IN THE 1960s, when legendary Bollywood singer Mohd. Rafi crooned "Ramaiah vastavayya" as the refrain for a Hindi song, the Telugus said "Yeh dil maange more". So, he rendered a song for them — "Naa madi ninnu pilichindi gaanamai venugaanamai... (Aaradhana)". The impact was simply great. Nobody cared for the lyrics. Nor the accent. And then, he sang "Yentha Varu Kani Vedantulaina Kani (Bhale Thammudu - which is a take on the 'Baar Baar Dekho' song) followed by "Haseena O Haseena" (a duet with P. Susheela), and "Taralentaga Meriseno Chanduruni Kosam (both from Akbar Salim Anarkali)" — that was it.
Fast forward to the current era: The Telugu industry is full of Bollywood singers today. Udit Narayan, Kumar Sanu, Hariharan and K.K. — name the singer and you can hear him sing in your mother tongue . "Signing Bollywood singers is considered fashionable now. What was started by A.R. Rahman for the sake of variety, has become a craze today. They may not get the words right, but their voices are good," says Srilekha, composer.
While some feel there is nothing wrong in non-Telugus singing Telugu songs since music has no language barriers, there are others like composer-singer R.P. Patnaik who insist on Telugu singers. Why? "Because I want Telugu to be spoken like Telugu," he says. "Usually, when a big-budget movie is being made, the producers feel they can get the best talent by paying more. So, the attitude is - those who charge more should be signed," elaborates R.P. hopeful that "the trend is definitely going to change." But, is there a dearth of talent in the industry? "It is not a question of talent," insists producer D. Ramanaidu. "Heroes want change. And successful names do matter. We may find many talented singers in Andhra itself. But who has the time or patience to go on such talent-hunts," he says.
Earlier, the trend was to have one singer singing all the songs in a film for the hero. Another singer would render the song for a character artiste. A little later, the same singer, in this case S.P. Balu, would modulate his voice to suit each hero/character in the film. "But now, the trend is to have many Bollywood singers in one film," says Ramanaidu. Is the trend here to stay, then? While Srilekha maintains that nothing can be predicted in the industry, director-composer S.V. Krishna Reddy believes "the trends in the industry go by the audiences' tastes. If the album has five, six different singers, the cassettes move fast. The audience too want variety. Some people enjoy listening to unintelligible songs."
"When I was young, this beautiful actress called B. Saroja Devi used to speak Telugu in an odd fashion as she was not familiar with the language. That was, in fact, a major attraction of her films in those days. Similarly, though Balu's voice is far superior to most Bollywood singers, you cannot dismiss Udit Narayan either. His voice is definitely not repulsive. When the change is positive, why not take it?" questions producer Allu Aravind.
What about those who pen beautiful lyrics for Telugu films? How do they feel when non-Telugu singers write the lyrics in Hindi/ English and mispronounce the words, taking the meaning and focus away from the language?
"Frankly speaking, very rarely does a lyricist get a chance to write poetic verse, rich in content. And, when we pen something with so much effort, and neither the same feeling is communicated nor the mood reflected in the end product, we feel a tinge of pain. Guess it is all part of the game," says lyricist Kulashekar. "Sometimes, even mistakes become trends - like the Rama chilakamma song in Choodalani Vundi. Originally Rammaa chilakamma, the song attained a different meaning, as the singer was unable to get the stress right," he laughs. So much for their effort. Whether the trend is going to continue or is just a passing phase, let's reap the benefits while we are at it. Just tune in.
SHANTI NANISETTI
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