Potpourri of tidbits about Tamil cinema - T. M. Soundararajan
Excerpts from my conversations with him:
Q: Who are your preceptors?
A: I used to listen with admiration to the songs of the then popular actors M. K. Thyagaraja bhagwadhar, P. U. Chinnappa and Kittappa. I would sing in a scintillating voice like them and would join my father in singing bhajans. But my aim was to become a playback singer and I took all out efforts to achieve the same. My original guru Karaikudi Rajamani Iyengar taught me the basics in music. I emulated MKT for voice modulations and K. B. Sundarambal for perfect pronunciation. M. S. Subbulakshmi was my model for bringing emotion in voice. ‘Madurai’ Mani Iyer was my inspiration for easy flow of song. I would say that if people show the same interest even today to listen to my songs it is because of these great singers whom I look upon as my gurus.
Q: You’ve proved yourself a good actor too …
A: I’ve acted in stage plays in my younger days. Though I am a singer basically, an actor is always there inside me. My acting instinct manifested itself through the small roles I did in films. ‘Pattinathaar’, ‘Arunagirinathar’, ‘Kallum kaniyaakum’ and ‘Kaviraj Kalamegapulavar’ were the films in which I was given major roles. ‘Kallum kaniyaakum’ was jointly produced by A. L. Raghavan and me.
Q: You never used to have a personal manager or secretary or PRO. Why?
A: (laughs) All of us will have some weak points; we may or may not be aware of them. If we keep an assistant, he might exploit our weaknesses and misuse them also. I developed my career exclusively on my own skills; I never looked to anybody for my progress. I believe in doing my own things. I believe God is my manager, PRO, etc., etc. He always blesses me with whatever I require.
Q: You’ve composed music for thousands of devotional songs. Have you scored music for films?
A:I’ve composed music for only one film. The film was ‘Balapareetchai’, directed by ‘Mukta’ Srinivasan and produced by Venu Chettiyar. Muthuraman was the hero of the film.
