Not many know that famed playback singer S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, who passed away on Friday, had played an indirect role in the career growth of former World Chess Champion Grandmaster Vishwanathan Anand during his school days.
Balasubrahmanyam, popularly known as SPB or Balu in the movie world, died on Friday afternoon in a Chennai hospital where he was being treated for Covid-19 since last month.
“Really sad to hear about the passing away of such a great yet simple person. He was my first sponsor! He sponsored our team Chennai Colts (then Madras Colts) in the national team championship in 1983. One of the nicest persons I have met. His music gave us such joy #RIPSPB,” Anand said in a tweet expressing grief on the demise of the famed singer.
“It was a team chess championship held in then Bombay (now Mumbai). Anand won the board prize and qualified for the National B championship and from there he went to National A. After that his career went up and up,” International Master and one of the Madras Colts team members, T.S.Ravi, told IANS.
Old timers in Tamil Nadu chess told IANS that Telugu poet Aarudhra was the then President of Madras District Chess Association (MDCA). It was Aarudhra who had spoken to Balasubrahmanyam about the shortage of funds to take the boys chess team for the National Team Championship.
The singer immediately gave a cheque with which the Madras Colts went to Mumbai.
Famed playback singer and Padma awardee S.P. Balasubrahmanyam, popular as SPB or Balu in the movie world, who recorded over 40,000 songs in 16 languages over a period of five decades, died on Friday afternoon, his son S.P.Charan said.
Speaking briefly to the media outside the MGM Healthcare Hospital, Charan said Balasubrahmanyam passed away at 1.04 p.m. and thanked the hospital officials for the treatment and service. He said further details will be shared later.
In a statement issued on Friday the hospital said: “In a further setback this morning, despite maximal life support measures and the best efforts of the clinical team, his condition deteriorated further and he suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest. With profound grief, we regret to inform that he has passed away on September 25 at 13.04 hours.”
The hospital said, Balasubrahmanyam was on life support measures since Aug 14 for severe Covid-19 pneumonia.
On August 5, in a Facebook post, the 74-year old SPB said that he was suffering from a very mild attack of coronavirus and had got himself hospitalised to take rest. He had said that though the doctors had advised him to stay at home and take rest, he decided to be in a hospital, as at home his family members would get concerned.
He hoped to get discharged from the hospital in two days. But it was not to be. For a brief period he showed some improvement in his health condition and he had tested negative for coronavirus on September 4. But on Thursday the hospital said his condition was extremely critical. Since Thursday the indications about Balasubrahmanyam were not good. On Thursday MGM Healthcare said the singer remains on ECMO and other life support systems.
“His condition in the last 24-hours has deteriorated further warranting maximal life support and he is extremely critical. The team of experts at MGM Healthcare are closely monitoring his health condition,” the hospital had said.
Since Friday morning a large number of police personnel were deployed outside the hospital. The singer’s family members were all present at the hospital. Famed Director Bharathiraja, after visiting the iconic singer at the hospital, told the media at this time of grief he was not able to speak anything. “Even now there is some ray of hope. There is one power above us all,” an emotional Bharathiraja said. It was movie director Venkat Prabha who first tweeted about the singer’s death.
Prabhu tweeted “#RIPSPB 1:04pm” announcing the sad news.
