CHAPTER ONE- PROLOGUE
HER EARLY YEARS
The year was early 1940s. People in an obscure village in Vellore District in Tamil Nadu wake up every morning listening to the daily sadhakams of a two year old kid. Awe struck by her amazing capacity of memorizing the ragas and her beautiful mellifluous renditions, the villagers predicted that when she grew up, she would make her village and the country proud in the field of singing .
From there on , it was an odyssey for Vani Jairam, the famous Indian playback singer who tasted her flight of success from Bollywood and later singing in almost all the Indian languages and achieving National recognition in almost all of them.
Born as the fifth daughter, in a family of six daughters and three sons, to mother Padmavathy , a popular Veena player (incidentally, it was Ranga Ramunaja Iyengar, a great veena exponent, who taught her the nuances of learning veena) of her times and father Duraiswamy ,who was also inclined to music, it was only natural that little Vani also imbibed the intricacies of Classical music. Even as a child, she had always dreamt of becoming playback singer in films and had decided to devote much of her time to fulfill her dream. A child prodigy, Vani had recognized the different ragas and notes of Indian classical music genre before the age of five. Her another accomplishment as a child was that her voice was first heard on All India Radio, Madras, at the age of eight.
Though that time, Little Vani did not start learning classical lessons. She used to listen to her elder sister learning classical music from her guru Kadaloor Sreenivasa Iyengar without anyone watching her. It was Iyengar who identified and was fascinated by her observation and grasping power. He taught her a few Deekshidar kritis when she was hardly five. It was he who persuaded Vani’s parents Padmavathy and Duraiswamy to move to Madras which would be the best place for their kid if they wanted her to become a playback singer.
Considering her guru Kadaloor Sreenivasa Iyengar’s suggestion , the family decided to shift to Madras(Now Chennai).Coming to Madras proved to be a boon for Vani as she had the privilege to learn Classical music from the musical giants like T R Balasubramanium, disciple of G N B and Trivandrum R S Mani (disciple of Semmangudi).Madras witnessed another cultural feat with Vani performing a three hour concert at the age of ten years.
Before moving to Bombay (Now Mumbai), Vani had held some classical sessions in Madras during her teen years. It was during one of these sessions that she met Jairam , a native of Chennai, a soft , sober musical enthusiast, who had fallen instantly in love with Vani and her knowledge in music and mellifluous singing. Vani, a graduate in Economics in decided to marry Jairam, a talented Sitar player himself, who was then the Excecutive Secretary to Indo-Belgium Chamber of Commerce, Bombay. After her graduation, Vani was working as an officer in a bank in Chennai.
Vani’s marriage with Jairam proved to be a turning point in her personal and professional career as well. Identifying her immense potential in rendering playback singing, Hindustani music and bhajans , he took her to Bombay for further widening her professionalism in the field . When they moved to Bombay, what Jairam did first was to take Vani to Abdul Rehman of Patiala Gharana to learn Hindustani music. Vani says the classes often begin at 10 am and continued till 6 pm.Vani said in an interview that the teacher Abdul Rehman’s training session was like an ocean of knowledge and practice coupled together. ‘It was like a traditional guru –sishya vijyan,’ she added and that the nearly 18 hours of daily routine of learning and ‘riaz’ had helped Vani to adapt with the intricate techniques of Thumri Bhajan and Ghazal singing. So, she resigned from her job so that she can justify to learning music fully.. Vani gave her first public concert in Bombay on 1st March 1969. After that debut concert, she was invited by many leading organizations to give Light Classical Music concerts
Famous Bollywood Music Director, Vasanth Desai happened to be present during one of her concert held in Bombay. Impressed by her voice, he gave her an opportunity to sing for a Marathi play. During those days, Marathi plays insisted on professional recordings of Marathi songs. Pandit Kumar Gandhrva agreed to record duet songs with Vani as he was also impressed by her fine tuned voice. After that for almost a year Vani traveled the length and breadth of Maharashtra along with Vasant Desai, rendering Marathi songs.
