Ghantasala Bhagavad
Amice Golden
Ghantasala performed in the United States, England and Germany, and for the United Nations Organisation. The government of Andhra Pradesh marked the occasion of 25 years of his film career as Silver Jubilee Celebrations of Ghantasala in Hyderabad on 1 February 1970. More than 30,000 people attended the function held at the Lal Bahadur Stadium, Hyderabad.[5] Ghantasala continues to be popular. Statutes of his likeness have been installed across Andhra Pradesh. Every year, the anniversaries of his birth and death are celebrated in India and overseas.[6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]
Ghantasala was born in 1922 into a Telugu Brahmin family of Ghantasala Soorayya, a professional singer in Chowtapalli, a village in Gudivada taluk of Krishna District.[4] During his childhood, Ghantasala used to dance to his father's Tharangams. His father died when Ghantasala was a child, and he was brought up by his maternal uncle. He took formal music training from Patrayani Sitarama Sastry, and joined Maharajah's Government College of Music and Dance in Vijayanagram.[15]
Ghantasala participated in the Quit India Movement of 1942, for which he was arrested and imprisoned for 18 months at the Alipore (Allipura) Jail, Ballari.[16] After leaving jail, he met Samudrala Sr., who advised him to try his luck in the film industry as a singer.[17] Ghantasala married Savitri, who lived in a village called Pedapulivarru. In that village, Ghantasala met lyricist Samudrala Sr., who was impressed with his voice and inducted him into the Madras film industry. Before Ghantasala found fame, he was already an accomplished Carnatic music singer.
Ghantasala's first break as a singer came from All India Radio. Later on, Peketi Siva Ram from HMV studios recorded Ghantasala's private songs. Ghantasala debuted as a chorus singer and for a character role in Seeta Rama Jananam by Pratibha Films. After this, he worked with well-known music directors Gali Penchala and C. R. Subbaraman. Ghantasala's first film as a music director was Laxmamma. He introduced the technique of changing the vocal pitch and diction to suit the actor singing the songs. Ghantasala was peerless at Padyam renderings and his way with the Telugu padyam was incomparable.
Producer Chittajallu Krishnaveni gave Ghantasala his first job as full-time music director for her film Mana Desam, which was N. T. Rama Rao's first film. It established Ghantasala as a music composer-cum-playback singer. He was the most prolific film composer and playback singer in Telugu cinema until the mid-1970s. He composed music for many popular Telugu movies, including Patala Bhairavi, Mayabazar, Lava Kusa, Pandava Vanavasam, Rahasyam, Gundamma Katha, Paramanandayya Shishyula Katha and Pelli Chesi Chudu, and also for popular Tamil and Kannada films in the 1950s and 1960s. Ghantasala sang for and directed the music for a Hindi film Jhandaa ooncha Rahe Hamara (1964).[18] The song "Siva Sankari" from the film Jagadeka Veeruni Katha (1961) believed to be one of the most challenging songs from classical Hindusthani and carnatic style was sung by Ghantasala in a single take.[18][19][20][21][22]
The Indian government released a postage stamp and first day cover to celebrate Ghantasala's work on 11 February 2003. He is the first movie singer-composer of the south to be accorded this honour.[2][27] The US Postal Department has released a postal stamp on Ghantasala on 6 October 2014. The postal stamp was jointly released by the North American Telugu Society (NATS) in collaboration with Telugu Literary and Cultural Association (TLCA) in New York.[28][29]Various awards named after Ghantasala are given every year, including the "Ghantasala melody king award". Recipients of this award include playback singers K J Yesudas and P Suseela, and Indian Idol Sri Ramachandra.[8][30][31] Ghantasala Arts Academy has instituted the "Ghantasala National Award"; the first winner was playback singer S. P. Balasubrahmanyam.[32]
Ghantasala was honoured with the "Padmashri" by the Government of India.[33][34] He won the best playback singer award in Andhra Pradesh every year for nearly 30 years, a feat unachieved by any other playback singer.[4]
"Kala Pradarshini Ghantasala Puraskar", the only award instituted directly by the Ghantasala Family curated by his second son Ravi Ghantasala and his wife, acclaimed dancer Parvathi Ravi Ghantasala, which aims to honor legends who have contributed to "Arts and Philanthropy". the Inaugural awards were presented to Dr.S.P.Balasubramanyam (music), Dr. Padma Subramaniam (Dance) and Dr. Nalli Kuppusamy Chetty (Philanthropy).
