Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar was an accomplished singer. He was introduced to the world of performing arts and music by his art teacher, Arunachalam Pillai who taught him at Leo XIII High School in Alapuzha. He was also trained in harmonium, a keyboard instrument on which twelve semitones of the tempered scale are fixed.
While studying at St. Albert’s School at Ernakulam in the 1920s , Sebastian and his friend K.K. Naidu used to frequent the Tamil musical production being staged regularly in Ernakulam. Naidu was close to Moideen Sahib who played the lead role and Khader Bacha Sahib who sang and played harmonium, an integral part of any musical drama. One day, the harmonist Khader Bacha Sahib, who had gone to his native village in Tamil Nadu failed to turn up for a performance. Sebastian reluctantly agreed to hold the fort and his performance was received with much applause. Due to obligatory reasons, Bacha Sahib was forced to discontinue with the troupe. Yielding to the persuasions and pressure from Moideen Sahib and Naidu, Sebastian agreed to assume the mantle and tour with the troupe. Thus began the illustrious career of one of Kerala’s renowned stage artiste.
The troupe toured Tamil Nadu staging numerous plays. Young Sebastian wielded his magic over the audience with his musical performance and won wide acclaim. His expertise in rendering a song and his melodious voice attracted Tamil audience to such a great extent that the drama troupe decided to cash on his popularity by writing his name, ‘special harmonist- K.K. Bhagavathar’, in bold letters in fliers. Although he enjoyed these recitals, Sebastian disliked the lifestyle of his fellow troupe members who had little love or respect for the art and lived in drunken revelry off the stage. So, after a sojourn of four months, Sebastian bade adieu to the troupe and returned home.
His homecoming coincided with the decision of his uncle Pollayil Pouleenj to start a drama troupe. Sebastian actively supported his uncle in this endeavour and was a mere onlooker in the rehearsals. When the day came for the first performance, an actor playing an important role failed to turn up at the last moment. Pouleenj was in a major dilemma as he had already committed and taken money for the performance and also the hall was packed with more than hundred spectators. Suddenly Pouleenj requested Sebastian to stand in for the absentee. Though Sebastian was flabbergasted and nervous at this request, he decided to save his uncle from his predicament by accepting the role.
Sebastian made his entry on the stage by singing a well known ‘Keerthanam’, in Carnatic music and came victorious in the following musical duel with the professional harmonist. The crowd was so impressed by his performance that they clamoured for more songs. Unfortunately, fearing the wrath of his family, Sebastian and his uncle decided to keep it a one time affair and a secret.
Sebastian’s professional commitment to the stage evolved when he decided to act in a play organised by his brother-in-law, Peter. The play was “ Jnanasundari”, translated to Malayalam from Tamil by the famous poet and drama coach, V.S. Andrews (Andrews master). His songs were marked for their lyrical beauty. When the rehearsal started, though Sebastian memorised all the songs, he was not able to do justice by bringing emotions to them. Without the makeup and glitter of the stage, Sebastian found it difficult to breathe life into the character. Andrews Master was so angry and agitated that he insisted the lead role otherwise known as ‘Raja-part’( of Prince Plendran) to be taken away from him. But to the astonishment of everyone, Sebastian entered the stage singing the opening song written by Andrews Master specially for the occasion, praising St. Sebastian. The performance was outstanding and the audience was delighted. They enjoyed his melodious voice to the hilt. His role of Prince Plendran was so remarkable that with that single performance he came to be known as “ Plendran Kunjukunju”.
Since, songs embodied a significant role in the plays of that period, Sebastian’s singing talent was greatly appreciated by the audience. His days with the drama troupe, ‘The Royal Cinema and Dramatic Company’, brought him into stardom and he was adept at singing Andrew Master’s songs effectively and effortlessly. In fact, Andrews Master used to write and compose songs with Sebastian and his musical aptitude in mind. It was during this time that Sebastian adopted his stage name “Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar“.
When you journey through the life of Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar as a singer, one cannot separate the singer from the actor because he belongs to an era where the actor is required to be equally proficient in singing as well. Those days, songs played a vital role in plays and vocal virtuosity was a priority requested in an artist. Also, the actor cum singer had to effectively use his voice to be heard by the audience over the orchestra. Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar was a singer-actor par excellence and fulfilled all these requirements.
Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar’s journey to the filmdom starts with the film, Jnanambika, the second talkie in Malayalam cinema. It had 14 songs, most of which were very popular at that time. Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar had sung two solo songs and three duets. The songs in the film, Jeevitha Nauka, were written by Abhayadev and the music was composed by V.Dakshinamoorthi. The film starts with the famous song “Aanathalayolam venna tharaameda “ sung by Kunjukunju Bhagavathar and his daughter Pushpam.