The year was 1971. Prominent Film director Hrishikesh Mukherji was planning to direct a Hindi movie, ‘Guddi,’ starring Dharmendra and Jaya Bhaduri as the lead pair. He had already included Gulzar as lyricist and Vasant Desai as the music director. Hrishikesh told Vasant that he needed a new singer for singing all the songs in the movie. Happy over the filmmaker’s suggestion, Desai could think of inviting none other than Vani Jairam as the playback singer for his movie and this marked Vani’s professional playback singing career in Bollywood. Gulzar had already written three melodious and impressive lyrics for the movie. Vasant Desai made Vani Jairam sing all the three songs in the movie. ‘Bole Re Papi Hara,’ ‘Hum Ko Man Ki Sakthi Dena,’ and ‘Hari Bin Kaise Jeeyun,’ were all finely tuned to match Vani’s golden voice in Hindustani style of singing in the movie.
Gulzar had written a simple story line for Guddi. Literally meaning ‘Kid,’ or ‘Child,’ This was a very simple story of a girl realizing the difference between the reel life and the real life of movie stars. Kusum (aka Guddi) (Jaya Bachchan) is a sportive and carefree schoolgirl who lives with her father, brother, and her brother's wife. Guddi has a crush on film star Dharmendra, who plays himself. None in her family knows the extent of her crush until she visits Bombay, where her sister-in-law's brother, Navin, develops a crush on her. Guddi discloses to Navin that she is in love with Dharmendra. In an attempt to win Guddi's heart, Navin discusses the matter with his uncle (Uttpal Dutt), who just happens to know Dharmendra. With Dharmendra's help, they try to show Guddi the difference between the real world and the reel world.
For the next few weeks, Guddi visits film sets of Dharmendra's movies and finds that the world and the person fascinated her were not the same. She lets go of her crush and finds that she is really in love with Navin.
For the songs, Gulzar had written three beautiful meaningful songs which were perfectly in tune with the debut singer Vani Jairam from South India. The songs in ‘Guddi,’ were like meaningful poetry blowing in the breeze and blending with the listener’s heart and mind.
‘Bole re papii haraa papiiharaa
Nit man tarase, nit man pyaasaa
Nit man pyaasaa, nit man tarase
Bole re...
When Vasant Desai got the three songs from Gulzar, he immensely liked the lyrics from him. And when Gulzar told him about the situation, he suggested Gulzar that he would compose ‘Bol Re Papi Hara ,’ in Raag ‘Miyan Malhar,’ and ‘Tal – Kaherava.’ ‘Miyan Malhar,’ is a popular Raaga of the Malhar group and is traditionally associated with the monsoon season. ‘Bol Re Papi,’ was picturised on Jaya Bhaduri and Navin People were bowled over by the excellent and natural acting proves of debut actor Jaya Bhaduri in the movie and her perfectly matching audio sound of Vani Jairam.
‘Hum Ko Man Ki Shakthi Dena, Man Vijay Kare, Doosaron Ki Jai Se Pehle, Khud Ki Jai Kare,’ the second song in the movie, which can be also considered as a good devotional song , is picturised in the movie as a school prayer song with Jaya Bhaduri singing in the lead and a group of school kids as chorus singing. The song was composed in ‘Kedar Raag,’ and ‘Taal- Dadra.’And the third song from ‘Guddi,’ was ‘Hari Bin Kaise Jeevun Ri,’ a traditional Meera Bhajan.
As soon as ‘Guddi,’ was released in theatres across the country in 1971, the film and the songs were welcomed with such fanfare that never did the makers of the movie realized that it would be such a super mega hit. Gulzar’s simple story line and beautiful picturisation of songs, coupled with Vasant Desai’s marvelous Hindustani raga based music composition ,an excellent direction by Hrishikesh Mukherji and powerful acting by Dharmendra and Jaya Bhaduri and other supporting actors had all proved to be successful factors for making the movie a major hit.
In the movie’s Bollywood history, there was no other song like ‘Bol Re Papi Hara,’ and other two songs as well, which had such an impact, and got so much air time - both in the north and south. And for all the reasons well known to everyone was that these songs were not even a commercial type of songs like the rolling cabaret number "Piya Thu Ab Tho Aaja" from the movie ‘Caravan,’ sung by Asha Bhosle and R D Burman.
