Almost a decade ago, when there was a public performance to commemorate late music director M.S. Viswanathan, playback singer Deepan Chakravarthy rendered the thogaiyara (prelude) of a song.
The crowd went ecstatic. Their joy became boundless as he started singing, ‘Senthamizh Thenmozhiyal, nilavena sirikkum malar kodiyal’, testifying to the youthfulness of the song originally rendered by T.R.
Mahalingam over six decades ago. There are two T.R.
Mahalingams in the music world. One is Thenkarai Ramakrishna Mahalingam, the actor-cum-singer, and the other is Thiruvidaimarudhur Ramasamy Mahalingam, the legendary flautist. Actor Mahalingam was born at Thenkarai near Cholavandan in Madurai.
The song, ‘Senthamizh Thenmozhiyal’, was part of the film Maalaiyitta Mangai, produced by poet and lyricist Kannadasan. It was a turning point in the career of Mahalingam after he failed in film production. Effortless singing Vamanan, historian of Tamil film music, says the poetic lines in the traditional tunes from Viswanathan and Ramamurthy and the effortless singing of Mahalingam made all the songs in the film hits.
To a large extent, his singing style matched S.G. Kittappa, who remained unrivalled in the theatre.
Later, Mahalingam made waves by recording ‘Kodaiyile Ilaipatrikollum Vagai Kidaitha Kulirtharuve’, a song of Vallalar, made famous by Kittappa. The song was featured in the film Vedala Ulagam. Mahalingam handled the Carnatic ragas, including Pantuvarali, Bilahari, Kapi, S.