In nearly all of his interviews, P Jayachandran would say how much of a better listener he was of music than a singer, surprising those who hold close hundreds of film songs that he had rendered across decades. When he passed away on January 9, at the age of 80, Jayachandran left behind a repertoire of thousands of songs, mostly in Malayalam, and dozens in other Indian languages. His voice – untrained in classical music – famously retained its admired texture until in his final years, before cancer brought havoc. But Jayachandran, famously a man who took everything in his stride, and cared for little else than music, would have told you he was happy just to be able to listen to the vast supply of music that he never took a break from tuning into.
Unsurprisingly, it took him time to realise his calling in music, sticking to playing the mridangam that his mother had put him to until, by chance, his taste for singing was recognised by a couple of people around him. The first person to make him sing was Varghese, a choir singer who lived nearby in Aluva, where Jayachandran spent the early years of his childhood. He was only 10 when he learnt and sang the Christian devotional songs that Varghese taught him with a harmonium. But it was his teacher Ramanadan, who taught him at the Irinjalakuda National School where he went to in class 8, that put Jayachandran on the path of singing. Ramanadan heard the boy come and sing for a cultural event at school without inhibition like a button was switched on as soon as he was asked. He let the other teachers know and they were sure that this boy would bring to the school the first award for music at the first-ever state youth festival.
But that year – 1958 – Jayachandran famously came in second place in singing, the first prize going to KJ Yesudas – another veteran of film music from Kerala. Jayachandran did bring the first prize for mridangam and accompanied Yesudas on the instrument for his kutcheri at the closing ceremony. That black and white photo of a teenaged Yesudas and a wisp of a child on the mridangam would later spread across the internet, a precious moment from the past of two of the most revered playback singers of Malayalam cinema.
When Yesudas began singing in films, Jayachandran added his songs too among the records he never stopped listening to. He’d rattle off a list of names among his favourites – Mohammed Rafi, Talat Mahmood, PB Sreenivasan, TM Soundourarajan, Yesudas and above all, P Susheela. His adoration for Susheela – Susheelaama as he called her – was too endearing, leading him to open his wallet once and show a photo of hers that he would always carry with him. With Das-ettan, as Yesudas is called by his fans and juniors, he would strike a lifelong friendship. Yesudas was close with Jayachandran’s elder brother Sudhakaran, who also used to sing. When Jayachandran visited his brother who worked in Madras, he’d spend days singing with Yesudas, who would then be whisked off to recording studios by his brother on a Royal Enfield.
It was Yesudas who introduced Jayachandran to G Devarajan, legendary music composer of Malayalam cinema. Years later - in 1966 – it would be the song ‘Manjalayil Mungithorthi’ (Kalithozhan) composed by Devarajan that would come out as Jayachandran’s first song. A year before that, he had recorded ‘Oru Mulla Poomulla’ for the film Kunjali Marakar, composed by BA Chidambaranath, but it would only be released later.
“There is a story behind how that song came about. MB Sreenivasan (music composer) was putting together a concert in Madras for which Yesudas was supposed to sing. But he could not be there and Jayachandran sang in his place. At the event musician RK Shekhar (father of AR Rahman), cinematographer-director A Vincent, producer Shobhana Parameswaran Nair, were all impressed by Jayachandran’s singing and recommended his name to Chidambaranath. On the first day Jayachandran was so nervous that he said he could not sing and went away. RK then had to persuade him to come back and sing,” says music critic Ravi Menon.
Jayachandran was then working as a chemist in Madras, a job that lasted only for six months and where he was told off for singing. But after ‘Manjalayil Mungithorthi’ there was no turning back. “Devarajan was at first not too keen on making him sing since he had not learnt classical music. He was given one song, ‘Tharunyam’, and asked to sing ‘Manjalayil’ just for practice, and told that Yesudas would sing the original. It was later that Jayachandran knew that his version was recorded and would be used for the film,” Ravi says.
Devarajan would go on to give Jayachandran many many melodies - ‘Madhu Chandrikayude’ (Anaachadanam), Poovum Prasadavum (Thokkukal Kadha Parayunnu), ‘Seethadevi Swayamvaram’ (Vazhvemayam), ‘Ramzanile Chandrikayo’ (Alibabayum 41 Kallanmarum), and ‘Makaram Poitum’ (Velutha Kathrina) among others. His only gripe with his disciple was that he never trained in Carnatic, even after the master had pushed him to. This would also be one of the regrets that Jayachandran admitted to having in his life. He was simply lazy, he would say, and would go on with the flow of life, not taking the extra effort to do something more. But the lack of training had often made him stay away from songs that were too classical.
“When MB Sreenivasan called him to sing ‘Ragam Sreeragam’ for MT Vasudevan Nair’s film Bandhanam, he would not at first agree, since the song was too classical. He had to be persuaded by his friend Kesavan Namboodiri,” Ravi says. Jayachandran would say that it took him a week to learn that song because of his lack of training. The song would win him his second State Award for Best Playback Singer (Male). ‘Suprabhatham’ for Pani Theeratha Veedu had won him his first.