For Vani Jairam, the debut and novice playback singer from South India, her trademark song ‘Bol Re Papi,,’ won her five Awards including the prestigious 'TANSEN AWARD,’ (for best classical-based song in a hindi film,). Other accolades include The Lions International Best Promising Singer, The All India Cinegoers Association, and the All India Film-goers Association awards for the Best Playback Singer in 1971.
After her grand success following ‘Guddi,’ she was virtually flooded with obviously many offers from almost all the top-notch music directors in Bollywood. And there was no stopping her from being the busiest Indian playback singer in the following years in the language. It was film maker Prakash Verma who invited Vani Jairam to sing in his movie ‘Bansi Birju(1972),’ a romantic film. Incidentally, this movie also starred in Amitabh Bhachchan and Jaya Bhaduri and she sang two songs in the movie for the heroine, ‘Aaya koi khayaal,’ and ‘Hai Re Sainyan.’ The music direction was by Vijay Raghav Rao and the lyrics written by Yogesh Gaud.
Slowly, Vani Jairam was getting recognized as the much sought after playback singer and considered next in line to Bollywood Singing Legends Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Geeta Dutt and was often paired with male singers like Mohammed Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Mukesh Mahendra Kapoor etc. Just like being ‘Pure from Heart,’ person, as she was from the core from her heart, the next musical genius waiting to utilize Vani Jairam’s melodious and mellifluous voice was none other than Bollywood music maestro Naushad for producer and director Kamal Amrohi’s magnum opus, ‘Pakeezah,’(Pure of Heart).
‘Pakeezah,’ is being well remembered by generations of its admirers for its touching story of a courtesan and her love with a forest ranger. The music for the film was by Naushad/Ghulam Mohammed. Ghulam Mohammed passed away during the making of the film (having completed the feature track) and Naushad stepped in to add and polish the background score. Pakeezah, given that it was about "brothels " and "kothawalis" made great use of female voices in the form of songs heard in the background during a scene. Parveen Sultana, Rajkumari and Vani Jairam have sung three beautiful classical interludes (all about 3 mins) which were not included in the mainstream release of the soundtrack after the film was declared a super hit. These tracks were only available on the original LP. The later versions featured only the Lata / Rafi songs, and occasionally the Rajkumari track. The lyrics of the movie were Majrooh Sultanpuri, Kaifi Azmi, Kaif Bhopali, Kamal Amrohi
Exceptionally talented in singing Thumris and Bhajans, Naushad made use of her soulful voice to suitably record ‘Mora Sajan’(Literally meaning ‘My Man.’) ‘Thumri,’ style of singing is closest to the Hindustani light music resembling ‘Ghazal. In ‘Thumri,’ eroticism and romanticism are its heart and heartbeat As a style of singing, it came into being in the later Mughal years, and was afterwards a mere improvisation of the folk traditions that existed in and around Brij. Brij is the place of all the Krishna Leelas in Northern mythology. "Thumri" the word, comes from "Thumak" which means to "stomp" delicately.
For a professional Hindustani Light Classical singer, the Thumri offers the artiste a huge space of flexibility to explore the "longing" or "despair" through their voice. In the hands of a skillful singer, the Thumri glows with all the colour of romance, desire, and regret. These, though, were also the predominant subjects of the Ghazal. Naushad made Vani to sing just three lines of a well known Urdu Classic poetry, which began as
“Mora Sajan Souten Ghar Jaaye, Ab Main Kaise Kahoon?"
"Jab Mai Poochun, Kachu Woh Na Bole,
Jhooti Kasme Kahen, Haan,
Ab Mai Kaise Kahoon?"
Composed in ‘Pahadi Raag,’ Vani Jairam did convey an aura of feelings of romance, despair very strongly..
In 1973, Vani got to sing for two Hindi movies: ‘Ek Mutthi Aasmaan,’ and ‘Chalia.’
