In the second week of August when SP Subrahmanyam was tested Corona positive and was admitted in a hospital most of his ardent fans wee not alarmed. We thought he’ll return healthy like many other celebrities. But soon the medical reports coming from the hospital made us tense. He was struggling and fighting hard to recover. Like lakhs of his fans, I was praying for his recovery and did this cartoon.
He was slowly showing improvements then and we were optimistic that he could be out of danger.
But a few days back, more worrying reports surfaced in the media. He was critically ill and soon some celebrities started visiting the hospital.
Whenever a celebrity dies, I get alerts from cartoon lovers requesting for a tribute cartoon. I look at it as an opportunity to express my gratitude to the deceased person.
That day some people on social media even suggested me to keep a tribute cartoon ready!
But giving a tribute to someone like SPB through a readymade cartoon is not possible.
Tribute cartoons are mostly born out of emotions. Only when the loss of someone sinks in, your brain starts working in that direction.
And I was hoping against hope that SPB would recover and return back to singing.
Unfortunately, Corona snatched him from us. It’s customary to mourn someone’s death as a loss.
But losing SPB will haunt us every time we hear his songs. And remember he’s sung more than 40,000 songs in 16 languages.
So the chance is that you’ll hear him more often and miss him more often.
Unlike for people from Hindi-speaking states, who were introduced to SPB after Salman Khan starrer Maine Pyar Kiya, hailing from the Southern part of India, I grew up listening to SPB. He was there for every occasion. He was with you in your joy, in your celebrations, in your mourning moments, in your excitement, in your worship and in your suffering. He was your dear friend.
For us he was the voice of our cinema heroes. Because I always felt, he sang differently to different heroes. He was Vishnuvardhan and he was Rajinikanth. He was Anant Nag, Shankar Nag, Ambarish & Ramesh, Also he was Kamal Hassan and many other heroes. It’s difficult to imagine so many of these heroes without SPB.
That’s how he’s become a huge part of our lives.
As satellite channels entered our lives more aggressively and also through the popularity of social media we were introduced to the person behind that voice. His humility & simplicity brought him more closer to his admirers. He’s become a member of our families. He touched more hearts, delivered joy to more people.
As he leaves us behind, the genius of SPB is uncovered and celebrated by more people. More people marvel at his versatility.
SPB will continue to inspire generations to come, not just through his music, but also through his humility, humbleness & simplicity.
Thanks for all those moments, SPB sir!
