Apoorva Raagangal

Vani Jayaram, who is a favorite of listeners, departed after singing melodious songs that would forever remain in our memories. The death, which causes pain in everyone, comes a week after the country announced her Padma Bhushan award. Although not a Malayali by birth, Kerala had always accepted her as a Malayali singer. P Sushila, S Janaki, and Vani Jayaram were part of a chain in the indelible melodies of a golden era in film music. A songbird has left for the first time from that link.

Vani Jayaram, who sang more than 10,000 songs in various languages ​​like Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Marathi, and Hindi, won national recognition for best singer three times.

In the debut movie of cinematographer and director Shivan, 'Swapnam', the song ''sourayoodhathil vidarnnoru' penned by ONV and composed by famous music director Salil Chowdhury marked the debut of Vani Jayaram in Malayalam movie industry. Every song she sang was full of energy. Vani Jayaram's songs had a magical touch that transcended the ordinary and took the listener to an emotional level.

Vani Jayaram was born as Kalaivani in 1945 in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. Like that meaningful name, she glowed in the field of art. Father Doraiswamy was an official in a private company. Mother Padmavati's musical taste was also imparted to her daughter. Kadalur Srinivasa Iyengar, TR Balasubramanian, and RS Mani were the teachers of Vani in Carnatic music. She learned Hindustani from Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan. She devotedly practiced music for up to eighteen hours a day.

The singer in Vani Jayaram emerged when she married Jayaram, a native of Mumbai, who was a music enthusiast. Jairam, a high official, was also a sitar player. As an economics graduate, Vani Jayaram joined the job as a bank officer but left the job after becoming active in the singing industry. Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan introduced Vani Jayaram to famous Hindi music director Vasant Desai. It was when Hrishikesh Mukherjee, the unique talent of Hindi film world, was looking for a new singer for his film 'Guddi'. Desai introduced Vani Jayaram in that film. Vaani's Hindi debut was a storm, singing all the songs from the film, including the all-time hit 'Bole Re Papihara'. Although she has sung with luminaries since Mohammad Rafi, due to the authoritarian tendencies of some female singers in the Hindi music world, Vani Jayaram had focused on other Indian languages. The singer Vani Jayaram received a huge welcome there. Like 'Manasa Sancharare' from Sankarabharanam, Vani Jayaram's songs remain indelible in every language. Her nature was as beautiful as her songs. All the songs that Vanijayaram gave to Malayalam were superhits, including the ones with the new generation of singers.

Vaal kannezhuthi vanapushpam choodi, thiruvona pularithan thirumal kazhcha vangan, ashada masam aathmavil moham, padmatheerthakkarayil, nadanpattile mina, onnanam kunninmel, etho janma kalpanayil .......so many immortal songs.

Although the death of her husband Jayaram had left her depressed, she came to sing again from the encouragement of loved ones. Manathe Marikurumbe, Pookkal Panineer, Olanajali Kuruvi, all these songs proved that age has not affected Vanijayaram's melodiousness in any way.

But despite singing so many great songs, Vani Jayaram not winning the Kerala State Film Award for Best Female Singer can be seen as Kerala's loss rather than hers.

Vanijayaram's voice was pure and deep. Malayalis will never forget those sweet songs. That departure is a great loss for Indian film music itself. We pay homage to Vani Jayaram's memory.