to explain how some undeserving people rise to the top whereas those who are immensely talented, languish in life .
Unfortunately , for Chandrababu, apart from his outspoken behaviour , his marriage also turned out to be a disaster and his wife left him within a short period to marry someone she had loved . This broke his spirit and made him turn to alcohol. Ironically , the film he wanted to produce with the legendary MG Ramachandran, was titled “Maadi Veetu Ezhai” and ultimately resulted in his financial collapse and he never recovered from that loss. He made one more attempt to direct a film Thattungal Thirakkapadum , which was made in 1966 , but that film also flopped and so , after losing most of his wealth he passed away at the young age of 47, in the year 1974. His funeral expenses were taken care of by the veteran actor Sivaji Ganesan.
There are only few artists, who, within a short span of life , leave behind a legacy that remains forever. Chandrababu’s unique voice, his yodelling , his comic acting and the way he popularized the unique “ Madras Bashai”-that typical Tamil dialect popular in Chennai, will remain in memory for a long time.
I have tried , with my limited knowledge, to showcase a dozen famous songs from this actor-singer-director-producer, who made us think and laugh ,with his unique voice , great dancing and acting.
- Jolly Life Jolly Life- Kalyanam Panniyum Brahmachari-1954-T G Lingappa-K D Santhanam
Who would have imagined Chandrababu singing for thespian Sivaji Ganesan? What fabulous yodelling by him and equally superb acting by Sivaji on screen. A delightful song composed by T G Lingappa.
2. Kalyanam hahaha…Kalyanam ( Ullaasamaagave Ulagaththil Vaazhave” ) -Penn-1954-R Sudarshanam-Udumalai Narayana Kavi
Although I have heard this song many times , I never knew this was picturised on the veteran Veena vidwan and film maker-actor S Balachandar! One more example of Chandrababu’s yodelling and ability to sing in a female voice in between. The picturization is so enjoyable with S Balachandar enacting the song perfectly.
3. Unakkaga Ellam Unakkaga-Pudhayal-1957-Vishwanathan Ramamoorthy-Pattukottai Kalyanasundaram
After two songs in which Chandrababu did only playback singing, I am now starting my list of songs in which he rendered the song on screen. One of his early hits that remains popular to this day. Once again , a fabulous yodelling towards the end of the song.
4. Pambara Kannale-Manamagan Thevai-1957- G Ramanathan-K D Santhanam
Unfortunately the link to this song in YouTube that has the visuals is with poor audio quality and that is why I have provided the audio only track also. One has to enjoy his excellent dancing as well as singing!
5. Kunguma Poove Konjum Purave-Maragatham-1959-Tune composed by T G Lingappa originally for another film and later orchestrated by S M Subbaiha Naidu for Maragatham-Ku Ma Balasubramaniam-With K Jamuna Rani
I think there cannot be anyone in Tamil Nadu who would not have heard and enjoyed this song. This is the song that defines Chandrababu’s style of singing perfectly. The song was originally composed by T G Lingappa for the film Sabash Meena but due to some reasons it was not included in that film. Later Chandrababu had conveyed this tune to the composer S M Subbaiha Naidu during the recording for the film Maragatham and SMS orchestrated the song. Now this fact was not known to SMS and only after many years , when he came to know about this , was so apologetic to TGL -those days the music composers were so humble that they did not make a great issue of this. I should acknowledge my thanks to Ms Subashree Thanikachalam for narrating this anecdote in in her QFR series.
6. Kavalai Illatha Manithan- Kavalai Illatha Manithan- 1960-Vishwanathan Ramamoorthy-Kannadasan
Kannadasan ventured into film production many times and had to face lot of financial difficulties while doing so . He had joked that contrary to the title that means ‘ a man with no worries’ , he was always stressed while making this movie! Though another song Pirakkum Bothum Azhugindrai became more popular , this is one more example of Chandrababu’s typical philosophical song.
7. Pirakkum Bothum Azhukindrai- Kavalai Illatha Manithan- 1960-Vishwanathan Ramamoorthy-Kannadasan
Most of the famous comedians always have a streak of tragedy running through their lives. Chandrababu conveys the pathos so well in this song that has become one of his iconic songs.
8. Onnume Puriyale Ulagathile-Kumara Raja-1961-T R Pappa-K D Santhanam
As much as he was identified with peppy songs like Kunguma Poove, Chandrababu is well-known for his sad songs. As I have mentioned in the introduction, the lyrics of this song are so apt for any situation one faces in life when we perplexed about what is happening around us! For Chandrababu , this song appears to be a mini autobiography!-“ Yennai Pole Yemali Yavarum Illai!
9. Buddhi Ulla Manithan Ellam-Annai-1962-R Sudarshanam-Kannadasan
I do not know what magic was there in Chandrababu’s songs that the lyrics of many have become immortal. Kannadasan, known for his mastery over words , creates a masterpiece . Each and every line in this songs rings so true. Once again , I have to refer to one of the QFR series episodes in which it was mentioned that this song was an eternal favourite of the well-known film producer A V M Saravanan.
10. Poranthalum Aaambalaya Porakka Kudathu-Policekaran Magal-1962- Vishwanathan Ramamoorthy-Kannadasan-With L R Eashwari
That funny sound that Chandrababu makes in between is the highlight of this song! I can only compare him to Kishore Kumar for rendering songs like this.
11. Kaathal Enbathu Edu Varai-Paada Kaanikkai-1962-Vishwanathan Ramamoorthy-Kannadasan-With P B Sreenivas, P Susheela and L R Eashwari
A quartet song that has PBS, PS & LRE singing apart from Chandrababu, this is a light-hearted romantic song that gives equal weightage to all the four singers.
12. Siruppu Varudu Sirippu Vardu Sirikka Sirikka-Andavan Kattalai-1964-Vishwanathan Ramamoorthy-Kannadasan
Only Kannadasan can come out with lyrics like this . Somehow it looks like the song describes the struggles Chandrababu faced in his life! Look at the way he does that superb laugh, in an almost hysterical way and then performs an excellent yodelling. Only naturally talented artists can sing like this.
13. Kanmani Paappa-Thattungal Thirakkapadum-1966-M S Vishwanathan-Kannadasan
After his venture with MGR , Madi Veetu Ezhai did not take off, Chandrababu tried his directing skill in this movie, but unfortunately the movie flopped. Slowly he faded away from movies and ultimately passed away in penury. This song may not be as well-known as many of his earlier songs , but is still has the stamp of MSV, Kannadasan and Chandrababu.
I have tried to list out just more than a dozen songs of this great actor-singer, who made a mark for himself in a short span of life. I may have missed many other songs mainly due to my own lack of knowledge and readers may excuse me for that.
Acknowledgements and Disclaimer:
I sincerely thank the publishers of following Internet sources for the information that I could gather for this article:
- You Tube
- Wikipedia
- Ms Subashree Thanikachalam’s QFR series in You Tube
The songs mentioned are from the popular, public domain and have been embedded here only for the listening pleasure of the music lovers. The photograph is taken from the internet, duly recognizing the full copyrights for the same to the original creator or the site where they were originally displayed .This blog does not claim any copyright over them, which rests with the respective owners of the rights.
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