No one can believe that the first and last songs of the greatest Indian singer S.P Balasubrahmanyam turned out to be bitter experiences. Balu was given the first chance by his guru SP Kodandapani in ‘Sri Sri Sri Maryada Ramanna’ which was produced by veteran comedian Padmanabham. It was written by Veturi with lyrics ‘Yemi Ee Vinta Mooham’ and composed in Yaman, Kalyani and Bhageswari ragas.
Though Balu thought it was a solo song, he came to know that he had to share the microphone with three other singers after reaching the recording venue. He sang it along with P Suseela, Kalyanam Raghuramaiah and PB Sreenivas. It was recorded on December 15th, 1966 by recordist Swaminathan in Vijaya Gardens. Even though Balu was a bit disappointed about this experience, it paved the road for his success in the future.
SP Balasubrahmanyam sang his last song in a film called ‘Palasa 1978’ under the music direction of Raghu Kunche. Its lyrics ‘Oo sogasari priyalahiri’ reminds us of a vintage track. Balu sang it along with Vadisaleru Baby. ‘Palasa 1978’ was screened many times in Ramanaidu Preview theatre and those who saw it thought it would act as a breaker for the forward movement of the story. Director Karuna Kumar and composer Raghu Kunche were convinced, and made to remove the song from the film. Raghu said it was a privilege for him to compose the last song sung by SP Balu and felt bad about the circumstances that led to its removal.
