T. M. Soundararajan

He lent his voice to actors and thespians in the Tamil film industry such as M. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, N. Rama Rao, Gemini Ganesan, S. Rajendran, Jaishankar, Ravichandran, A. Muthuraman, Nagesh, Sivakumar, Kantha Rao, Rajkumar, Prem Nazir and A. He also gave his voice to many new generation actors like Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Vijayakanth, Satyaraj, Rajesh, Prabhu, and Vijaya Kumar, in addition to other known and unknown heroes and supporting actors like M.R. Radha, K R Ramaswami, T. Ramaswami, Thengai Sreenivasan, M.N. Nambiar, Thangavelu, Y.G. Ashokan, Ranjan, Narasimha Bharathi, Sahasra Namam, T S Balayya, Jagayya, Nagayya, Thyagarajan, Sreenath, Shankar etc. Besides primarily Tamil, he also sang in other languages including Sourashtra, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, and Malayalam. He was a lyricist and music composer for many devotional songs. He was the music director for the film Bala Parikshai. His peak period as a male playback singer in the South Indian film industry was from 1955 to 1985. His first film song was in 1946, at the age of 24, and his last was with P. Susheela during 2010 at the age of 88. He was a devotee of Sathya Sai Baba and also sang songs about him. TMS died on 25 May 2013 at his residence in Mandaveli, Chennai due to illness. He was 91 years old.

• Name — T. M. Soundararajan • Alias — TMS • Born — 24 March 1922 • Birthplace — Madurai, Madras Presidency, British India • Origin — Madurai, Madras Presidency, British India • Died — 25 May 2013 • Place of death — Chennai, India • Genre — Playback singing and classical musician • Occupation — Singer and actor • Instrument — Vocal • Years Active — 1946–2013

Soundararajan was born in Madurai, the second son of Meenakshi Iyengar and Venkatammaa on 24 March 1922. His elder brother was a scholar. He trained his voice starting at age seven. He first studied Carnatic music from Chinnakonda Sarangapani Bhagavathar, a music teacher from Sourashtra High School, Madurai. Later, he learned Carnatic music from Arayakkudi Rajamani Iyer and started giving stage concerts at the age of 23. His first Carnatic musical concert was at SathGuru Samajam, Madurai in 1945 with violinist C. R. Mani and Mridangist S. S. Vijaya Ratnam accompanying him on the instruments. He started singing in stage concerts in the voice of the then-famous classical singer and actor M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar.

He married Sumithra in 1946 with whom he had three sons and three daughters. He lived in his home at Mandaveli, Chennai, Tamil Nadu until his death.

