Tamil Nadu witnessed an unprecedented spectacle on Thursday when believers, rationalists, atheists and people from all religions, castes and tribes assembled at all public places and prayed for the speedy recovery of S P Balasubramaniam, the iconic playback singer who is waging a battle with Covid-19 in a city hospital.
Since Thursday 6 pm the whole State reverberated with all-time melodious songs sung by the 74 year old singer who has been on ventilator and Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation support.
The prayer meet was led by Rajnikanth, Kamal Haasan , Bharati Raaja and others while music maestros A R Rehman and Ilayaraja joined the millions with prayers for the return of SPB, as the singer is addressed in reverence.
Temples all over Chennai and other places saw hundreds of devotees offering ‘Deeparadhana” (special prayers with lamps) while many public places saw music fans joining the prayer rallies with lighted candles in their hands.
“This is an unprecedented event in Tamil Nadu and no public figures has received such adulation and love from the people,” said Sarat Kumar, Tamil filmdom’s leading superstar.
In a career spanning five decades, SPB has sung more than 40,000 songs in Tamil, Telugu,Kannada, Hindi and Malayalam and has won six National Awards for the best male playback singer. The versatile singer, who was at ease in any kind of music, has been honoured with Padma Bhushan by the President of India and has always remained above controversies, a factor which made him dear to one and all.
SPB Charan, his son, said that the singer, though in a critical stage continues to be stable and all are hopeful of him coming out of the present situation.