An undated photo of legendary playback singer P. Jayachandran who passed away at the age of 80 on January 9, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Indian music has lost one of its finest voices.
A voice that brought out the expression of a song the way perhaps nobody else could. A voice that could make its presence felt despite being a contemporary of a phenomenon called K.J. Yesudas. There cannot be a challenge tougher than that in music.
P. Jayachandran, who died at a private hospital in Thrissur on Thursday (January 9, 2025), was a gifted singer who regaled generations with his songs in Malayalam and Tamil. His songs will continue to regale generations to come.
He had made a sudden impact with his song Manjalayail mungithorthi for the 1966 film Kalithozhan. It was composed by G. Devarajan, one of the greatest music directors in Indian cinema whose genius, however, was limited only to Malayalam cinema.
Devarajan swore by Yesudas, but he still gave Jayachandran some of his finest tunes, such as Thottene njaan mananssu kondu (Kottaram Vilkanundu), Ishta praneswari (Chukku), Malayala bhasha than (Prethangalude Thazhvara), Maanathu kannikal (Madhavikutty) Mallika baanan thante (Achani) and Ramzanile chandrikayo (Alibabayum 41 Kallanmarum).
The maestro also gave him an incredibly sweet light song – Onnini sruthi thaazhthi paaduka poonkuyile. It is a light song written by ONV Kurup. It was the late poet’s lullaby for his wife. And it found the perfect voice in Jayachandran. This writer once had the privilege to listen him to sing that song from his hotel room in Kozhikode: the image is still fresh in memory, him singing lying on his bed.
Jayachandran was also the singer who rendered the sweetest lullaby a man has sung for his lover on silver screen – Rajeeva nayane neeyurangoo (Chandrakantham). That was tuned by M.S. Viswanathan, who was the composer of some of Jayachandran’s best songs, such as Swarnagopura narthakee shilplam, Karpoora deepathin kaanthiyil (both Divyadarsanam) and Suprabhatham (Panitheeratha Veedu).
Many of those songs were written by Sreekumaran Thampi, who once neatly summed up Jayachandran’s career for The Hindu: “A banyan tree does not allow another one to flourish under it, but Jayachandran proved that it was possible.”
Thampi is also the lyricist of some the other big hits of Jayachandran, like Sougandhikangale vidaruvin (Pathira Suryan), Chandathil kadanjeduthoru. (Shasthram Jayichu Manushyan Thottu, Sandhyakkenthinu sindooram (Maya) and Nin maniyarayile (CID Nazir), Poorendumukhiyodambalathil (Kurukshethram), Anuraga ganam pole (Udyogastha), Njanitha thirichethi (Asuravithu), Suprabhatham (Panitheeratha Veedu), Raagam sreeraagam (Bandhanam) and Ekanthapathikan njaan (Ummachu).
Jayachandran has also to his credit some big hits in Tamil. Rasathi unna (Vaidehi Kathirunthal), Enmel vizhuntha (May Matham) and Oru daivam thantha (Kannathil Muthamittal).
He was also the singer of the most popular devotional album in Malayalam Pushpanjali, composed by P.K. Kesavan Namboodiri. Its songs such as Ambadi thannilorunni, Vadakkunnathanu and Vighneswara had many admirers, including Sivaji Ganesan. Like romance, devotion too shone through his voice.
One of the remarkable things about Jayachandran is that age barely affected his voice. He managed to sound like a young man in love for much of his life.
After being away from the limelight for a while, he had made a stunning comeback with the song Prayam nammil for the 1999 film Niram, a campus love story directed by Kamal. And the peppy number was instant chart-topper.
He gave his best to every song that came his way. He made a song his own. Just listen to his rendition of Saugandhikangale vidaruvin, a brilliant composition by V. Dakshinamoorthy.
Songs like that show how difficult a singer he is to imitate. You wouldn’t find too many clones of Jayachandran.
It is strange that Jayachandran’s song ended a day after the State School Arts Festival ended at Thiruvananthapuram. It was at the second edition of the festival, held here in 1958, that he made his first mark in music. He was placed second in Light Music, behind Yesudas. The following year, he bagged the first prize.
His music is priceless.
Published – January 10, 2025 12:25 am IST
