Balu: The Singing Sensation of South

Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam, also known as Balu, was a prominent playback singer, music director, actor, film producer and a fabulous dubbing artist.

In the memory of Balasubrahmanyam, Image Source- Scroll

Born in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, Balasubrahmanyam came from a Telugu Brahmin family. While Balu was a music enthusiast from the beginning, he simultaneously pursued his degree in engineering. In the years when he was studying, he managed to win many awards at local singing competitions and also formed a band with his friends. The group included Anirutta, Baskar, Gangai Amaran and Ilaiyaraaja, who later makes a name for himself with many collaborations with Balu.

Balu's first debut was in the Telugu film Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna in 1966. He then recorded songs in many languages, namely Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi.

Balu was distinguished for accomplishing the task of recording many songs in a single day. In 1981, he had recorded 21 Kanadda songs for Upendra Kumar (music composer) from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm.

Soon, his career touched new heights when he started singing duets with famous singers like P. Susheela, S. Janaki, Vani Jayaram and L. R. Eswari of that time.

Balu gained international recognition with the film Sankarabharanam in 1980. The film's music score not only encouraged the use of Carnatic music in Telugu films but also bagged Balu his first National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer. The 1980s was also the period when Balu became the voice of Salman Khan in Bollywood. Starting from the song Dil Deewana of Maine Pyaar Kiya to Didi Tera Dewar Diwana of Hum AApke Hai Kaun, Balu **sang all the scores starring Salman Khan. Therefore, it is no surprise that he won Filmfare Award for Best Male Playback Singer for Dil Deewana.

His collaboration with A.R. Rahman in the 1990s proved to be a major success. He recorded three songs with Rahman for the film Roja. Working with the famous composer, Hamsalekha won him the fourth National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer for the song "Umandu Ghumandu".

Balu's comeback to Bollywood after a long break of 15 years was very well-received through the title track of Chennai Express.

Balu crooned the song 'Bharath Bhoomi' in 2020, dedicated to the frontliners who have been working tirelessly to serve people amidst the pandemic. The music of the song was composed by Ilaiyaraaja, his old friend.

Balu discovered his talent for dubbing by chance while working for the film Manmadha Leela in 1976. He was extremely talented in this field as well. He gave different voices for seven different characters for the Telugu-dubbed version of the film Dasavathaaram. He won the Nandi Award for Best Male Dubbing Artist for the Tamil-dubbed version of the film Sri Rama Rajyam in 2012.

His career produced some of the blockbuster films in both South and the Hindi Cinema. His early demise was not only disheartening but also shocked everyone. Balu succumbed to death on 25 September 2020 after fighting with the deadly disease of Covid-19.