Produced and Directed by Virendra Singh, ‘Ek Muthi Aasmaan’ was a romantic melodrama. The music director was Madan Mohan and Vani Jairam was asked by the musical genius to sing a beautiful romantic duet with Kishore Kumar, ‘Pyar Kabhi Kam Na Karna Sanam.’ The lyrics was by ‘Chhalia,’( 1973) the film was shot in color, and it starred Nanda, Navin Nischol, and Shatrughan Sinha. It was directed by Mukul Dutt, and music was by R.D. Burman. Here again , Vani Jairam sang a duet number with the legendary Mukesh, ‘Zindagi Mein Aap Ayein.’
The year 1973 saw Vani Jairam becoming busiest playback singer in South India.. There, she recorded for both Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil film industry. In Between, she came to Bombay and recorded more Hindi film songs also.
Prominent Keralite Photographer and producer Sivan, father of Cinematographers Santhosh and Sangeeth Sivan, was producing a Malayalam film titled ‘Swapnam’(Dreams-1973). He included Poet O N V Kurup(He wrote under the pen name Balamurali as there was an earlier rule that people in government employment could not do other works.) and music direction was by Bollwood music director Salil Chowdhiry who had earlier shot to fame in Malayalam film industry as music composer through the national award winning movie ‘Chemmeen.’(1965).O N V wrote a beautiful song ‘Sourayudhathil vidarnnoru kalyaanam ,Sougandhikamanee bhoomee
Athil souvarna paraagamaanomale nee, Athin sourabhamaanente swapnam
Swapnam swapnam.’
Ever since after that, there was no stopping her in Malayalam. In the language,it was M K Arjunan, G Devarajan, and Salil Chowdhiry with whom Vani had recorded the largest number of songs.
After her debut in playback singing in Malayalam films in ‘Swapnam(1973),’she had to wait for an year to get another movie in the language. In 1974, she sang for ‘Ayalathe Sundari,’ under Sankar Ganesh’s music direction and the song was ‘Chitravarnapushpajalam.’ The lyrics was by Mankombu Gopalakrishnan.
‘Vaalkannezhuthi Vanapushpam Choodi,’ a melodious and romantic duet (with K J Yesudas) that made Vani Jairam a house hold name in Kerala was from the film ‘Picnic,’(1975). The lyricist –music director team was Sreekumaran Thampy and M K Arjunan. After that, she had sung the maximum number of songs by this duo. She had had the opportunity to sing many beautiful songs with Dakshinamoorthy, Devarajan, R . K.Sekhar, K J Joy, M S Viswanathan, A T Ummer, SHyam ,Shankar Ganesh, Johnson, Jerry Amal Dev etc.
Some of her most popular Malayalam songs numbering to nearly 1000 include ‘Sourayudhathil vidarnnoru kalyaana,’(Swapnam-1973;M:Salil Chowdhiry), ‘Chitravarnapuspajalam(Ayalathe Sundari -1974;M:Sankar Ganesh),’ ‘Vaalkannezhuthi Vanapushpam Choodi(Picnic-1975;M: M K Arjunan),’ ‘Ente kail Poothiri,’and ‘Kaathu Chennu Kalebharam,(Sammanam-1975;M:Dakshinamoorthy);’Dhoom,Dhana, DhoomDhana,(Thomasleeha-1975;M:Salil Chowdhiri); ‘Yakshi, Njanoru Yakshi,(Alibabayum 41 Kallanmarum-1975;M: Devarajan), ‘Thiruvonapulari Than,(Thiruvonam-1975;M:M K Arjunan); ‘NadanPattile Maina,(Raagam-1975;M:Salil Chowdhiri), ‘Swapnathilinnale(Omana Kunju-1975;M: M K Arjunan), ‘Padmatheertha Karail,(Babumon-1975;M:M S Viswanathan), ‘Kaathu Vannu vilicha Neram,(Padmaragam-1975,M:M K Arjunan), ‘Thedi, Thedi Njan Alanju,(Sindhu-1975;M;M K Arjunan), ‘Kumkuma Pottiloorum ,(Paalkadal-1975;M: AT Ummer)‘Ashadamasam(Yudhabhoomi-1975;M :R K Sekhar),’Kanna Karimukil Varna(Swimming Pool-1976; M: R K Sekhar), ‘Theyyathom, Theyathom, (Panchami-1976;M: S Vishwanathan) ;’Malarinum Manasinum(Kuttavum Sikshayum-1976;M: M S Vishwanathan), ‘Nayaka Palaka-1976;M:Shyam); ‘Mullamala Choodi Vanna (Ayiram Janmangal-1976)’EthoJanma Kalpanayil(Paalangal-1982;M:Johnson) to name a few.
