#playback singer

In a heartfelt announcement, composer-actor GV Prakash Kumar and playback singer Saindhavi have revealed their decision to part ways after 11 years of marriage. The couple, who were classmates and began their romance over a decade before marrying in 2013, shared identical statements on their social media accounts, emphasizing their need for “mental peace and betterment.”

“After much reflection, Saindhavi and I have decided to part ways after 11 years of marriage. For the sake of our mental peace and betterment while preserving our mutual respect for each other,” Prakash’s statement read. The couple also requested privacy during this “deeply personal transition,” asking fans and the media to understand and support them through this difficult time.

GV Prakash Kumar and Saindhavi’s love story began as classmates, culminating in their wedding on June 27, 2013, at Mayor Ramanathan Chettiar Hall in Chennai. The ceremony was attended by notable celebrities, including filmmaker Mani Ratnam. The couple welcomed their daughter on April 19, 2020, further solidifying their bond.

GV Prakash Kumar, son of G Venkatesh and playback singer AR Reihana (sister of Oscar-winning composer AR Rahman), started his musical journey at a young age. He lent his voice to a track composed by his uncle for the 1993 film “Thiruda Thiruda.” Prakash’s breakthrough came with his performance of “Kadhal Yaanai” for the 2005 blockbuster “Anniyan,” composed by Harris Jayaraj, which also marked Saindhavi’s Tamil debut as a playback singer with the song “Andangaka Kondakari.”

Prakash made his debut as a music composer with Vasanthabalan’s “Veyil” (2006) and has since composed for numerous successful films like “Polladhavan,” “Angaadi Theru,” “Aayirathil Oruvan,” “Aadukalam,” “Udhayam NH4,” “Thalaivaa,” “Raja Rani,” and “Asuran.” He ventured into acting with his lead role in the horror comedy “Darling” (2015).

Saindhavi has had a prolific career, collaborating with esteemed composers such as AR Rahman, Vidyasagar, Yuvan Shankar Raja, D Imman, Sharreth, Sam CS, and Anirudh Ravichander.

Spring Blossoms Talat Mahmood 1967, His Master's Voice

“Handsome, debonair Talat Mahmood has been the idol of listeners for the last several years. His mild mellow voice and expressive style makes him ideally suited for putting over on disc, lyrics with soulful poetic contents. The Geets and Ghazals rendered by him on this disc once again establish that he is the King of the Ghazal-singers and there is none to beat him in style and superb execution.”

That’s how a note on the back of the Spring Blossoms sleeve puts it, and I’ve few qualms. Mahmood’s voice is indeed as smooth as they come, and there is plenty of soul to these numbers, though the word several there is doing some strange work—by 1967 Mahmood had been a major star for a quarter century!

I’ve covered a couple of ghazal-related records in this series (see here and here), but as a refresher, the ghazal is a form of Arabo-Persian poetic ode (classically a simultaneous address to an absent lover and to God) that has remained popular in the East for nearly 1,500 years. The ghazal is based on metrically regular rhyming couplets, a repetitive structure which makes it easy to adapt to a musical form. Ghazals are found in both Indian art and pop music, and most of the legendary Bollywood playback singers (including Asha Bosle, Mohammad Rafi, and Lata Mangeshkar) had many in their repertoires.

The ghazal’s subject matter is inevitably rather blue, but they are also often celebratory in a mystically existential kind of way—life’s pain cannot be avoided, but a poet is allowed to twirl while he displays his wounds and counts his jutting ribs. In Mahmood’s case, any discomforting sorrow is pillowed by the gentle, velvet quaver in his voice. This is music which releases tears without leaving marks, like a bloodless surgery (don’t talk to me about reiki). Mind you, I don’t mean that as an attack on its sentimentality. Daily life for Mahmood’s audience was hard and tiring, and the opportunity to have their emotions tenderly exercised by beauty is a fine thing. These people didn’t need to have catharsis thrust upon them by the kinds of sonic or poetic terrorism that I, a sheltered western pervert, occasionally require to feel feelings. But I also enjoy this album a lot!

Spring Blossoms is quite pop for the standards of its pre-rock ‘n’ roll time and place, which is to say that it is slow, sweet, and elegant in an almost courtly way that has more in common tonally with western light classical or Eastern European folk than it does the Anglo-American pop of the period. Great titles too: “Those Who Listen to Me While Hugging Me, Know That My Love is Beautiful” sounds like Explosions in the Sky doing kids music, while “I Am Drunk, I Am Naked” could be either Rumi or Viagra Boys.

சென்னை: பிரபல திரைப்பட பின்னணி பாடகர் விஜய் யேசுதாஸ் வீட்டில் 60 சவரன் தங்க நகைகள் திருடுபோன வழக்கில், இரண்டு தனிப்படைகள் அமைத்து போலீஸார் விசாரணை மேற்கொண்டு வருகின்றனர். பிரபல திரைப்பட பின்னணி பாடகர் கே.ஜே.யேசுதாஸின் மகனும், பின்னணி பாடகருமான விஜய் யேசுதாஸ் சென்னை அபிராமபுரம் பகுதியில் தனது மனைவி மற்றும் குடும்பத்துடன் வசித்து வருகிறார். இந்நிலையில், தங்களது வீட்டில் வைத்திருந்த 60 சவரன் தங்க…