Soundararajan was initially rejected by music composers and recording technicians because his voice was cracking and showed variation in higher pitches. He started working in the house of Sundar Rao Nadkarni, a director in the Central Studios, hoping to get a chance to sing in movies. The director recommended him to S. M. Subbaiah Naidu. In 1946, Naidu gave TMS an opportunity to sing five songs in the style of M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar for a film of P. V. Narasimha Bharathi: Krishna Vijayam. Though the songs were noted since 1946, the film was released in 1950. One of his songs in that movie, "Raathey Ennai Vittu Pogathedi," became a hit and he was paid Rs 625. In the same year (1950), G. Ramanathan had him sing "Annamitta Veettiley" for an unknown actor in the film Manthiri Kumari. In 1951, TMS acted and sang "Theeraatha Thuyaralley" in the film Devagi again by G. Ramanathan. In 1952, S. Dakshinamurthi gave TMS two duet songs in the movie Valaiyapathi – "Kulir Thaamarai Poigaiyai Kanden" and "Kulungidum Poovilellaam" – both with singer K. Jamuna Rani where TMS had an opportunity to sing songs written by the Tamil poet Bharathidasan. G. Ramanathan had TMS and K. Rani sing for Kalyani. In 1953, when Albela was dubbed into Tamil, the music director C. Ramchandra had two duets by TMS and M. S. Rajeswari: "Joraga Paadi Anbaaga Aadi" and "Thozhi Un Kann Edhire Kodi". Even though these songs were well received, there were no further chances for TMS for a while. Then TMS went to His Master's Voice studio where K. V. Mahadevan recorded two devotional songs for which he was paid just Rs 80. Mahadevan told TMS to seek a chance with AVM Productions which was looking for new voices. TMS sang two songs for the film Chella Pillai. One was a solo ("Podanum Kulla Podanum") and the other was a duet with M.S. Rajeswari ("Naadu Nadakkira Nadayiley") under R. Sudarsanam's composition. The film was released in 1955. These music composers helped and trained the determined and ambitious TMS, who was able to overcome his voice problems to a good degree with time. In 1954, A. Maruthakasi recommended TMS to sing in Aruna Pictures' Thookku Thookki. Till then C. S. Jayaraman used to sing playback for Sivaji Ganesan and Sivaji doubted the suitability of his voice. TMS offered to sing three songs free. TMS and Sivaji Ganesan were introduced to each other and, in the short conversation that followed, TMS studied the voice of Sivaji Ganesan. TMS sang "Sundari Soundari" and "Eraatha Malaithanile", closely imitating Sivaji Ganesan. G. Ramanathan, who was the music director for that film, was so pleased that he gave TMS the chance to sing all the Sivaji Ganesan songs in that production. In the same year, T. R. Ramanna and T. R. Rajakumari started RR Films. As the film Koondukkili was under production stage, TMS had originally been given a chance to sing only in a chorus. Koondukkili was the only film where MGR and Sivaji acted together. Tanjai Ramayah Dass was very impressed with the golden voice of TMS and asked the story and dialogue writer Vindhan to give a chance to TMS to sing a full solo. TMS sang "Konjum Kiliyana Pennai" under K. V. Mahadevan's composition for Sivaji Ganesan. When the song was recorded, MGR heard it and was so impressed that he wanted TMS to become his permanent playback singer. TMS was used in MGR's next movie Malaikkallan. Though he first recorded a song for the film Manthiri Kumari starring M. G. Ramachandran (MGR) in 1950, the song that announced the arrival of TMS on the big screen was "Ethanai Kaalamthaan Ematruvaar Indha Naattile" written by Tanjai Ramaiyah Dass and composed by S. M. Subbaiah Naidu. for M.G.R. During this period, TMS got an opportunity to sing in films like Kalvanin Kadhali, Vedan Kannappa, Rishi Sringer and Neela Malai Thirudan. TMS was the beneficiary of the first stereo recording in South India for a Tamil devotional song titled "Mannanalum Thiruchenthooril Mannaven". From 1955 onward Sivaji insisted that TMS sing for him. Since then, TMS was mainly singing playback for the superstars MGR and Sivaji till the end of 1978 and 1995 respectively. He adopted styles while singing for each actor that synchronized very well with their voices. His first musical concert abroad was in Malaysia in 1957. He continued to perform all over the world for almost 50 years till 2007, after which he restricted singing live on stage for health reasons. He has two sons who have voices similar to their father and have sung songs of TMS all over the world in concerts since 1980 till 2012, often with their father. The sons continue to do TMS concerts after the death of their father. Though he has worked with all music directors of South India, most of his hit songs were composed by music directors M. S. Viswanathan, K. V. Mahadevan, and the Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy duo. TMS starred as an actor in a few Tamil films such as Pattinathar, Arunagirinathar, Kallum Kaniyagum and Kaviraja Kalamegam. He produced the movie Kallum Kaniyagum with singer A. L. Raghavan. TMS appeared in guest roles in movies such as Devaki, Navagraha Nayaki, Pennarasi, Server Sundaram, Thiru Neelakandar, Swami Ayyappan, Shanmugapriya and Deivam. After the release Thai Nadu and Ghana Paravai, he concentrated more on live concerts and sang in very few films. He was not happy with the lyrics and music style in the films and gave opportunities for newcomers. The film song, "Paatu Ondu Ketaal", performed by him for a Sri Lankan Tamil film named Sooriyan, was recorded in 2007 though it is yet to be released. He sang a song for an album in 2008 "Netrichutti" at the age of 86 and a song named "Kutraalam Aruvi" for the album Song for Daughter, under the music of L.Sakthinathan, which was very well recognized in the industry in 2008. The last film song during October 2010 with P. Susheela, composed by MSV for a film "Valibum Sutrum Ulagam" was well recognized irrespective of his 88 years of age. In 2010, he rendered his voice for the song "Pirapokum ella yuyirukum" in the Tamil Semmozhi Meet Anthem, which was composed by A. R. Rahman. He worked with 74 music directors ranging from S. M. Subbaiah Naidu to A. R. Rahman. ka.

He sang with other male singers, such as Ghantasala, Seerkazhi Govindarajan, P. B. Sreenivas, Balamurali Krishna, S. C. Krishnan, C. S. Jayaraman, Tharapuram Sundarajan, P. Jayachandran, Thiruchi Loganathan, V. N. Sundaram, A. L. Raghavan, K. J. Yesudas S. P. Balasubrahmanyam, Kovai Soundarrajan, Nagore E. M. Hanifa, Malaysia Vasudevan, U. R. Chandra, T. R. Mahalingam, T. A. Mothi, M. M. Muthu, Suguna Kumar, V. R. Rajagopalan, V. T. Rajagopalan, S. S. Mani Bhagavathar, G. K. Venkatesh, Sai Baba, S. V. Ponnuswami, J. V. Raghavalu, M. Raju, and Master Maharajan. He sang duets with many female singers such as P. Susheela, P. Leela, Jikki, L. R. Eswari, S. Janaki, Vani Jairam, M. S. Rajeswari, K. Jamuna Rani, M. L. Vasanthakumari, U. R. Jeevarathinam, N. L. Ganasaraswathi, T. V. Rathnam, K.B.Sundarambal, Radha Jayalakshmi, Soolamangalam Jayalakshmi, Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi, R. Balasaraswathi Devi, A. P. Komala, P. Madhuri, K. Rani, B. S. Sasirekha, S. P. Sailaja, Lalitha, T. S. Bhagavathi, Suvarna, Vasantha, Sobha Chandrasekhar, L. R. Anjala, Kausalya, T. K. Kala, A. G. Ratnamala, Athmasha, Udutha Sarojam and R. Parvathi. Among them, he had the greatest collaboration with P. Susheela, with whom he sang 727 duets in Tamil. He sang duets with singing actors such as J. P. Chandrababu, K. R. Ramasamy, V. Nagayya, P. Bhanumathi, S. Varalakshmi, Jayalalithaa, Manorama and Bharathi.

• Balaparitchai (1977)