In 1973 itself, Vani was introduced in Tamil by SV Subbiah in the film "Thaayum Seiyum" which did not see the light of the day and that song was "Ponmaayamaana ethirkaalam". But Vani’s first Tamil film released was ‘Veetukku Vandha Marumagal’(1973) and the song was ‘Or Idam Unnidam,’a duet with T M Soundara Rajan.and music direction by Sankar Ganesh. The movie starred AVM Rajan, Latha, Muthuraman etc. This song was picturized on AVMR and Latha.
Vani’s second Tamil film was ‘Sollathaan ninaikiren’ and the song was a dance number ‘Malar pol sirippathu pathinaaru.’ The Music was by Tamil music legend :M.S.Viswanathan.The film was K.Balachandar's celluloid adaptation of Maniyan's novel (Ilavu kaatha kili). The movie starred Sivakumar, Kamal, Srividya, Jayachitra, Subha, Jayasudha and others.
It was in 1974 that Vani got her first super hit in Tamil, ‘MalligaeyEn Mayangum,’ from the movie ‘Dheergha Sumangali Bhava.’ The film had acted K.R.Vijaya, Muthuraman, Major, Pushpalatha, Sivakumar, Jayachitra, Jayasudha and others. The film was a mixture of a good old "Family" story, with its share of joy and sorrow.
The director had beautifully picturised the song on K R Vijaya and Muthuraman. In the scene of the song, Muthuraman doesn't think too high of wife K RVijaya's people, who are country bumpkins. When the whole set of them gatecrash into their house, Muthuraman finds that he has no place to sleep, and so must sleep in the open. He is miffed about it. KRV, sensing his mood, gently shakes the jasmine creeper, so that the flowers fall on him, and sings this lovely song to pacify him.
K.R.Vijaya, in an interview, said that this was her favorite song. It was indeed a true justification from her side.
The other major Tamil film hits of Vani Jairam in 1974 include ‘Indha pennodu pirandhadhu – Samayalkaran;’ ‘Pon mana chemmalai - Sirithu vaazha vendum,’ ‘Sippiyile Muthu - Anbai thedi,’ ‘Thaththi chellum muthu kannan - Thanga Padhakkam,’ ‘Kannadi amma un Idhayam – Paadhapoojai,’ ‘Sugham Sugham ithu – Paadhapoojai ,’ ‘Naan solla vandhen - Pudhiya Manithan,’ ‘Enakkenna manakavalai - Sorgathil thirumanam,’ ‘Aagayam mazhai pozhinja - Dhikkatra Parvathi,’ ‘Enna kutram seitheno - Dhikkatra Parvathi,’ ‘Anbu Meghamey - Engamma Sabatham,’
‘Vaa ilamai azhaikkinrathu - Engamma sabatham,’
‘Enna maharani - Ungal Viruppam,’ and ‘Unakku naan sondham - Unnai thaan thambi.’ ‘Indha pennodu pirandhadhu – Samayalkaran’ ;Music : M S Vishwanathan.
The song was from Minerva Movies' Samayalkaran,’ which was a rather dandy remake of Rajesh Khanna's famous "Bawarchi". Mu Ka Muthu played the Tamizh Bawarchi.
Music maestro M S Vishwanathan had given a couple of good songs. Mu Ka Muthu's "Sondhakkaranga enakku romba perunga" was very popular. Other songs include the classical "Naan paadidum kavithaiyin"-TMSoundarajan and "Unakkum ragasiyam"-T M Soundararajan & P Susheela. .
