C. R. Subburaman

Chintamani Ramasamy Subbaraman also known as C. S. Ram (1916–1952) was a famous South Indian film music composer and producer. He was born to Ramasamy at Chintamani village in Thirunelveli, in present-day Tamil Nadu. Music director Shankar of Shankar–Ganesh duo was his younger brother. His ancestors were from the Krishna district of present-day Andhra Pradesh and due to this, his family spoke Telugu well.

During his short lifespan of about 36 years and cinema life of 10 years, he made lasting fame with films like Devadasu, Ratnamala, Chenchu Lakshmi, Balaraju, Laila Majnu and others.

Early life Little is known about the music teachers of Subbaraman. Initially he had learned music from a Nadhaswaram player in Kumbakonam. He was a remarkable learner: whatever he practised during the morning he was able to deliver in the evening. He was well versed in harmonium at the age of 14.

At the age of 16 under the recommendation of G. Ramanathan's brother Sundara Bagavathar, Subbaraman joined His Master's Voice as a Harmonist. His Master's Voice was a gramophone production and distribution company, under which there was a permanent orchestra led by R. Chinnaiah. S. Rajeswara Rao also was with His Master's Voice. At that time, Ramasamy Iyer and Subbaraman were residing in Mylapore. Accompanied by his father, he would walk all the way to learn piano from a piano teacher in Triplicane (Thiruvallikkeni). Owing to his talent and passion towards music, he became the assistant music director in His Master's Voice very quickly.

Subbaraman would sing keerthanas in the nights after work. He would be accompanied by a young violinist who had been a temporary worker in His Master's Voice. Sensing the talent, Subbaraman had not only recommended the young chap to be hired permanently in His Master's Voice but also appointed him as his assistant. The talented young violinist was no other than T. K. Ramamoorthy.

Career When His Master's Voice was offered to compose music for cinema under the banner Tamil Nadu Talkies for the Telugu film Chenchu Lakshmi (1943), R. Chinnaiah had the opportunity as the music director.

First film When R. Chinnaiah suddenly fell ill after completion of 1 or 2 songs the task was taken up by S. Rajeswara Rao. Due to some unavoidable reasons Rajeswara Rao was not able to complete the songs and the opportunity was given to Subbaraman. Subbaraman completed the rest of the songs with the assistance of Samudrala Sr. He had boldly introduced some changes in the music field of those days by introducing Latin American music along with carnatic music and won accolades of the viewers. Chenchu Lakshmi was a success which hoisted Subbaraman as a music director for cinema.

At the same time R. Chinnaiah died, and Subbaraman took over the responsibilities to lead the His Master's Voice orchestra. His compositions were well received in the market. He had won praises from higher authorities of His Master's Voice which were based in Kolkata, an Englishman who had written to Subbaraman congratulating him for the magnificent sales which had resulted from the remarkable music composition. But due to the inconsistent salary, Subbaraman had to leave His Master's Voice to look for a permanent remuneration.

Debut into films M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar (MKT) had been listening and was pleased with the music. He invited Subbaraman to compose music for his next venture, 'Uthayanan' (1945). It was a dream of the music directors of that era that to compose music from MKT's songs. Subbaraman had worked day and night profusely to have put out the best tunes. MKT came to the recording theatre, was briefed about the tunes, and was prepared to sing when the recording was interrupted by his Mamundi Achari and MKT needed to leave. MKT was arrested later in the evening for the murder of Lakshmikanthan. Uthayanan has been temporarily halted. But when MKT was sentenced to jail, the producer proceeded to make the movie with G. N. Balasubramaniam. Subbaraman was replaced by C. S. Jayaraman.

The next movie chance came in 1947 where he started to work with Bharani Pictures which belongs to P. Bhanumathi for Ratnamala with Ghantasala. Initially he composed for all the films produced by Bharani then onwards till his death. From Laila Majnu, Prema till Chandirani. For his last three hits Marumagal, Devadas and Chandi Rani released in 1953 he managed to compose all the songs well in advance, but died during the composition of background music to be completed by his assistants M. S. Viswanathan & T. K. Ramamoorthy.

In 1948, he started composing for Prathiba Pictures which belongs to Ghantasala Balaramayya beginning with Balaraju, Swapna Sundari and Sri Lakshmamma Katha.

In 1948 also, Subbaraman composed music for Raja Mukthi of M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar starrer. Subbaraman also worked with N. S. Krishnan in Paithiyakkaran (1947), Nallathambi (1949) and Manamagal (1951).

