P. LEELA, a veteran Carnatic and Play-back singer!
A Brief Profile:
People of music world, interested especially in South Indian Classical, would have never missed hearing P. Leela.
P.LEELA was rendering Carnatic music concerts and singing in light music programs. Starting at the age of 13, she has sung about 5000 film songs in all the South Indian languages Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. One of the pioneers in playback singing, she has sung from the period of M.K. Thyagaraja Bagavathar to Ilayaraja (covering the golden age of Tamil Film Music). She has sung with great singers like M.K.Thyagaraja bagavathar, K P Udayabhanu, a veteran playback singer in Malayalam and Augustine Joseph(father of K.J.Jesudas)-actor-singer on the drama stage in the forties . “Much before meeting Jesudas I had sung with his father,'' she said once.
Birth, Brought Up and Career:
Porayathu Leela was born in 1934, in Chitthur (Palghat, Kerala State) to V.K.Kunjan Menon and Meenakshi. She was the last of the three daughters. V K Kunjan Menon was working as a teacher in Ramavaram Higher Secondary School at Ernakulam V.K.Menon was passionate about music and hence he wanted his daughters to learn Carnatic music. As such he was solely responsible for making Leela a great singer.
Leela had a gifted voice. Thiribuvana Manibhagavadhar the uncle of musician T. V. Gopalakrishnan. was her first guru. Later she learnt from Paththamadai Krishna Ayyar and Maruthuvakudi Rajagopala Iyer. Vadakkancheri Ramabhagavadhar, a very close friend of Menon, who had settled down at Madras, whenever visited Ernakulam, would invite Menon and Leela to come to Madras, so that Leela could learn music.
Menon had an ambition of making his youngest daughter a singer. He made it his lifetime mission. Menon resigned his job in Ernakulam and took Leela to Madras in 1944. Both of them stayed with Vadakkancheri Ramabagavathar in Mylapore and the 10 year old Leela started learning in gurukula style. Her father saw to it that her sole interest was music.
In Madras, Leela had the opportunity of listening to the concerts of legendary singers like Ariyakkudi Ramanujam, S Ramanathan, GNB, Chembai and others. This helped her in a lot in fine tuning her music and moulding herself a singer. Leela took part in many music competitions in the city and won prizes. In 1946, Durgabai Deshmukh gave her the first concert in Andra Mahila Sabha . Leela was giving concerts in various places.
Columbia Recording Company was looking out for a female voice and the manager Ganabathirama Iyer, recommended Leela. She was appointed as their artiste. This paved the way for her entry into the films.
In Tamil, “Nandakumar” was the first movie to introduce playback singing. A.V.Meiyappa chettiar came up with the innovative idea of replacing the soundtrack with another voice and the playback system was introduced in Tamil cinema in 1938. It was gradually accepted and many singers entered the movie world. She was introduced at a time when the actresses were singing for themselves.
When she landed in Madras she did not know Tamil or Telugu. She used to write the keerthanas in Malayalam and practice them to perfection. Once she started her career as playback singer she arranged for tutors and learnt other languages.
She was offered to sing for a Tamil movie in 1948. Leela made her debut as playback singer in the movie `Kanganam.' She sang her first song, ‘Sree Varalakshmi’, when she was just 13 years old. C.H. Padmanabhasastry was the music director of the film. She sang all the songs for the heroine in that film.
In 1948 she sang 'paaduka poonkuyile' for the Malayalam movie Nirmala. In 1948, the film “Nirmala” was produced by P.J.Cherian and directed by P.V.Krishna Iyer. ‘Nirmala’ (1948) was the first film to explore the possibility of music and songs in Malayalam cinema. From then on, the songs became an essential ingredient of Malayalam cinema.
C.R. Subbaraman introduced Leela in Kannada movies. In 1949 Leela made her debut in Telugu Cinema singing in 3 films Manadesam, Keelu Gurram and Gunasundarikatha.
The legendary singer and music director Ghantasala (with whom Leela has sung the most number of songs) introduced Leela in Manadesam .
Songs of the film kalakala aa kOkilEmO, challani doravElE chandamaamaa, Sree tulasi jaya tulasi, ammaa mahalaxmi dayasEyavamma became hits .
In the 1950s Leela was busy singing in all the south indian languages. Her songs in films like Patala bairavi, Missiamma,Pelli chesi choodu (Kalyanam pannip paar), Appu chesi pappu kudu (Kadan vaangi kalyanam), Gundamma katha (Manithan maravillai in Tamil) are the greatest melodies and remembered even today after many decades. Leela has rendered nearly 5,000 songs including one Bengali film. She also sang in Sinhala movies. Her songs are known for their emotional touch and classical discipline. She made a name for herself by singing in her mellifluous voice both for the film industry and in carnatic music She considered it an honour to have sung in the same period as M S Subbulakshmi, M L Vasanthakumari and D K Pattammal - three jambhavans of Carnatic music.
As Music Director:
She worked as a music director for a film called ‘Chinnari Pappulu’ (Telugu) in 1968. The film was produced exclusively by women.
DEVOTIONAL SONGS:
Leela has rendered many devotional songs like Narayaneeyam, Harinamakeerthanam, Ayyappa Suprabatham, Guruvayur Suprabatham, Sree Mookambigai Suprabatham and Ayyappan Padalgal. In 2003, Leela was presented the Janmashtami Puraskaram instituted by Balasamskara Kendhram for her efforts in spreading ‘Narayaneeyam’, ‘Jananappana’ and ‘Harinamakeerthanam’ .
"VAAGACHARTHU": A melodious and devotional P.Leela can be heard here:
AWARDS:
P. Leela received the first best playback singer award of the Kerala Government in 1969.
Leela has been conferred many titles like, ‘Ganamani’, ‘Ganakokila’, ‘Kalarathnam’, ‘Ganavarshini’, etc. She was conferred with the ‘Kalaimamani’ title in 1994 by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa who in her speech said that though the award had come late, she was proud to be the one to bestow it on her.
PERSONAL LIFE:
Leela got married to a lawyer; but the marriage was not successful.In her later years, Leela was busy rendering classical concerts and light music programs.Leela was staying with her sister’s children in Defence colony, Parangimalai, CHENNAI. Her world consisted of her music, her pooja room and memories of her father. V.K.Menon who was the man behind the singer Leela. In many of the interviews Leela emotionally recalled “If I am standing in front of you and talking, it is because of my father; he was everything to me. The fame, wealth was all given to me by him. Without him, I am not what I am.”
Leela fulfilled her father’s dreams , enthralling her fans with her mellifluous voice. Her melodies will be remembered and heard forever.
One of her melodies may be heard by clicking the following link:
(KONJUM SATHANGAI OLI KETTU from Tamil Film Konjum Salangai)
COURTESY : www.dhool.com, imeem.com, last.fm
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