As sweet as Madhu

Even before meeting him, you picture Madhu Balakrishnan as this humble singer, soft-spoken, polite et al. Comes from the television shows he comes on, or the photos on the internet, or perhaps it is just one of those arbitrary prejudices you get. But then Madhu Balakrishnan fits perfectly into that image, walking in to the Metro Studio at Vazhakala, Kochi, a little past 12, his customary smile on, patiently telling the stories about himself he must have by now got tired of telling.

The journey had after all begun 22 years ago, and he has seen the many crucial changes that the Malayalam film industry and its music went through the past two decades. Nothing seems to put him down in any way. He says he is satisfied with whatever he has gotten, still gets. Year 2016 had been good for him, singing for movies like Thoppil Joppan, Welcome to Central Jail, Ore Mukham, and looks like 2017 is starting on a good note. This Sunday he is paying a musical tribute to two late maestros of music he had adored since childhood — Johnson and Raveendran.

“I remember meeting them for the first time. It was Sharreth sir who introduced me to Raveendran Master. I began singing Pramadavanam (a song he composed) for him. He was smoking a cigar when I began, but then he said, ‘wow the boy is good’, unlit the cigar and sat listening,” Madhu smiles. It was a track — Maane from Ayaal Kadha Ezhuthukayanu — that he first sang for Raveendran. The first song came in Njan Salperu Ramankutty and ended with a song in Kalabham, which came out after Raveendran had passed away.

To Johnson, he was introduced by Biju, a keyboard player, and once again Madhu had sung Pramadavanam. “It was at the AVM Studio in Chennai, when I was doing college. He told me it was good.” It was in those days that he met another maestro he adored — Ilaiyaraaja. At a temple in Vadakara, paying tribute to Yesudas for his 60th birthday, Madhu was singing Kaatile Palmuzham, and its composer Dakshinamoorthy Swami sat there impressed and told Ilaiyaraaja who was also present, ‘See how nice the boy sings, you should introduce him’. “I didn't know this then, but heard about it later,” Madhu smiles again. Another great musician he hopes to meet and work for is A.R. Rahman.

But Madhu will not be signing any of his own songs for the Sunday show at JT PAC, Kochi. He, with his orchestra manager Pauly, has selected a bunch of melodies and a few fast songs of both the musicians — like Devi, Devanganangal, Ponnil Kulichu of Johnson’s and Pramadhavanam and Harimuraliravam of Raveendran’s. He won’t be singing his compositions either. Madhu has by now crossed 10,000 songs singing for albums. And nearly 1000 songs for films, including Malayalam Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and now Tulu and Hindi too. He has sung for Woh Kaun Thi in which his brother-in-law and former cricketer Sreesanth acts. He has plans to revive the band with Sreesanth — S36. He also hopes to sing more Carnatic kutcheris. He has learned classical music since the age of 10, under Chandramana Narayana Namboothiri and later, T.V. Gopalakrishnan.