‘Indha Pennodu piranthathu nadanam ,’ was a dance competition. It was through this song that S Janaki & Vani Jairam came together for the first time.
Same year, Vani had the opportunity to sing for an M G Ramachandran starrer ‘Sirithu vaazha vendum,’and the song was ‘Pon mana chemmalai,’ a duet with T M Soundararajan. The movie was directed by S.S.Balan- S.S.Vasan's son. Starred MGR and Latha.Music direction of course was by M S Vishwanathan.
Vani Jairam starts off singing the song like this ‘Pon mana chemmalai pun pada cheithathu yaaro, athu yaaro? Un manam enbathum en manam enbathum vero arivaaro?
Vani’s another popular Tamil number was from Muktha Films' Anbai Thedi, directed, of course by Muktha V Srinivasan, starred Sivaji Ganesan, Jayalalitha, Major Sundararajan, Vijayakumari, Srikanth, Subha, Manohar, Manorama and others. It was a Deepavali release of 1974.
She had sung many more innumerable super hit songs in Tamil in the year 1975 and 1976.
Who would not be able to forget a beautiful and ever popular number admired throughout generations, ‘Ezhu Swarangalkullil..’ from the movie ‘Apoorva Ragangal,’ in 1976? This song fetched Vani her first National Award for Best Playback Singer in Tamil for this movie.
Vani Jairam’s most famous songs and films in Tamil include the following:
‘Kannan Kovil Paravai ithu – Akka,’; ‘Nilavu Theivathu – Akka,’ ‘Maalaimalar pandhal – Akka,’ ‘Idhuthaan mudhal raathiri - Oorukku Uzhaippavan,’ ‘Kodivitta Sirumullai - Mayor Meenakshi,’ ‘Thirumurugan Aruginiley - Mayor Meenakshi,’ ‘Irundhaal ozhunga iru - Mayor Meenakshi,’ ‘Kalyyaanamey Oru pennoduthaan – Lalitha,’ ‘Sorgathiley mudivaanathu – Lalitha,’ ‘Naan oru vagayinil - Oru Kodiyil Iru Malargal,’ ‘Aadi velli thedi unnai - Moondru Mudichu,’ ‘Vasantha kaala nadhigaliley - Moondru Mudichu,’
‘Aththani Mandapathil - Maharasi Vaazhga,’ ‘Isaithuraiyil enakku kaadhal - Maharasi Vaazhaga,’ ‘Vaanathil paduthu - Veedu Varai Uravu,’ ‘Anbey un peyar enna – Idayamalar,’ ‘Chendumalli poo pol – Idayamalar,’ ‘Saamathil pootha malli - Ungalil Oruthi,’ ‘Neeyum vaazha vendum - Chitra Pournami,’ ‘Aagayathil thottil kattum - Thunivey Thunai,’ ‘No No No - Unakkaga Naan,’ ‘Avaley en kaadhali - Perum Pugazhum,’ ‘Aaramba kaalam – Payanam ,’ ‘Pazhathottam en thottam - Uzhaikkum Karangal,’ ‘Kandhanukku maalaiyittaal - Uzhaikkum Karangal,’ ‘Naadhamenum kovililey - Manmatha Leelai,’ ‘Chabalam Salanam - Oh Manju,’
‘Manamagaley - Kalangalil Aval Vasantham,’ ‘Paadum Vande Parthathunda - Kalangalil Aval Vasantham,’ ‘Anbenum sudaraal - Kaalangalil Aval Vasantham,’
‘Mudhal mudhal varum - Kaalangalil Aval Vasantham,’ ‘Sangeetham ragangal illamala ‘Moham 30 varusham,’ ‘Gangai Nadhiyoram Raman Nadandhaan – Varaprasadam,’
‘Ninaipathu Niraiverum - Ninaipathu Niraiverum,’ ‘Ennendru Solvenadi - Ninaipathu Niraiverum,’ ‘Naal Nalla Naal - Panakkaara Penn,’ ‘Madhukkinnam yendhungal - Mittai Mummy,’ and ‘Aandavanilla Ulagamedhu - Oru Oodhaappoo Kann Simittugirathu.’
