Sujata Mohan looks back on her five decades as Singer

Sujata Mohan looks back on her five decades as Singer

Sujatha Mohan, the acclaimed singer who has recorded close to 8,000 songs looks back on her five decades as a singer
The acclaimed singer, who has recorded close to 8,000 film songs across languages, looks back at her journey

Amid her media interaction Sujatha Mohan goes on to say that she has found most of the songs easy to sing, with the exception of a couple of occasions.

The singer embarked on her singing career
at a time when society believed girls should not sing in public.
Recently she clocked five decades in singing, and has a strong fanbase that spans generations.

Some people recollect her as the girl with an angelic voice and smile, a gossamer bow holding up her hair as she sang with veteran singer K.J. Yesudas. Some others recall her early hits such as ‘Kannezhuthy pottuthottu’ (composed by M. K. Arjunan for the Malayalam movie Tourist Bungalow) and ‘Odakkuzhal vili’ (composed by M.G. Radhakrishnan for All India Radio), ‘Kaalai paniyil’ and ‘Oru iniya manadhu’ (both composed by Ilaiyaraaja for the Tamil films Gayathri and Johnny respectively).

Her association with
A.R. Rahman
in the 1990s is remembered for ‘Pudhu vellai mazhai’ (Roja), ‘Netru illadha maatram’ (Pudhiya Mugam) and ‘Poopookum osai’ (Minsara Kanavu), etc. Today’s teens and young adults know Sujatha more as a genial judge at music reality shows.
Mention all this, and you can sense Sujatha smiling at the other end of the phone. Sujatha has always gone with the flow, and it just worked out. Even singing was not something that she had planned. It just happened. She believes in destiny.
The way she traverses the octaves with ease showcases that she is a trained singer. Sujatha learnt Carnatic music from Neyyattinkara Vasudevan and Ochira Balakrishnan, while musicians Rex Isaac and Emile Isaac trained her in light music. She lost her father when she was just two years old. Because she grew up in a single parent household, there were many restrictions. She reminisces sneaking into the house at 2 a.m. after stage shows.

Notwithstanding the huge popularity she went on to enjoy, the disciplined environment at home ensured she remained grounded. She was expected to study well and get married. She did that too she reveals amidst peels of laughter.

However, when once Sujatha realised music is her calling, she put in the work to carve her own niche and she feels fortunate to have got the support of stalwarts such as Yesudas, M. Jayachandran, Ouseppachan, Raveendran, Ilaiyaraaja, Rahman, Vidyasagar, Sirpi and Keeravani.”

She recalls musicians like veteran singer Yesudas, MK Arjunan, Ilaiyaraaja,, AR Rahman, Vidyasagar, Deva, Mani Sharma, Johnson, Ouseppachan, M Jayachandran, Deepak Dev, Raveendran, SA Rajkumar, Keeravani and Sirpi.

Notably, Sujatha sang her way to fame and took great care of her voice. She never wanted to do anything that would have affected her singing.”
So, Sujatha gave up offers to judge reality shows early on in her career since that would have meant staying put in studios for long hours. Regardless all this, she suffered vocal issues in 2010, when even speaking became a chore. But she worked hard to regain her voice.
Sujatha has sung ‘Ishq bina’ in Taal with a certain purity of sound that serves the demand of the song.

Sujatha’s is a voice that carries a certain wonder for the world around her — think ‘Pudhu vellai mazhai’, and you can imagine someone looking wide-eyed at Nature’s magnificence. If you listen to ‘Ishq Bina’ (from the Hindi film Taal), you experience a fresh, tender love, with innocence filling its depths. There’s a certain purity of sound that serves the demand of the song. The flourishes are there only when needed. Else, what you get is sheer melody.

Sujatha over the years says she’s never really found any song difficult or been nervous about getting it right, with the exception ⁵couple of occasions. She recollects remeiiì‘Anandam anandam’ composed by Vidyasagar for Murai Maaman. Unnikrishnan sang the male portion, and it had a lot of Carnatic influences. She wondered if she could manage. She went on to add that when she recently met the film’s producer, he mentioned how she ended up recording it very fast. But, she wasn’t so lucky enough with ‘Kaathu kaathu dinam kaathu’ for Uzhavan, with music by Rahman. She had a throat infection, and gave up after three or four attempts. Chitra finally rendered the song. For Sujatha there have also been songs where the popularity was way above the effort. “‘Edho oru paatu’ from Unnidathil Ennai Koduthaen was easy to sing, but she instinctively knew it would go places, because of the emotion behind the song.”

A lifelong student of music, Sujatha even learns from reality shows. She signed up for these shows, thinking it will be a great chance to pass on acquired knowledge. But, now, she has realised that children are great teachers too. They have a way of simplifying some sangathis with ease. So much so that I would think: ‘Ada, ippadi kooda paadalaama?’ (ah, this can be sung this way too!)”

Sujatha excels in the joy of getting a chance to mould young talent. “Sometimes, you just need to hear two phrases to know a child will go places. It is a privilege to see their growth during the course of the show. She is much attached to these children, and stay in touch. Some like D. Sathyaprakash (Super Singer 3 runner-up) still send across their new work. It feels good to have a ringside view of their journey.” Because she had been a child performer, Sujatha also understands the state of mind of children – their fears and insecurities.  
As Baby Sujatha, everything was given to me on a platter. Members of the orchestra always encouraged me. Even later, I never faced any difficulty, because, across industries, I was known as the child who sang with Das anna.” 
While establishing herself after a break, Sujatha kept her spirits up. She had kept her practice going. And, it helped when she was back behind the mic.

Director Priyadarshan addressed her Chitram. Then, Rahman entered the scene. A new set of songs came my way.

Sujatha’s ability to pronounce Tamil words well has impressed many. Her ÿÿ. vacations would be in Chennai and so, Tamizh came easily though we did not speak it at home.

For pronunciation, she would listen to the songs of P. Susheela amma and S. Janaki amma. Moreover, during recording, the lyricists would be around, guiding us.

All these years, she has operated only on the principle that every song should be sung like it is one’s debut song. A singer is the first one translating the music composer’s idea into vocals, and it is important to get into the mood of the song.

When you think it is your maiden song, you’ll be full of butterflies, and that instils a certain discipline,” says Sujatha. And, while practice and the quest for perfection are important, the singer says, her first take is usually the best.

News Edit KV Raman