The Ghantasala Puraskar Award 2014, given every year by Sharan Incorporation, has been conferred on Rao Bala Saraswathi Devi, who was the first Telugu playback singer.[35]The Government music college in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, is named after Ghantasala.[36] Ghantasala Sangeetha Kalasala college in Hyderabad and Vizag offers six-month and one-year diploma courses on Ghantasala's light music, songs and music.[37] Ghantasala Yuva kalakendram offers semester based courses specially for children and youth.SivaNandiAwardRecipient Ghantasala Yuva Kalakendram founder M.S.V.N.VamshikrishnaDevaraya conducts ghantasala musical workshops every year at tayagaraya gana sabha[38]
Ghantasala Venkateswararao was married to Savitri and (Late) Sarala Devi. He had eight children: four daughters (Meera, Shyamala, Suguna, Shanthi) and four sons (Vijayakumar, Ravikumar, Shankarkumar, Ratnakumar). Shyamala, Suguna, Shanthi, Vijayakumar and Ratnakumar were born to Savtri and while Meera, Ravikumar and Shankar Kumar were born to Sarla Devi.
It is said that Ghantasala named his eldest son "Vijaya" Kumar after Vijaya Productions out of gratitude towards the organization that employed him as a permanent artiste. Sri Chakrapani, one of the producers of Vijaya Productions, presented Ghantasala with a purse with Rs. 25,000 realising his respect towards the organization. 10 years after his death, his youngest son Ratnakumar went on to become a popular dubbing artist.
Ghantasala composed Music for more than 110 films as stated by him, following is the list of 123 films for which he has composed Music. The list includes remakes and dubbed films. The date of release of the film is also given. The list includes Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi films besides Telugu films where he worked predominantly.
If that were true, there is nothing more unfortunate than this to the
Telugu ear. I often wondered if Bhagavadgeeta is as popular as it is
in AP because of Ghantasala or because of Krishnadwaipayanudu. Note
that it is not that popular in north (at least my experience in
Kanpur, anyway).Please see if we can get together to do something. I am willing to
contribute my share in money/whatever.
Since you seem to have some touch with "bigshots" (from your line "I
invited pendyala to IITM"), can you find out if there is anything we
can do by talking to the guys in cinemaworld, please?>
> Prasad Jayanti
>
>
Kumar Vadaparty.
--
Ghantasala started his playback career with the movie "Swarga Seema"
in 1947. Nagayya was the music director of this film. Within a couple
of years, Ghantasala started composing film music - his first was
"Keelu Gurram". The song "Kadu suma, kala kadu suma" (with
Vakkalanka Sarala) was, according to my father, a very popular song
in those days. His career, both as a singer and as a music director,
got a boost with the famous "Pathala Bhairavi" directed by
K.V. Reddy and produced by Nagi Reddy and Chakrapani. The songs
"Kalavara maye madilo", "Enta ghatu premayo", "Hayiga manakinka swechhaga"
from this movie are dearly cherished even today. Ever since,
Ghantasala composed music to nearly 100 films, and sang about 10000 songs
until his death in 1974. The notable movies to which he gave music
are: Pathala Bhairavi, Pelli chesi chudu, Shavukaru, Maya bazaar,
Lavakusa, and Gundamma Katha. Apparently, Pendyala was first approached
to score music for "Lavakusa". But he demanded too high a remuneration,
and the producers decided to go for Ghantasala. Recalling this
(in a conversation I had with him when I invited him to IIT Madras in 1983),
Pendyala told me that he was happy about what had happened - he could
not have matched Ghantasala's performance for Lavakusa. Needless to say,
it reflects on the divinity and the serenity of the songs in Lavakusa, and
on the humility of Pendyala, unquestionably one of the best film composers.
Besides film music direction, Ghantasala composed music for Bhagavat Gita,
Pushpa Vilapam, Kunti Kumari, Goghosha, several devotional songs
on Venkateswara Swamy, songs on freedom movement (in which he participated),
and several Palle Patalu (e.g., Ravoyi bangaru mama, Atta leni kodalu).