When Jupiter Pictures moved to Madras, it was S. M. Subbaiah Naidu recommended his talented assistant M. S. Viswanathan to Subbaraman to be taken as his assistant which Subbaraman had accepted.

He worked with singers like Ghantalasa, A. M. Rajah, Thiruchi Loganathan, V. N. Sundharam, T. A. Mothi, M. L. Vasanthakumari, P. A. Periyanayaki, P. Leela, T. V. Rathnam, R. Balasaraswathi Devi, A. P. Komala, K. Jamuna Rani, K. Rani, P. Susheela and K. V. Janaki.

The singing actors M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, P. U. Chinnappa, C. S. R. Anjaneyulu, U. R. Jeevarathinam, T. R. Mahalingam, T. R. Rajakumari, K. R. Ramasamy, V. Nagayya, P. Bhanumathi, N. S. Krishnan, T. A. Madhuram and S. Varalakshmi also sang memorable songs under his compositions.

Vinoda Pictures He became one of the partners along with lyricist Samudrala Sr., director/kuchipudi dancer Vedantam Raghavayya and producer D.L. Narayana and started Vinoda Pictures in 1950. They had produced Strisahasam, Shanti and Devadasu/Devadas. Subbaraman had composed 6 to 7 songs for Devadasu/Devadas when he died suddenly. Then, M. S. Viswanathan & T. K. Ramamoorthy completed the balance three songs.

Subbaraman had been instrumental in introducing Ghantasala to Tamil film by the movie Paithiyakaran (1947) and also made debut of M. L. Vasanthakumari in Raja Mukthi (1948). Subbaraman also gave lessons to P. Leela and a chance to sing under his compositions, which made her very famous. He was a trendsetter in music composition during his heyday.

All of the films with music composed by him have been highly successful. He had composed more for Telugu films than Tamil films. He died at the very young age of 36 after a long battle with illnesses. The rest works were done by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy duo.

Filmography

Music director Year Film Language Director Banner Co-Music Director 1943 Chenchu Lakshmi Telugu S. Soundararajan Tamil Nadu Talkies R. Chinnaiah & S. Rajeswara Rao 1946 Lavangi Tamil Y. V. Rao Sri Jagadish Pictures H. R. Padmanabha Sastry 1947 Udayanan Vasavadatta Tamil T. R. Raghunath Uma Pictures 1947 Paithiyakkaran Tamil Krishnan–Panju N. S. K. Films M. S. Gnanamani 1948 Ratnamala Telugu P. S. Ramakrishna Rao Bharani Pictures Ghantasala 1948 Balaraju Telugu Ghantasala Balaramaiah Prathiba Films Ghantasala & Gali Penchala Narasimha Rao 1948 Abhimanyu Tamil M. Somasundaram & A. Kasilingam Jupiter Pictures S. M. Subbaiah Naidu 1948 Raja Mukthi Tamil Raja Chandrasekhar Narendra Pictures 1948 Mohini Tamil Lanka Sathiyam Jupiter Pictures S. M. Subbaiah Naidu 1949 Kanniyin Kaadhali Tamil K. Ramnoth Jupiter Pictures S. M. Subbaiah Naidu 1949 Laila Majnu Tamil P. S. Ramakrishna Rao Bharani Pictures 1949 Laila Majnu Telugu P. S. Ramakrishna Rao Bharani Pictures 1949 Mangayarkarasi Tamil Jiten Banerjee Bhagya Pictures G. Ramanathan & Kunnakudi Venkatarama Iyer 1949 Nallathambi Tamil Krishnan–Panju Uma Pictures & N. S. K. Films 1949 Pavalakkodi Tamil S. M. Sriramulu Naidu Pakshiraja Studios 1949 Ratnakumar Tamil Krishnan–Panju Murugan Talkies G. Ramanathan 1949 Velaikkaari Tamil A. S. A. Sami Jupiter Pictures S. M. Subbaiah Naidu 1950 Sri Lakshmamma Katha Telugu Ghantasala Balaramaiah Pratibha Productions 1950 Lakshmamma Tamil Ghantasala Balaramaiah Pratibha Productions 1950 Macha Rekai Tamil P. Pullaiah Sukumar Productions Limited 1950 Parijatham Tamil K. S. Gopalakrishnan Lavanya Pictures S. V. Venkatraman 1950 Swapna Sundari Telugu Ghantasala Balaramaiah Pratibha Productions Ghantasala 1950 Swapna Sundari Tamil Ghantasala Balaramaiah Pratibha Productions Ghantasala 1950 Vijayakumari Tamil A. S. A. Sami Jupiter Pictures 1951 Manamagal Tamil N. S. Krishnan N. S. K. Films 1951 Pelli Kuthuru Telugu T. S. Balaiah, Lalitha, Padmini, S. V. Sahasranamam N. S. K. Films 1951 Marmayogi Tamil K. Ramnoth Jupiter Pictures S. M. Subbaiah Naidu 1951 Navvithe Navaratnalu Telugu S. Soundararajan Tamil Nadu Talkies 1951 Rupavathi Telugu K. Prabhakar Rao Swathi Films 1951 Sthree Sahasam Tamil Vedantam Raghavayya Vinodha Pictures 1951 Stree Sahasam Telugu Vedantam Raghavayya Vinodha Pictures 1951 Vanasundari Tamil T. R. Raghunath Krishna Pictures S. V. Venkatraman 1952 Daasi Telugu C. V. Ranganatha Das Rajyam Pictures S. Dakshinamurthi 1952 Dharma Devatha Telugu P. Pullaiah Ragini Films 1952 Dharma Devathai Tamil P. Pullaiah Ragini Films 1952 Kaadhal Tamil P. S. Ramakrishna Rao Bharani Pictures 1952 Prema Telugu P. S. Ramakrishna Rao Bharani Pictures 1952 Santhi Telugu Vedantam Raghavayya Vinoda Pictures 1952 Rani Hindi L. V. Prasad Jupiter Pictures D. C. Dutt 1952 Rani Tamil L. V. Prasad Jupiter Pictures D. C. Dutt 1953 Velaikari Magal Tamil C. V. Ranganatha Das Rajyam Pictures S. Dakshinamurthi 1953 Ammalakkalu Telugu D. Yoganand Krishna Pictures Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy 1953 Marumagal Tamil D. Yoganand Krishna Pictures Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy 1953 Bratuku Teruvu Telugu P. S. Ramakrishna Rao Bhaskar Productions Ghantasala 1953 Chandirani Tamil P. Bhanumathi Bharani Pictures M. S. Viswanathan 1953 Chandirani Telugu P. Bhanumathi Bharani Pictures M. S. Viswanathan 1953 Chandirani Hindi P. Bhanumathi Bharani Pictures M. S. Viswanathan 1953 Devadasu Telugu Vedantam Raghavayya Vinodha Pictures Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy 1953 Devadas Tamil Vedantam Raghavayya Vinoda Pictures Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy

