Madurai Subramania Iyer Subbulakshmi, also known as Madurai
Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi, was born in Madurai on September 16, 1916. She was
then known as Kunjamma. She was the second child of Shanmukhavadivu, who
belonged to the Devadasi community and was an accomplished Veena artiste.
Kunjamma learnt vocal music while her elder brother Shaktivel preferred the
mridangam and sister Vadivambal learnt the veena. She was said to have got on to
the stage for the first time at the age of 9 for the TVS company and cut her
first disc for the Gramophone Company of India at the age of just 10. She
performed at the Kumbakonam Mahamaham festival in 1932 and later at the Music
Academy in a non-prime time slot. These gained for her sufficient attention and
subsequent opportunities.
T
Sadasivam, who then worked as Advertising Manager of the Tamil magazine, Ananda
Vikatan, interacted with MS often in connection with a special feature which S S
Vasan wanted written on her. Sadasivam later was to help MS in co-ordinating her
schedules and programmes. Thus began an association which turned out to be a
life-long one. Kunjamma, without the knowledge of her mother, moved from Madurai
to Madras one day and Sadasivam took over the job of planning her career. He
successfully negotiated with director K Subramaniam the role of the heroine for
Kunjamma in the film Seva Sadan. The film, which was released in 1938, was a
huge hit and MS, the star, had arrived. Sadasivam himself produced the next film
Sakuntalai (in 1940), starring G N Balasubramaniam and MS, and tongues wagged
about romance between GNB and her. However, these rumours faded away and it was
Sadasivam who finally married MS in 1940. Rajaji was said to have advised
Sadasivam to marry MS. The marriage took place in Tiruneermalai on July 10,
1940.
When
Krishnamurthy and Sadasivam decided to cut their association with Vikatan and
launched their own magazine, Kalki, MS donned the male role of Narada in the
film Savitri (1941) -- her fees went towards the establishment of Kalki. The
launch of the film Meera in 1945 through Sadasivam's production house,
Chandraprabha Cinetone, proved to be a major turning point in her career. The
Hindi re-make helped introduce her to the North Indian audiences as well and
soon Mahatma Gandhi too came to know of her prowess. MS identified herself with
the national cause and rendered patriotic songs on several occasions. She also
came to be recognised as an excellent singer of Meera bhajans. The combination
of music, beauty and Bhakti elevated MS to great heights and audiences all over
the country were enchanted by her music. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru led a
long list of illustrious leaders in the country who were her admirers.
MS
also rendered a number of concerts for social causes, helping out the Tamil Isai
Sangam in its early days, (for which she was said to have antagonised many in
the rival organisation, the Music Academy), but later also performed several
concerts to help the Music Academy buy the property for its own building. Soon,
MS performed far and wide, building on her list of bhajans, achieving
proficiency in several languages, and emerged as an embodiment of both beauty
and versatility in the way she would dress and appear before the public whether
it was the kumkumam or the jasmine, and also the maturity she gained as a singer
with the passage of time. International recognition too came quickly --
noteworthy being her performances at the Edinburgh festival in 1963 and an
invitation to perform before the United Nations in 1966, while the Music Academy
honoured her with the title of Sangita Kalanidhi, considered the ultimate award
for a Carnatic musician. The Padma Bhushan was awarded in 1954 and the Ramon
Magsaysay award in 1974.
The
Bharat Ratna came in 1998, the only regret being that Sadasivam died a few
months earlier on November 19, 1997. In January 1998, when President K R
Narayanan wanted to speak to her over the telephone to request her to accept the
title of Bharat Ratna, MS, it was said was initially speechless but then
conveyed her acceptance. "I am grateful to the President for conferring
upon me the highest honour of our land, which I accept in all humility",
she had said then in a brief statement. All the money that she received along
with various awards she donated to charity. There were also a number of
performances that she rendered for charitable organisations.
In
the last decade or so, she not only stopped rendering of concerts, she even
avoided public appearances. Her failing health was said to be one of the reasons
for her decision. The other important factor was that she did not feel like
giving public performances after the death of Sadasivam, who was responsible for
her growth. Her death has taken away from the materialistic world an artiste who
transcended the barriers of language, caste and creed, and elevated music to
sublime and divine heights. Her music remains immortal. Yet, it must be
remembered that MS at all times remained a humble person. Recall that in an
interview to the 'Sruti' magazine, she was asked, "What should an artiste
avoid?" Pat came the answer, "Controversy with contemporaries".
".....Nothing can be
forced on anyone now, like in the past. The youngsters in the field of music
seem to know much more on any subject than what we knew when we were their
age........I feel I am not experienced to give advice to anyone, however young
they are. But with the advantage of my advanced age, I may say that our lady
artistes should not lose their identity of Indian womanhood, however famous they
may become in the field. As you will agree, there is no substitute for humility
and hard work". As the world acknowledges in this moment of sorrow, there
is no substitute for MS either.
From Kunjamma to MS