During 1975-1979,Vani had sung many more hit songs in Tamil, which will be dealt in separate chapters.
Taking from the name of Carnatic Classical Raga ‘Sankarabharanam,’ the movie ‘Sankarabharanam ,’ was a 1979 musical film in the Telugu language, directed by Dr. K. Vishwanath and produced by Poornodaya Movie Creations. It led to the revival of Indian classical music in Andhra Pradesh. The movie deals with 2 relevant topics-Decline in popularity of Carnatic music and the teacher-student relationship.
Even today, the movie is considered to be one of the best to have ever emerged from Telugu film industry. When the movie was dubbed into other South Indian languages, the lyrics of the songs were not translated into those languages. ‘Sankarabharanam,’ is rated as the 2nd best film of K.Vishwanath .
A film which can be purely put in ‘Classical Musical Genre,’‘Sankarabharanam,’ was made with a different approach when Telugu cinema was itself coming into terms with modernization in technicalities of the industry.
As mentioned earlier, the movie’s theme dealt with two subjects- 1)Decline in Carnatic music and the Guru-Sishya Bhandam.
The film released in only one theatre and opened to empty hall. But it later turned out to be one of the biggest hits of 1979 owing to the positive feedback from the audience.
The film had a 216 day show at Royal theatre, Hyderabad.The success of this film opened up a sequence of other art movies in Telugu, including Thyagayya (by Bapu), Meghasandesam (by Dasari N. Rao), and Viswanath's own follow-ups to Sankaraabharanam: ‘Saagara Sangamam,’ ‘Sruthi Layalu,’ ‘Swarna Kamalam,’ ‘Sirivennela,’ and ‘Swathi Kiranam.’ It was remade in Hindi as Sur Sangam and dubbed in Malayalam as the same title.
Producers of Poornodya Movie creations, Sriramulu Akasam and Edida Nageswara Rao had roped in some of the best talents in music industry for its music department. K V Mahadevan was brought in as the Music Director. S P Balasubramaniam, S Janaki and Vani Jairam were the playback singers. Vani had sung five classical numbers under Mahadevan’ s music compositions. ‘Yetheerugananu,’ ‘Bro Chei Vara Varura (A duet with S P Balasubramaniam), ‘Manasa Sancharare ,’ ‘Paluke,’ and ‘Dwaraguna.’(also, a duet with S P Balasubramaniam). These and other songs from the movie set a trend in Telugu music industry like a storm.
The movie won many accolades and awards including the following : I) Vani Jayaram for National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer (1980); II) National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment (1980); III) - K. V. Mahadevan for National Film Award for Best Music Direction (1980);and IV) S. P. Balasubrahmanyam for National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer (1980) -;
In between her busiest schedule in South India, singing for Kannada, Tamil and Telugu movies, she went to Bombay with her ever long husband, Jairam, and recorded many Hindi, Marathi, Gujarathi, Oriya film songs and devotionals. In 1972, she sang for the Hindi movie ‘Ghunghat,’ which won her the Best Playback singer award from the Gujarat State Government the same year. Vani Jairam’s most popular Hindi films include, ‘ Parinay,’(1974), ‘Jurm Aur Sazaa (1974),’ ‘Aaina (1977),’ ‘Aakhri Sangram (1984),’ ‘Wafadaar (1985),’ Waqt Ka Shahenshah (1987),’ ‘Sri Shirdi Saibaba Mahathyam,’(1987) etc.
In 1979, another film and its songs changed the course of Vani’s professional singing career. ‘Meera.’ The movie was a 1979 Hindi film by Gulzar. The film was based on the life of Meera, a Hindu saint-poet who renounced princely comforts in pursuit of her love for Lord Krishna. The film portrayed the life and times of Mirabai from a historical perspective rather than a mythological angle. Through Meera's life, Gulzar had depicted a woman's struggle to find her independence, dignity and spiritual satisfaction in a society where women are supposed to be worthy of only taking care of the household chores.
