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Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

Picture of confidence: L.R.Easwari.

The intermittent gasp and boohoo in the number was a challenge. Asha Bhosle backed out and Lata Mangeshkar had to be coaxed into singing it, you are told. The film was ‘Dharti’ (‘Sivandha Mann’ in Tamil), the song was ‘Pattathu Rani …’ and the singer, L.R.Easwari. The highs and lows have not left a mark on either her appearance or her attitude to life. Easwari is still a picture of confidence when you meet her at her home. “Looking back, I don’t know how I did it,” she says. An exhausting 15-day rehearsal with an array of 150 musicians and the toil of its creator (MSV) made the song a reality that stuns you till date.

Y.Gee.Mahendra’s Madhu Enterprises will felicitate the singer who is nearing the golden jubilee of her career, on December 9, and honour her with a musical evening of her hits, to be sung by the up and coming voices of today. “I always wished to be unique and I’m thankful to greats such as filmmaker A.P.Nagarajan and composers K.V.Mahadevan, M.S.Viswanathan and T.K.Ramamurthy who made it come true. The honour I receive is all due to them,” says the yesteryear ace, whose timbre, in her heyday, made hearts swoon.

Tagging along for recordings with her mother, a chorus singer, young Easwari easily imbibed the music around her. “I had no formal training. Radio Ceylon was my guru. God’s gift,” she looks up with reverence.

The energy and drive of the girl who joined the singing group with mom, got her the first break from APN, in ‘Nalla Idathu Sambandham.’ “Mahadevan was the composer. I sang four songs in the film,” she remembers.

The big break from MSV-TKR came in the form of the wedding song, ‘Vaarayo en Thozhi.’ From day one its popularity has never waned. “It won’t. It’s timeless.” The frank speak is typical of Easwari. “I was the first to be given solo humming chances in films. Do you know I was the first playback singer for Saroja Devi? It was a Kannada film,” she goes on. Her hits with ‘Mellisai Mannargal’ (MSV-TKR) are part of Tamil film history now. “That I’ve worked in their period and sung the lyrics of Kannadasan is a boon. Another gratifying aspect is the chances I got to sing with the inimitable SPB. It was a wonderful rapport we shared. Again, though he’s not given me many songs, Ilaiyaraja is a great talent,” she says.

Working for MSV was challenging. He wouldn’t spare a singer till he/she sang it the way he wanted. Upset by his sternness, there have been singers, who would go away wiping their tears, saying they would return the next day. But I would stand unfazed and not budge till I got the effect he wanted. ‘I have to make him eat his words and compliment me,’ I would tell myself. After all, at the end of the day, it was the singers who got name and fame from his creations.”

If she carved a niche for herself as a crooner for on-screen vamps with numbers such as ‘Aadavaralam,’ she also made a mark singing for heroines and comediennes. ‘Porandhaalum …’ with Chandrababu is a hit with even today’s youth. “We had 45 takes for the song. Eventually it was the first take that was okayed. Though the two were great friends, at recordings MSV was a taskmaster. But see the everlasting pieces he made Chandrababu sing?”

“The camaraderie between singers and musicians is a thing of the past. Unlike today, we would share lunch and crack jokes. We had no tracks to listen to, and rehearsals with the entire orchestra were an elaborate affair. There are songs which we’ve sung more than 100 times. And even if there were 30 violins playing in unison, TKR would turn around and say, ‘The third violin in the fourth row went wrong.’ Geniuses, I tell you! ”

Easwari’s songs on various deities marked another facet of her singing prowess. None noticed any incongruity in the voice lending sensuous numbers and devotional strains in the same breath. “Kunnakkudy Vaidyanathan drew me into it first and K. Veeramani gave me some popular devotionals. Religious music played in temples was a great inspiration from childhood. So when I got the chance I grabbed it. But I didn’t quite expect it to make me so famous even in far away places such as Malaysia and Singapore,” laughs Easwari.

Her music troupe, which has been functioning for nearly three decades now, is still a big draw at temple festivals all over.

“What has to come my way always has. I’m contented with my lot,” she smiles.

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