Congratulations to SB Khanthan and Lalitha Ram. They have produced a long documentary and tried to capsule the man's multifaceted genius. A number of distinguished musicians, artistes and others describe him and his greatness as it touched them in reverential joy. But I feel the labels are all like flowers that adorn a beautiful deity in such a way that we feel finally the flowers are only a token of our devotion, they can hardly embellish the true beauty of the idol.
I learnt to my astonishment that Sri Rajam-
...Learnt music from Balu Dikshitar, Papanasam Sivan, Muthiah Bhagavatar and Madurai Mani Iyer and many others.
...Learnt Purandaradasa krithis from Smt Lalithangi and won a first prize at MA in his teens, where she also competed and was placed second.
...learnt art and later visited Ajanta and decided to chalk out his own path with watercolours and brushes
...mastered and a taught 72 melakarta compositions of Koteeshwara Iyer
...tuned Sarvam Brahma Mayam in Madhuvanti
...was a famous extremely handsome film star when S Balachander, the brother was much younger and unknown
...could draw at 70 as he could draw at 25, and sing too the same way
...taught a song to anyone who asked, even someone on the street opposite BVB in Mylapore
...discovered the beauties of so-called Vivadhis and sang them so positively as to earn praise from SSI
(That's like a master discovering hidden beauty, flowering potential and fragrance in plants we long neglected in a well-tended garden showing off the roses and dahlias)
...created masterly multilayered watercolour works to embody the visualisations of Dikshitar and Thyagaraja and others...
...was least rewarded by the Carnatic community for his unremitting labours of astounding creativity.....
Yes, the labels fall off this man. Should we hail the era and milieu that gave birth to this man, or thank God that we breathe the same air that he breathed?