When the movie ‘Meera,’ was released during the 1970's, in Bollywood, post ‘Zanjeer,’ ‘Anand,’ ‘Mili,’ and the Angry Young Hero image for Amitabh had been going like a wave overshadowing everything else in the industry. As such, this non-mainstream movie didn't appeal to many people and hence the film was a major box office failure. After ‘Meera ,’ Gulzar didn't make any film for 5 years.
Before starting the shooting of the film, the producer of the movie, Premji, had decided that the character of ‘Meera,’ had to be played by Hema Malini.And ofcourse, the dream girl did became the Divine ‘Meera.’ Another interesting trivia connected with the shoot of the film was that the entire Meera soundtrack was recorded in only 2 weeks because music director Pt Ravi Shankar had no more free dates. Though the movie was a failure, its music and songs stands a living testimony withstanding its test of times. It is indeed a treasure house for all those who admire and love Meera bhajans. And Vani Jairam had the golden opportunity to have Pandit ravi shankar record these songs.
Traditional Meera Bhajans like ‘Mere Tho Giridhar Gopal,’ ‘Pyare Darshan,’ ‘Man Re Parasi,’ ‘Bala Mein Bhairagan,’ ‘Jo Thum Thodo,’ ‘Karuna Suno Shyam More’are still being immortalized by music director Pt Ravi Shankar through the mellifluous and saint like voice of Vani Jairam. She received the Film Fare Award of 1980 for the Best Playback singer for this movie in 1980.
‘Swathi Kiranam,’ was a 1992 Telugu film directed by Dr.K.Viswanath. The movie starred Mammootty, Manjunath, and Radhika. The movie was about an egoistic music teacher unable to tolerate the extraordinary talent of his prodigious young disciple. Swathi Kiranam is rated as the best film made by K.Vishwanath .
The music department of ‘Swathikiranam,’ was also handled by the same team who did ‘Shankarabharanam.’ K V Mahadevan . Classical songs like ‘ Anjaneya Raa,’ ‘Jaliga Jalibamma,’ ‘ Konda Konallo,’ ‘ Pranathi Pranathi ,’ ‘Shivani Bhavani,’ ‘Sruthi Neevu,’
Etc are still being popular thanks to magnificent music direction and soulful singing by Vani Jairam. She received the President of India National Award for the Best Playback singer for the Telugu Film ‘Swathikiranam,’(1992). The movie was dubbed in Malayalam as ‘Pranavam,’ without much change in its lyrics by famous lyricist Mankombu Gopalakrishnan.
Off late, Vani had been recording many devotional and light classical musical cassettes. She had the privilege of working with veteran artiste like Kathak Maestro Pandit Birju Maharaj. She had the rare honour of Guru Kelucharan Mahopatra accompaniying her on Pakhawaj for her recording of Jayadeva’s ‘ Geetha Govinda.’ At present, Vani Jairam is now engaged fully as a Bhajan singer giving live concerts all over the country and abroad, bringing to life the immortal ‘krithis,’ of many poets like ‘Tulasidas,’ ‘’Kabir,’ ‘Surdas,’ ‘Meera,’ ‘Jayadeva,’ ‘Thukkaram,’ ‘Annamaya,’ ‘Purandara Dasa and ‘Bharathiar.’
She had participated in all the Major music festivals of India like ‘Badri Kedar Festival,’ ‘Ganga Mahotsavam- Varanasi,’ ‘Meera Utsav- Chittorgarh,’ ‘Dover Lane Festival- Calcutta,’ and ‘Swami Haridas Festival- Brindavan.’
A keen human-nature lover, Vani is deeply concerned about future of the younger generations. She makes it a point to go to some schools wherever she travels. She interacts with the children and conducts Music workshops to serious music students so that they can imbibe from her the richness of Indian culture and tradition .
Apart from her busy schedules, touring all over the world, giving live concerts, Vani takes time to spend with her husband, Jairam, who has been accompanying her after their marriage. She spends her free time in sketching, painting and embroidery. She also composes songs and sets them to music.
