Multilingual actor Ramesh Aravind shared a personal bond with S P Balasubrahmanyam for over three decades.
The actor, who had recently approached the legendary playback singer to sing a song for his upcoming Kannada film ‘100’, recalls the association.
SPB shared the screen with Ramesh Aravind in his maiden Tamil film ‘Manathil Uruthi Vendum’ (1987). He played the role of a doctor who smoked cigarettes but advised others not to.
“He drew attention by his excellent acting skills in ‘Manathil Uruthi Vendum’. We acted together for my second Tamil film, ‘Keladi Kanmani’ (1990), which was a massive hit,” the actor recalled. Their friendship grew as SPB went on to sing many songs that Ramesh enacted.
“You will find many talented people in a creative field like cinema, but to find a man of enormous talent and nicety is very difficult.” The actor says that people remember him and SPB for a hit song in the Tamil film Duet (1994), which starts ‘En Kadhale, En Kadhale’.
“It’s an A R Rahman’s song, sung by SPB, directed by K Balachander and picturised with me. It went on to become an iconic hit. Whenever SPB sang it anywhere in the world and on any platform, I got a message,” he says.
Aravind discloses why SPB declined to sing a song for his upcoming Kannada film ‘100’. The actor sent SPB a tune by Ravi Basrur, the music director for the film. “He wrote back to me saying ‘Ramesh, these notes don’t match my natural level. The notes are suitable for someone like Kailash Kher. It will look artificial if I sing this song’.”
He added, “A man like SPB, who can sing any song, has the humility to say that it will look artificial if he sings it. He was a legend. People fake these days, but SPB was humble to acknowledge certain things even after singing over 41,000 songs.”
“I just was moved and told him that it is because of his nature that we all loved him.” About 15 years ago, the Bengaluru Police had organised a function where Ramesh Aravind and SPB were guests. The actor recalled an incident which was much talked about those days.
“While speaking about SPB, I said that every policeman dreams to get a promotion. DySPs want to be SPs. But I demanded a demotion for SPB and want him to be DSPB, which would stand for Dadasaheb Phalke Balasubrahmanyam,” he says.
SPB adapted himself to all actors and was loved by everyone all over India. Only a few can be legends and he is definitely one, Aravind says.
The actor had interviewed SPB for his television show ‘Weekend With Ramesh’. After the show, SPB hugged the actor and said that it was perhaps the best interview of his life.
He never felt so good in any of his previous interviews, the actor remembers him saying. Ramesh, SPB and Kamal Hassan had appeared for a conversation in a Tamil channel, which was viewed by a large number of people.