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Chitra - Greatest female singler ever to grace TFM?. Is she better than SJ,PS and others?.

Topic started by easwaran Hariharan (@ amex.proxy.lucent.com) on Fri Aug 15 11:43:59 EDT 1997.
All times in EDT +9:30 for IST.

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: SM (@ pmnat01-p01.sgum.mci.com) on: Wed Mar 17 20:10:41 EST 1999
  
  Anandan,
  
  You are right. But, I find it in a no. of songs of Chitra and I don't find anything of that sort in PS and SJ. I didn't mean to say that Chitra is not great. She is definitely great but I won't call her as great as PS and SJ as of now. I haven't seen her perform live. And as far as effortless singing is concerned, I would rate PS as the best.
  
  
• From: SM (@ pmnat01-p01.sgum.mci.com) on: Wed Mar 17 20:13:45 EST 1999
  
  Aruvi,
  
  As far as clarity is concerned, I accept your point. She is good in that (although I would say PS' voice is more clearer). More than ESK songs, I would give "vaan megam", "paarthadhenna" songs as examples for her clarity.
  
  
• From: aruvi (@ spc-isp-tor-uas-92-50.sprint.ca) on: Wed Mar 17 21:44:43 EST 1999
  
  SM
  
  First of I just want to clear some things. The 'YOU' was capitalized because I was referring to you because you are the only one so far that have ever said that she had trouble singing. Why did I capitalize it? Because if you have seen any of my other postings you would realize that I use 'you' in reference to any listener.
  
  And so to go on, you say that you have not seen any live performances by Chitra. If you are able, please get a couple and check them out cuz then you would realize how effortlessly she actually sings. I have heard the above mentioned songs that you claim she had difficulty singing, but I don't agree at all. I have seen her singing high pitched songs such as on the A.R.Rahman live show and she doesn't fret a bit. In fact, when PS sings on stage, you can see her face and body moving as she gives expression, but when SJ or Chitra perform on stage, only their voices are in action. I truly don't understand what you mean by difficulty singing her first song cuz I have listened to it plenty of times to know that it avokes no such feelings. When I said Chitra was the best, it was from the understanding that Chitra is the only one remaining from the times when there was one singer who was sought after the most. So SJ and PS had their peak in career at those individual time periods. That said, Chitra is the only one standing right now. Sujatha started way before Chitra but she is just rising to popularity so I that is why I didn't refer to her. A lot of people have mentioned that she has not reached a point where she can be compared to the 'legendary two':-))) but then, IMO, I don't think that there will be a time any more where a singer would completely dominate as they did in the older days, because unlike before, film people are always looking for new talent, be it even if they have no talent. Most people last for a couple of songs. Oh and the ESK songs were there not only for pronunciation.
  
  
• From: Srinath (@ 206-87-79.ipt.aol.com) on: Wed Mar 17 22:37:46 EST 1999
  
  aruvi:
  Another song where I find Chitra less than pleasing is "Chinna Kuil Paadum Paatu..". She does come across as nasal. I have heard Chitra sing during a T.V interview (without instruments, delay units, etc.,) and her voice was simply magical. OTOH, I have heard SJ on a stage show shown on T.V and she was embarrassingly off scale ! Each of the three has proved her ability beyond a shadow of doubt and over a wide range of performances. But Chitra's singing lacks a certain character (individuality) that the other two have. Her voice is somewhat neutral. What I am trying to say is that there are other singers who have excelled with note-perfect singing quite often, even if not as often as Chitra. So this alone cannot qualify her as the best in TFM. I have heard one other complaint against her (among Light Music Circles) that her voice is too faint at times. It appears that she lacked depth initially, though this is one complaint that I have not heard in a long while ! While I still feel that she is the one singer who could do justice to any number sung by SJ or PS, she has not carved a niche for herself in TFM.
  
  
• From: aruvi (@ spc-isp-tor-uas-92-50.sprint.ca) on: Wed Mar 17 22:53:41 EST 1999
  
  But Srinath
  
  This is what I meant when I said that there would likely be no more period in the industry where one singer could dominate. SJ and PS had a long time to display there characteristic individuality. In PS's time there was only PS who sang so much until SJ came and she dominated the screen until Chitra came. Yet, when Chitra came she had a lot more competition, so there wasn't enough opportunity for her to be singled out as SJ and PS have been.
  
  And referring to the song 'Chinna kuyil', that is one of my favourite song and also the song that made Chitra famous among tamils and the title "Chinnakuyil" got stuck to her. I suppose the 'nasal' singing(?) in this case helped:-)))
  
  
• From: aruvi (@ spc-isp-tor-uas-92-50.sprint.ca) on: Wed Mar 17 22:54:46 EST 1999
  
  BTW are you referring to the interview with sun tv for the national award.
  
  
• From: SM (@ pmnat01-p09.sgum.mci.com) on: Wed Mar 17 23:46:15 EST 1999
  
  Aruvi,
  
  Thanks for the clarification.
  
