Images that tell a story
SARASWATHY NAGARAJAN
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`Ente Gandharvan,' Leen Thobias' photo-biography of K.J. Yesudas, traces the playback singer's musical journey.
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CLOSE-UP: K.J. Yesudas and Leen Thobias at an exhibition of photographs.
It was his deep and abiding interest in music that saw him frequenting concerts and music programmes. One such programme in 1981 enabled him to have a glimpse of playback singer K.J. Yesudas.
"It was the era before television brought these stars to our homes. In those days, it was Yesudas' voice that was more popular than his visage," recalls Leen Thobias.
Ardent fan
But memories of that live performance stayed with him and whenever he could, he made it a point to attend every programme of Yesudas. Time passed by and the star struck youngster eventually became a photographer with a leading Malayalam daily. Despite his busy schedule, he remained an ardent fan of Yesudas. But now his camera travelled with him and he started clicking photographs of the singer. Ten years passed by and thousands of snaps filled his collection.
Eventually, Yesudas noticed the photographer who followed him like a shadow without ever trying to wrangle an introduction or trying to worm his way into the limelight to bask in reflected glory. That was when Leen gathered courage and asked the singer if he could embark on an effort to compile a photo-biography of the singer. The reply in the affirmative enthused him and soon he was a photographer on a mission. "Instead of randomly clicking photographs, I decided to travel with Dasettan [Yesudas] to meet and photograph people who had played a significant role in the singer's life," explains Leen. Photographs of singers, film and music directors, actors, friends, relatives and former teachers figure in this collection. Places that have left their imprint on the singer's mind also find a place in Leen's collection. "Dasettan had stayed in a garage in Thiruvananthapuram when he was a student of music. Recently, we went back to the same house, the former residence of Semmangudi, and clicked a photograph of the garage. The present owners got a pleasant surprise when they learnt that their house had once sheltered Yesudas," says Leen.
In addition to snapping pictures of the singer, Leen also searched far and wide to collect old pictures of the singer in his youth and during his early days in the Malayalam film industry.
What has emerged is a fine collection of photographs that trace the meteoric journey of Yesudas as a singer. Leen was able to track down prints that shows Yesudas as a young boy with his father, Augustine Joseph. Another one shows Yesudas with P. Jayachandran after the first school youth festival in which Yesudas won the first prize for music and Jayachandran won the first for mridangam.
In addition to such archival prints, there are rare photographs that show the singer, who is usually clad in white, in coloured trousers and shirts, dressed in the fashion of the day.
Singers such as Sujatha, K.S. Chitra and Antara Choudhary can be seen as young girls with hopes and dreams in their eyes. These photographs are juxtaposed with photographs of the present that show those singers as confident professionals tuning in with Yesudas.
Recognising the archival nature of his work and the effort involved, the Limca Book of Records granted him a nomination for entry for his photo biography of the singer. Leen's collection, called `Ente Gandharvan,' have been exhibited in cities in Kerala and now he plans to take it to other States in India too.
Says Leen, "The plan was to take up this assignment for two years. But now, it has become a lifelong project."
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