This lack of training did not deter music composers of all times from giving him songs, and Jayachandran became known for the varied expressions he brought to a song, earning him the moniker ‘bhava gayakan’ (soulful singer). He sang for all the veterans in the 60s and 70s:
Baburaj -- Anuraga Ganam Pole (Udhyogastha), Iniyum puzha ozhugum (Agniputhri), Kuppayakeeshamel (Amabalapravu),
K Raghavan -- Njanitha thirichethi (Asuravithu), Karimukil Kaatile (Kalli Chellamma), Ekantha Pathikan Njan (Ummachu),
AT Ummar - Pinneyum Inakkili Pinagiyallo (Almaram),
V Dakshinamoorthy -- Thulliyodum Pullimane (Kannur Deluxe), Harsha Bashpam Thooki (Muthassi), Sandyakenthinu Sindooram (Maya),
for Arjunan - Yamune Yadukula Rathidevan (Rest House),
MS Viswanathan -- Thiruvabharanam (Lankadahanam), Arabikadlilaki Varunnu (Manthrakodi), Suprabatham (Pani Theeratha Veedu),
LPR Varma -- Upasana Upasana (Thottavadi), and
Salil Chowdhury -- Theyyam Theyyam (Neelaponman), Nisha Surabhikal (Rasaleela)
He would sing melodies and pathos, romantic and revolutionary songs, and what was back then called ‘comedy songs’, designed for funny sidetracks in movies, involving actors like Adoor Bhasi. Among his ‘comedy’ songs are ‘Vannatte Oh My Dear Butterfly’ (Panjami) for MSV, ‘Kannuneerinu Tata’ (Kamadenu) for Sankar Ganesh, and ‘Chakkikothoru Chankaran’ (Acharam Ammini Osharam Omana) for Devarajan.
MSV – whom Jayachandran would call the best musician in the world – took him to Tamil in the 70s, where he would go on to sing for Ilaiyaraaja, AR Rahman, Deva and SP Venkitesh among others. Interestingly, he sang the first song Rahman is believed to have composed as a child for a film his father had worked on – the song ‘Vellithen Kinnam’ for Penpada in 1975. Decades later, Jayachandran would render several of Rahman’s celebrated songs including ‘Kollaiyele Thennai’ (Kadhalan), ‘Enmel Vizhunda’ (May Madham) and ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’ for Mani Rathnam’s film by the same name. He would also win his first Tamil Nadu State Award for Best Playback Singer (Male) for Rahman’s song in Kizhakku Cheemayile.
Jayachandran also sang with his idol Yesudas for songs like ‘Kanaka Simhasanathil’ (Arakallan Mukkal Kallan) and ‘Aadam Paadam’ (Aromal Unni). The love and respect for the senior singer would not diminish even in later years when both would become legendary. Jayachandran would often talk about the many times he went to a film theatre to repeatedly watch Bhargavi Nilayam, the 1964 film written by Basheer, just to hear Yesudas sing 'Thamasamenthe Varuvan', a timeless composition of Baburaj.
Ravi Menon narrates an incident during the recording of songs for the film Ravanaprabhu (2001), composed by Suresh Peters. Jayachandran had rendered his song ‘Ariyathe’ and was going to leave the recording studio when he heard Suresh Peters and the film’s director Ranjith worriedly discussing Yesudas’ song to be recorded that evening.
“It seems the person who was supposed to sing the track (recorded for singers to learn the song) could not come, and they were afraid that Yesudas would not be happy when he came in the evening and there was no track. Jayachandran, surprising them, offered to sing the track, although he was a musician as senior as Yesudas. Such is his humility before those he considered his gurus. Another interesting story is that when Yesudas won the award for the song, lyricist Gireesh Puthencherry said that Jayachandran should get a small share because his voice in the track was used to replace one of the letters in the original due to a technical error,” Ravi says.
Jayachandran was not always a picture of calmness, he had his short outbursts at times, and would not mince words about what he did not like in modern music. He hated remixing, the practice of reproducing old songs with improvised music. He was also not fond of a certain kind of music of newer times, walking away during a reality show when a contestant sang the Tamil song ‘Kolvaeri’ (3), and another time expressing his distaste for ‘Appangal Embadum’ (Ustad Hotel). He nursed a fondness for old ways – the live recording of songs, and the poetic lyrics of wonderful writers such as P Bhaskaran, ONV Kurup, and Vayalar Rama Varma.
But he was open to singing faster songs, he would say, like ‘Prayam Nammil’ that he rendered for Niram (1999). It had come after a gap of several years when he did not sing film songs, and it won him his third Kerala State award for best male playback singer. He would win two more in the years afterward - for a song in Thilakkam in 2004, and songs in Ennu Ninte Moideen, Jilebi and Ennum Epozhum in 2015.
In the gap he took from film songs, Jayachandran sang many devotional tracks and other non-film albums, like ‘Onnini Sruthi Thazhthi’ (by Devarajan), ‘Jayadeva Kaviyude’ (by MG Radhakrishnan) and ‘Onninumallathe’ (Balabhaskar).
After coming back to films with the song in Niram, Jayachandran contributed several more beautiful tracks like ‘Therirangum mukile’ (Mazhathullikilukkam) for Suresh Peters, ‘Ithaloornu Veena’ (Thanmathra) for Mohan Sithara, ‘Premikumbol’ (Salt N Pepper) for Bijibal, and ‘Olanjali Kuruvi’ (1983) for Gopi Sunder.
Jayachandran also had a tryst with acting, something he would admit was not his cup of tea. But he made an impression as the music-crazy friend of Vineeth in Nakashathangal (1986) and as the father of Anoop Menon in Trivandrum Lodge (2012).
His only National Award came in 1986 for a song called ‘Sivasankara’ in the film Sree Narayana Guru, composed by Devarajan. In 2020, he won the JC Daniel Award for his overall contribution to Malayalam cinema.