T.M. Soundararajan – The irreplaceable and unequalled Legend

TM Soundararajan was born in Madurai on 24 March 1922. He began his formal training in Carnatic music at the age of 7 and participated in his first concert at the age of 23.

A year later, after many rejections, he received his first playback singing assignment under the music of S.M. Subbaiah Naidu for the 1946 film, Krishna Vijayam. However, there was a four-year delay in the release of the film and it only released in 1950. The song Rathey Ennai Vittu Pogathadi became a massive hit and turned TM Soundararajan into a recognized name.

The turning point in his career came in 1954 when lyricist A. Maruthakasi recommended TM Soundararajan to sing for Sivaji Ganesan in the film Thooku Thooki. Until then, CS Jayaraman used to sing playback for Sivaji Ganesan and the up-and-coming actor was reluctant to change. Soundararajan then arranged to meet Sivaji Ganesan in person. In that meeting, Soundararajan studied the quality and timbre of Sivaji Ganesan’s voice and then sang a verse to match this voice. Sivaji Ganesan was very impressed, as was the music composer G Ramanathan. TMS then sang all the songs from this film that were picturised on Sivaji Ganesan.

Later that year, TMS sang Konjum Kiliyana Pennai for music composer KV Mahadevanas playback for Sivaji Ganesan for the film Koondu Killi, the only film to bring together on screen Sivaji Ganesan and MG Ramachandran. When MGR heard the song, he was so impressed that he decided to make TMS his permanent singer. TMS adapted his voice accordingly to sing for each actor in a voice pitched differently for each. It was a technique that he would use regularly in his singing career, changing the tone to suit the various actors for whom he sang.

TM Soundararajan was particular about his pronunciation and would sometimes insist on a retake if he was not satisfied with his own pronunciation.

TMS conducted his first concert abroad in 1957 in Malaysia. He would go on to perform on stage for a full 50 years until the year 2007.

Although he sang under the music of almost all music composers of his time, his greatest hits were recorded with Viswanathan-Ramamurthy (as a duo and separately) and KV Mahadevan. After singing for the soundtrack of Gnana Paravai in 1991, TM Soundararajan publicly announced that he was no longer interested in doing playback singing, as he was not satisfied with the lyrics and music of the time. He continued to record his devotional songs and, despite his announcement, went on to record film songs until 2010.

TM Soundararajan was one of the most celebrated singers with the longest list of awards – state, national and international. He also acted in the lead role of three films, appeared in many others and even co-produced Kallum Kaniyagum

TM Soundararajan passed away on 25 May 2013 at the age of 91, leaving a void in the Tamil music industry that could never be filled.

Enjoy our selection of 50 of TM Soundararajan’s film songs