In 1937, when HMV Gramophone Company decided to bring out recordings of the most popular singers in South India, Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar was the only person chosen from Kerala. The song he recorded was “ Vanjeesamangalam” in praise of Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, the last ruling Maharaja of Travancore. It was the first song cut by a Malayalee on a gramophone record. The king was a patron of art, music and dance. Therefore, complying with the request of the record company, Bhagavathar agreed to personally deliver a copy of the record to the king. A meeting was arranged with the Palace Manager and the music was played to him. Though he was highly impressed with the song, upon learning Sebastian’s name, he denied an audience with the king because he was a non- Hindu. Kunjukunju Bhagavathar was distressed over the prejudice and returned home with the record, which is still kept in safe custody of the family. Later, after many decades, Aswathi Thirunal Gowri Lakshmi Bayi, the niece of Sree Chithira Thirunal, came to know about this incident and upon her invitation, Bhagavathar’s son met her and gifted her with a copy of the song.
An important landmark in Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar’s career as a vocal artist worth noting is his involvement with Radio broadcast. During the filming of ‘Jnanambika’, the unexpected World War II wreaked havoc with the film project and budget. The crew were stranded in Madras and were in dire straits. During this time, an idea emerged as to broadcast selected popular old plays through radio. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story. Kunjukunju Bhagavathar took the initiative to rewrite plays like, ‘Karuna’, ‘Shakunthalam’, ‘Anarkali’ and the plays were broadcasted by the Madirasi Radio Station . Resident Malayalees of Madras gave them a warm enthusiastic welcome. It was also the first ever Malayalam broadcast in All India Radio from Madirasi radio station. ( One important fact to be mentioned here is that in those years, AIR had no radio in Kerala. Malayalam programmes, if any, were broadcasted from Madirasi station.)
Pushpam Elias, ‘Achande Makal’
(‘Father’s daughter’ as titled by Kunjukunju Bhagavathar in his autobiography)
Pushpam Elias was the second child of Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar.
During the filming of ‘Jeevitha Nauka’, Abhayadev, V. Dakshina Moorthy, and Muthukulam Raghavan Pillai decided to adapt a folk song suggested by the film’s producer Koshy to be the opening song of the film. The song was to be sung by the single accompaniment of ‘udukku’, an Indian traditional percussion instrument. It was decided that the song will be sung by Kunjukunju Bhagavathar and a female singer. They auditioned many young female singers but were not satisfied with their rendering. The team was highly disappointed and decided to cancel the song. The same day when Kunjukunju Bhagavathar went home, he asked Pushpam, who was trained in Carnatic music, to sing the song for him. When she finished, he was satisfied with her singing. Next day, when he mentioned this incident to others, they immediately wanted to hear her sing. They were highly impressed by her performance and selected her for the recording. Thus, at the age of 19, she sang her first song, along with her father and became the eighteenth female playback singer in the Malayalam film industry. Their song was an instant hit and she went on to sing one more song for the same movie and also sang the Tamil version of the song when the film was remade in Tamil. Other than singing, she also helped in dubbing the voice of the actress in the female lead. Since, the actress Sarojam had a Tamil slang to her speech, Pushpam helped in dubbing many of her dialogues. She also sang a song, “ Karutha penne” for the movie ‘Navalokam’ which too became a super hit.
Though she received many offers for playback singing, she didn’t pursue that career because she wanted to devote her time to her family and children. She was married to K.S. Elias, Lecturer at Fathima Matha National College and had already given birth to her firstborn at that time. To quote her from one of her interviews, “ Though my father was active in films, the rest of my family was orthodox. Christian girls seldom pursued singing as a career then. Their music was always limited to choirs in church. But I was lucky my father was exposed to different kinds of music and insisted on us getting exposed to it too”. Such was the passion and reverence Kunjukunju Bhagavathar had for the art and music that he wanted his children also to experience and explore the marvelous world of art.
References:
Oru Nadande Aatmakadha by Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar
Kalavediyil by Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar
Nadaka Smaranakal by Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar
Rajapart by Dr. K. Sreekumar
Sebasstian Kunjukunju Bhagavathar : A biography by Dr. Sreekumar
Cinema: Charithravum Kalavum by Dr. Aravindan Vallachira.
Sebastian Kunjukunju Bhagavathr by Nelson FernandedEnde Atmakadha by
Alleppey Vincent
Ende Diary by T.N. Gopinathan Nair