In essence, Ghantasala had enough works to be put on par with the all time
great Indian film composers such as Pendyala, Rajeswara Rao, Naushad,
S.D. Burman etc. It may even be argued that he exhibited a greater versatility than some of them.There is hardly a need to elaborate on Ghantasala as a singer.
But, given my passion for his songs, I'll do it anyway. His voice
was his great asset. Added to that was his ability to blend
the right expression effortlessly and most naturally into the song.
Consider for instance "Kudi yeda mayithe" or "Jagame maya"
from "Devadasu", or "Kala kanidi, viluvainadi" from "Velugu needalu",
or "Manasuna Manasai" from "Doctor Chakravarthi". The expression of
sadness, despair, and detachment in these songs is most natural and real -
he finds no need for extraneous sounds or gimmicks to evoke the right emotion.
Consider "Enta Ghatu Premayo" from "Pathala Bhairavi", or "Evarivo Echata
nuntivo" from "Chandra Haram", or "Andame Anandam" from "Bratuku Theruvu".
I wonder whether there is ever a better expression of "Bhavukatha" than what
one can find in these songs. Consider "Edu kondala samy" (a private record),
or "Mahesa Papavinasa" from "Kalahasthi Mahatyam", or "Thaguna, Varameeya"
from "Bhu-Kailas". Can we think of songs in which "Bhakti" is
better expressed? Consider his private songs "Atta leni kodalu uttamuralu",
"Ravoyi bangaru mava", "Police Venkatasamy, ninnu nenu maruva lenura" -
these, more or less, define the once typical village atmosphere
and "Telugudanam" to the present-day city dweller. His grasp on
music, on Telugu Bhasha, and its culture are all simultaneously evident
from the way he rendered Karunasri's "Pushpa vilapam" and "Kunti Kumari".
I know people who stopped plucking flowers (in fact, even using them)
after they heard "Pushpavilapam". In general, he had an excellent
understanding of the old drama style. This is clear from his rendition
of Telugu Padyalu and Samskrita slokalu in Pouranika movies. Consider
"Siva Sankari, Sivananda Lahari" from "Jagadeka Veeruni Katha", or
"Rasikaraja thaguvaramukama" from "Jayabheri", or the "Ashtapadulu"
from "Bhaktha Jayadeva". These are all instances of classical music
in films. Ghantasala sang these as well as any classical musician
could have. With his voice and expression, perhaps he even sang
them better than most classical musicians. Last, but surely not the least,
are his relatively light-hearted songs, especially his duets with
Ganakokila Suseela. "Konda gali thirigindi" from "Uyyala Jampala",
"Idemi lahiri, Idemi garadi" from "Idu-jodu", "Vadinapule vikasinchele"
from "Mangalya Balam", "Madhuram madhuram ee samayam" from "Bharya-bhartalu" -
and of course many many more, are ever-greens.There have been many film singers - S.P. Balasubramaniam, Jesudas,
P.B. Srinivas, A.M. Raja, and T.M. Soundararajan in the south,
and Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh, Saigal, Mannade, Hemanth Kumar,
and Talat in the north - are perhaps the most notable ones among the males.
Although each singer in this list has his own charm and distinctive
style, they are hardly comparable to Ghantasala. For one thing,
none of them is accomplished as a music director (A.M. Raja, S.P, and
Hemanth Kumar did compose music to some films, but are surely a notch below
Ghantasala in this department). Even as singers, when you put together
the assets of Ghantasala - his voice, expression, range, ability for
pure classical music, and the lightness of voice when required, the rest are
hardly a match. In this context, it is gratifying that Andhras do take a lot of pride
in their Ghantasala and commemorate his birthday. I hear from my relatives
that every year music competitions are held in the name of Ghantasala
throughout the state during the period Dec 4 to Feb 11 (the date of his demise).
The AIR and Doordarshan used to devote these two days to play exclusively
his songs. I am sad to learn that AIR stopped this practice. Last year,
S.P. Balasubramaniam celebrated his 25th year as a playback singer
by installing a bronze statue of Ghantasala in Ravindra Bharati in
Hyderabad. He planned to have Lata Mangeshkar as the chief guest, but
I don't know what happened. There are a few things we all should collectively attempt to do.
I do not know the means, but may be you could suggest. To my knowledge,