When One Bhagavathar Replaced Another — Life And Legacy Of Honnappa Bhagavathar, The OG Kannada Singing Star

A few days ago, while on my usual early morning walk, this song, played loudly by an old man on his portable Bluetooth speaker, triggered my curiosity.

The unmistakable Karaharapriya riff was robust and resonant. I had heard the song before, but on that lazy, drizzly dawn, I couldn't immediately recognise the singer.

A bit later in the day, I searched the ever-reliable YouTube, and there it was, in good quality recording. The song Brahmadiyanalum was featured in the 1941 Kannada film Subhadra, made by that Kannada legend Gubbi Veeranna.

The film, I found out, had music by three different people. The great Mallikarjun Mansur for Hindustani music-based songs, H R Padmanabha Sastry for songs based on light classical music, and B Devendrappa for Carnatic music-based songs.

Brahmadiyanalum was likely tuned by Devendrappa. But whoever may have composed it, the voice belonged to the one and only Honnappa Bhagavathar, a man who had a great impact in the Tamil and Kannada film industries.

Honnappa Bhagavathar, to be sure, wasn't as big as the other Bhagavathar in the Tamil film industry, the legendary "MKT" (M K Thyagaraja Bhagavathar). But make no mistake about it, Honnappa Bhagavathar had an equally ringing voice, and the other Bhagavathar's life and career cast a strong shadow on his.

Listen to the song Thaye Parasakthi in the film Deva Manohari (1949). Set to tune by G Ramanathan, this is probably the first song in a Tamil film in the raga Reethigowla. See the ease with which Honnappa traverses through the lines.

This compact melody, Allum Pagalum Avale (in Krishna Kumar, 1941), shows the heft in his voice as he unhurriedly drops one beautiful sangathi after another. His voice remained pleasant even when its throw was heavy, and that took some doing.

He was adept at any genre. This folksy number in Mahajavi Kalidasa is a case in point. Listen to the earthy rhythm in the voice that matches the catchy tune.

The Legend’s Early Days

Honnappa, born in a village near Bengaluru into a family of weavers, was more interested in the tapestry of music right from his early years. He showed a yen for singing bhajans and rhythmic folk numbers, even without much formal training.

Soon enough, he moved to Bengaluru with his brother to pursue the family tradition of weaving. But the music bug pushed him to seek tutelage under veteran Carnatic singer Sambashiva Murthy and harmonium player Arunachalappa.

As he had natural flair, Honnappa soon became a regular at small concerts and stage plays, and his fame spread to Tamil Nadu in the mid-1930s, where the other Bhagavathar, MKT, was the rage. Honnappa's open-throated singing and sangathi-laden reverberant lilt drew instant parallels with MKT, and at a concert in Salem, Honnappa was also bestowed the sobriquet Bhagavathar.

And it was clear that it was only a matter of time before he was roped into films. As it happened, in 1937, the film Ambikapathy happened. One version of the events at that time claims that Honnappa was the one pencilled in to play the hero in that film before the director, Ellis R Duncan, chose to cast the more flamboyant MKT as the eponymous hero.

Another story has it that MKT was already the hero of the film, and it was he who suggested the name of Honnappa to the director for a role in the film.

Either way, Ambikapathy became a raging success — among the biggest in MKT's career — and Honnappa too was formally piloted into the industry.

In a few years' time, he became a hero in his own right in the Kannada musical Subhadra. Soon enough, Honnappa became a towering success in Kannada, and his Tamil films were no less popular.

Move Over, MKT; Honnappa Is Here

MKT, by then, had become a superstar. But fate struck in ways he could not have imagined. He was arrested in the Lakshmikantham case in 1944, and his high-flying world came crashing down in scandalous profusion. All the big films that he had vauntedly announced proved to be non-starters.

Except one, that is.

The film Sri Murugan was produced by one of the biggies of those times, Jupiter Pictures, in Coimbatore. M G Ramachandran (MGR) was one of the artists on their rolls. Sri Murugan began rolling in 1944 with songs and scenes shot with MKT by the director Raja Chandrasekhar. But MKT's arrest halted the film. The producers, however, did not want to let go of the film, which was a prestigious venture for them.

They decided to go ahead with the project. But with a new hero. They decided to replace one Bhagavathar with another — MKT with Honnappa. If the former had taken the role of the latter in Ambikapathy, now the boot was on the other leg. Honnappa walked into the film Sri Murugan with high hopes. But the director, Raja Chandrasekhar, who was a close friend of MKT's, refused to work with him on the film.

Unfazed, Jupiter Pictures went ahead and had their in-house talent, A S A Sami, to handle the film. Even though the film was eventually released under the credit of M Somasundaram and V S Narayanan, it was Sami who was really in charge.

Sami went on to become a legend in the industry by becoming the voice and vision of Dravidian ideologues in the Tamil industry. He was the one who directed MGR's first film as a hero, Rajakumari (1947). He helmed Anna's first film as a screenwriter, Velaikari (1949). Karunanidhi apprenticed under him in the film Abhimanyu (1948).

Anyway, Sami's diligence and Honnappa's singing form ensured that Sri Murugan, released in 1946, would be a major hit. The film also became known for MGR's ‘Shiva Thandavam’ along with Malathi. Honnappa had the satisfaction of being more than a successful replacement for the great MKT.

Star Honnappa Inspiration for Rajkumar

But by the end of that decade, and as Dravidian politics began to dominate Tamil industry, talents like Honnappa were sought to be sidelined by the emerging ethos.

Honnappa, too, understood the reality and began to focus on Kannada films. In all, he did around 18 Tamil films, including Krishna Kumar (1941), Sathi Sukanya (1942), Valmiki (1946), Gokuladasi (1949), and Deva Manohari (1951).

He also produced a Tamil film in 1959 titled Uzhavukkum Thozhilukkum Vandhanai Seivom. He announced another film, Neenga Nalla Irukannam, after that. But it never got made.

In Kannada, he did films like Hemareddy Mallamma (1945), Bhakta Kumbara (1948), Gunasagari (1953), and Mahakavi Kalidasa (1955). Gunasagari saw the introduction of Pandari Bai. Mahakavi Kalidasa, which was produced by Honnappa Bhagavathar himself, saw the debut of Saroja Devi. The Kannada actress went on to become one of the most successful heroines in Tamil.

In 1959, Honnappa played the lead in Jagajyothi Basaveshwara (1959), in which Rajkumar also acted, which secured a national award. In a sense, the singing superstar Honnappa Bhagvathar was the inspiration for Rajkumar, who became a bigger star in Kannada later.

The Tamil film Uzhavukkum Tozhilukkum Vandhanai Seivom put him under financial strife, and in the 1960s he went back to stage. He founded Uma Maheshwara Nataka Mandali and staged a number of Kannada plays. As with all great stars of that time, recurring debts set Honnappa on the backfoot. But he continued his music nevertheless and also ran the music school Nadabrahma Sangeetha Vidyalaya in Karnataka.

His last fling with cinema was with Sadananda (1979), the Kannada comedy film. But by then, he was well past his prime. He had seven children, with one of them, Bharath, being a popular name in Kannada cinema and television.

Honnappa Bhagavathar, the singing superstar, passed away in 1992 without much fanfare. His demise was unfussy, like the way he led his life for the most part.

His life and times were wholesome, much like this ragamalika he sang in Mahakavi Kalidasa. A song that shows that the title Bhagavathar was beautifully befitting.