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		Home > Articles > The Song...Off To The Far Shores! The Song...Off To The Far Shores! 'Kalavaramaye Madilo,' 'Entaghatu Premayo,' 'Emito Ee Maya,' 'Echatanundi Veecheno,' 'Sundarangulanu Choochina Velala,' so the list goes on endlessly – songs, even as you hear them any number of times, overwhelm you with joy and indefinable bliss. The voice that rendered them eternal, P Leela's, alas, will no more be heard live. The voice has been muted for ever, but the songs live on. No other singer on the South Indian screen sang as many songs with the late Ghantasala as she, and the songs they sang together remain inerasable in our memories. As everyone knows, the singer is no more. Admitted into a private nursing home, she breathed her last on the 31st of October, carrying with her, her voice to regale different worlds. Many of her fans and admirers both in the classical music and the film worlds find it difficult to be reconciled to the sad fact that she is no more. Born in 1933 to a school teacher in Chittoor near Ernakulam in Kerala, Leela grew up under the care of her father, Kunju Menon who had great passion for Karnatic music. Music fascinated him so much that soon after his marriage he had his wife Smt Meenakshi trained in classical music. The next step was logical. He set about to make his daughter Leela imbibe his passion for classical music and had her learn classical music from the tender age of five. He strove all his life to make a great singer of her. Just to see her make it to the top in classical music, he gave up his job and moved to Madras, the hive of singing bees then and now. While all other children her age enjoyed fun and play, the young Leela busied herself training in classical music. Her winning the first prize at a young age of nine in a music competition marked her debut as an artiste. Leela arrived on the scene of classical music. She was a staunch devotee of Lord Guruvayurappan. Whenever she sang, Leela held spell bound the uninformed listener and the connoisseur alike by her redolent voice. Even after the passing away of her motivator and mentor, her father, she continued in her resolve to slake his thirst for music. She just sang on and on, as if to let her father's soul rest in peace. If you chance upon a house with the idol of Lord Srikrishna in its fore court and hear melodious sounds flowing out of the place, sure you are in the vicinity of the abode of the singer - Leela - in the Defense Colony, Parangimalai in Chennai. To show her abiding devotion to Lord Srikrishna, she named her house Brindavanam, and Brindavanam indeed it was with the statue of the Lord in front of the house blessing all those who entered her home. Film Debut She began her film singing career when at the age of eleven, she sang for the Tamil movie, 'Kankanam,' produced by Narayanan & Co. Since then there was no looking back for her. While singing on Madras All India Radio, she lent her voice to a number of heroines in movies, as she had a steady flow of opportunities. Her most memorable moment in her career as movie singer came when one day, MK Thyagaraja Bhagavatar, the leading artiste of the day, passing in his car saw her standing on the road. The next day she received his call to sing with him in his movie, 'Amara Kavi'. CR Subbaraman, Her Guru Leela always acknowledges with gratitude the role of the late CR Subbaraman, music director, in shaping her career. He gave her a number of opportunities to sing in choruses in the beginning, and then solos and duets, as she matured as a singer. Under his music direction she sang for movies like 'Manamagal,' and 'Bhakta Kabir' in Tamil and in 'Laila Majnu,' 'Sri Lakshmamma Katha,' in Telugu. She held him in very high esteem. She used to say that he had the talent to compose music in just a matter of minutes. Ghanatasala recognized her talent when she began to sing duets with him under CR's music direction. Ever since no movie for which Ghantasala scored music went without Leela lending her voice to the songs in it. No movie in Telugu and Tamil versions under the Vijaya banner was made without Leela adorning it with her voice. It is no exaggeration that none of the singers and the music directors in those days worked without her. She never went after opportunities, even when with the entry of new singers, her demand went down. Ups and downs never upset her or made her lose her dignity. The singer who had regaled the audiences of the four southern languages, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam had her due recognition when in 1992 she was honored by the Tamil Nadu government with the title of 'Kalaimamani.' Though not so active in movies in her later life, she continued her singing career as a classical musician. She made history once by singing for four hours at a stretch in a classical music concert. The late artiste Savithri's all women film venture 'Chinnari Manasulu,' had its music set by Leela. That was her first and last exercise in music direction. Leela the prolific singer of 5000 songs in all the four southern languages is not in our midst now. True. But can her voice stop ringing in our hearts?