Playback Singer Year Film Language Song Co-singer Music 1948 Mohini Tamil Vasantha Maalai Neram T. V. Rathnam S. M. Subbaiah Naidu & C. R. Subburaman 1950 Sri Lakshmamma Katha Telugu Annem Punnem Yerugani C. R. Subburaman1950 Parijatham Tamil Ezhai En Meethu Paaraa C. R. Subburaman Mathiyaa Vithiyaa T. V. Rathnam 1951 Manamagal Tamil Iru Kaadhalar Magizhndhe M. L. Vasanthakumari C. R. Subburaman 1951 Pelli Kuthuru Telugu Kanne Chilaka Yegiripodhu M. L. Vasanthakumari C. R. Subburaman Papulao Kadu Papi Anevadu M. L. Vasanthakumari Virajajula Valapu Vayyari M. L. Vasanthakumari1952 Rani Tamil Maamalar Thoovida Jikki C. R. Subburaman & D. C. Dutt Poraadum Vanmai S. Balachander & Jikki Ulle Onnu Veliye Onnu Thiruchi Loganathan & P. Susheela Samarasam Nilaiperum P. Bhanumathi1952 Dharma Devathai Tamil Vaaraayi Thaaraayi Neeye Raani Jikki C. R. Subburaman Vaaraamale Irundhiduvaano K. Rani 1953 Marumagal Tamil Laali Suba Laali P. A. Periyanayaki C. R. Subburaman 1953 Chandirani Tamil Anbaai Dhesamenggum Ondraai Koodi P. Susheela C. R. Subburaman

Film producer Under Vinoda Pictures Year Film Language Cast Co-Music Director 1951 Stree Sahasam Tamil A. Nageswara Rao, Anjali Devi 1951 Stree Sahasam Telugu A. Nageswara Rao, Anjali Devi 1952 Santhi Telugu 1953 Devadasu Telugu A. Nageswara Rao, Savithri, Lalitha M. S. Viswanathan & T. K. Ramamoorthy 1953 Devadas Tamil A. Nageswara Rao, Savithri, Lalitha M. S. Viswanathan & T. K. Ramamoorthy