Having said a bit about the Superstar, let me talk of another really great person, a man who does not know the meaning of the words “pride” and “selfishness”.The Great singer SPB. Balu Anna and I have had several interactions , thanks to a few films we shot and thanks to , you will be surprised Indian Cricketeers Anil Kumble, Venkatesh Prasad, Rahul Dravid, VVS Lakshman and so on.It was because of these people that I had a chance to re establish and re affirm my friendship with my colleague and fantastic actor Subalekha Sudhakar and his lovely “dharmapatni” S.P.Shailaja – an equally talented person.
The first time I had a really long chat with SPB was in the film city.I was shooting for a TV serial that he was making on various music directors etc and we were the only two actors on the set. During the break I asked him to hum a few songs which he so readily obliged.In fact it turned out to be a half hour of “neyar viruppam” – I being the only neyar – His friend Mr.Vittal was concerned that he was straining his voice but SPB would not listen and continued to sing….such is his greatness and simplicity.
Recently we all met at Sudhakars house ,of course , the cricketeers had to leave by 9 PM as they had a match but the rest of us stayed on to listen to the Paadum Nila…
I am posting a few videos taken that day – it was taken on one of these mini cameras – without proper lighting and sound but will still bring out the greatness of the voice and the Man….Incidentally this is NOT one of those “secretly” shot videos but Balu Anna knew that my friend kavithalaya krishnan was shooting it.Please check out You Tube….I promise you a great wealth of Information…here he sings an old TMS song, a mohammed rafi song and one of his own ‘Ilamayenum Poongaatru”..
Hope he gives you as much pleasure as all of us derived that day….May the almighty grant him Peace, Prosperity and a long and happy life.
Such simplicity is rare to come by that too in the film industry…If the Superstar is one SPB is another.

SPB sings a rafi number
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYiJg_ugGv0

SPB on MSV and kannadasan/TMS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiT-X33VZ0k

SPB – Ilamaienum poongaatru
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW0SHBHWJEc