Chennai: A voice that mesmerised millions of fans across the globe for over half a century in as many as 19 languages, fell silent on Saturday with the sudden passing of legendary playback singer Vani Jairam.
The 77-year-old singer was found dead at her house in Nungambakkam, Chennai with an injury on her forehead, the cause of which is being ascertained.
Just on Republic Day, the Government of India had announced her as a recipient of the Padma Bhusan, the nation’s third highest civilian award. It would remain an irony that the woman behind the voice that brought solace to people transcending geographical barriers, did not live to receive the honour.
Who was Vani Jairam?
Born Kalaivani in Vellore in north Tamil Nadu in 1945, Vani, a musical child prodigy, was in the early years of her career mistaken for being a north Indian, until she won over fans with her entry in Kollywood.
She had started her career as an employee of the State Bank of India in Bombay. A few years ago, Vani recalled that had her husband Jairam not asked her to resign from her job and practice singing full time, she would never have scaled great heights in the music industry. “I have sung in 19 Indian languages,” she had reminisced.
Trained by Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan
She trained under Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan, a legend of those times, who taught her Hindustani classical music. Decades later, Vani gratefully remembered “Ustad sir” whose rigorous training she credited for her being able to sing with the safe effect “even after a period of 45 years,” she had told a captive audience in Coimbatore in March 2015.
Vani forayed into playback singing when Vasanth Desai, a prominent Hindi music director, chose to introduce her in the 1971 film ‘Guddi’ and she went on to bag the Tansen award in her debut movie.
The rise of Vani Jairam
It was a matter of time before she became a household name belting melodious songs composed by leading music directors in cinema industry across regions, be it Bollywood, Kollywood, Tollywood or Sandalwood. In the era dominated by Lata Mangeshkar, Vani Jairam found her own unique space and remained one of the top playback singers for decades. A non-controversial personality, fans respected her for her composure and humility as much as for her mesmerising numbers.
“Even in the Marathi film industry, her rendition of ‘Runanubandhacha’ alongside Pandit Kumar Gandharva, remains one of the evergreen songs. This was one of her early songs. Thereafter she established as one of the busiest musicians. Though she started off very well in Hindi filmdom, not much of an opportunity came thereafter. Much of her latter day performances were in the south film industry where she sang for two or three generations of stars starting from the heroines of MGR in Tamil. She has over 10,000 songs to her credit,” said Chennai based ardent music buff Vamshi.
The uniqueness of Vani Jairam
She would introduce unique intonation to lyrics heightening the pleasure for the listeners. In fact, no less a legend than Tamil lyricist Kannadasan hailed her singing prowess as “a voice that sounds like the music of veena.” That bears testimony in the numerous awards she had won including the national award multiple times. Vani was at ease performing for different generations of music composers be it Ilayarajaa or A R Rahman.
She had grown up listening to ‘Binaca Geetmala’ on All India Radio. Now that Vani is no more, she will live on the FM Radio which gives company to those on a long drive or wanting to lose oneself in melody while driving back home or going off to bed.
For her legion of fans, it is hard to come to terms with her sudden passing and it is time to pray, “Hum ko mann ki shakti dena...”, with which Vani shot into fame in Guddi.