  And, now I remember one live show of Chitra with GA and SPB. This was a long time back. There was a request from the audience to sing 'maangkuyilae... poongkuyilae' ("Karagaattakkaaran" - duet by SPB and SJ). Since SJ was not there, GA asked Chitra to sing. As you said, only her voice was in action (I have heard a lot of people saying that in case of PS too, only her voice will be in action. But your statement is exactly the opposite of it. Since I haven't seen any of PS' live performances, I can't comment on it). But, I felt that she struggled a bit to sing that song (maybe she tried to emote the way SJ did)
  
  
• From: SM (@ pmnat01-p09.sgum.mci.com) on: Wed Mar 17 23:52:26 EST 1999
  
  aruvi, In continuation to my above posting, that song from the live concert can't be taken into account as the song was actually sung by SJ and since she was not there Chitra sang to satisfy the audience. And, it has no relevance to the "DIFFICULTY" I was referring to in my earlier postings :-))) Otherwise, I would still say that there are some songs of Chitra that I was not much pleased with it. And, I would definitely rate PS and SJ much higher than Chitra.
  
  
• From: aruvi (@ spc-isp-tor-uas-92-50.sprint.ca) on: Wed Mar 17 23:56:54 EST 1999
  
  Hey SM
  
  I donna know. I am not going to try and even argue with your statement even though I have seen that concert and have a video copy of it. What I tried to do was clarify things, not make you change your preferences. It does not matter to me or anyone else who you rate higher. As their fan, it is your right. So I am gonna leave all this as is.
  
  
• From: SM (@ pmnat01-p20.sgum.mci.com) on: Thu Mar 18 01:18:27 EST 1999
  
  Hey Aruvi,
  
  > What I tried to do was clarify things, not
  > make you change your preferences. It does not
  > matter to me or anyone else who you rate
  > higher. As their fan, it is your right. So I am
  > gonna leave all this as is.
  
  I didn't claim otherwise. I know that it doesn't matter to anyone who I, or for that matter, anyone including you, rate higher. I too was just presenting my views and I too didn't try to change anyone's preferences. Thanks for enlightening me with what rights I have in this DF. As a matter of fact, I stopped arguing about this before itself - to be clear - from my last posting itself and that is why I posted another as its continuation to highlight this fact.
  
  
• From: karthi (@ lab1.theatrium.net) on: Thu Mar 18 04:03:06 EST 1999
  
  As it stands now, in TFM the only singer that could be singled out as being just capable of singing any kind of song is Chitra. And she has also proved her versatility through 'Maana Madura' in Minsaara Kanavu - in which her expression was just great! She's the only singer who is consistent and brings a quality of completion to her songs though she sounds screechy in some songs when reaching very high notes. She has that youthful exuberance and maturity in her voice which will continue to hold her in place for many more years to come! Her songs in malayaalam are so divine may be because it's her mother tongue? Certainly she cannot be counted out of the list of PS and SJ - SM I do agree with aruvi in this - she has proved her stability for over 15 years now and what more can you expect out of a singer? She's my favourite nowadays just even going by the few songs I get to hear nowadays! Even though Sujatha seems to sing sweeter than Chitra sometimes, IMO, I feel she lacks something (life?) which makes Chitra stand out! Fortunately, she is still young so her voice naturally suits any young heroines! She is the best in TFM right now.
  
  
• From: Srinath (@ ss01.nc.us.ibm.com) on: Thu Mar 18 11:21:50 EST 1999
  
  Aruvi:
  The interview was a very old one. I don't know if it was after she won a National Award. Does anyone know how many National AWards Chitra has won and when ?
  
  Guys:
  The discussion is proceeding along peacefully. Let us all try to keep it that away. Perhaps we should just take a vote here and leave it at that. Until recently there used to be this habit of the thread initiator concluding the discussion with a summary. Pity that that tradition is not being followed anymore. e.Hari, upto the task ? :-)
  
  All factors considered, my vote goes for SJ as the best TFM female singer, closely followed by PS and then Chitra. Hmmm...it is beginning to look eerily like MSV:IR:ARR :: PS:SJ:Chitra :: TMS:SPB:SPB. And no, the double SPB is not a typo ;-)
  
  
• From: SM (@ nat01smurugap.sgum.mci.com) on: Thu Mar 18 12:32:32 EST 1999
  
  
  Karthi,
  
  > She has that youthful exuberance and maturity
  > in her voice which will continue to hold her in
  > place for many more years to come!
  
  I agree with you on this. I didn't bracket her along with PS and SJ because these two have inspired many singers (Chitra, herself, once said in an interview that SJ is one of her inspirations) and they have been in the top for a long time. What I was saying was that I would like to compare her with PS and SJ after some more years - after she becomes an inspiration (like PS and SJ) for the new singers. That would take some time and that is why I didn't compare her with PS and SJ. Talentwise, I didn't claim that she is inferior to PS and SJ. She is a great gifted singer, no doubt about that. The difficulty I meant was what you told - she sometimes sounds screetchy when reaching high pitches and develops a false voice. This is why I felt it seems she is having difficulty in singing such songs (maybe, I shouldn't have used the word, difficulty, I am sorry about that). Even in that aspect she has improved a lot from the 'poojaikkaetha poovidhu' and 'chinnakkuyil paadum' days. The song you mentioned 'maanaa madurai' stands as a good example for her versatility. I was just stating my preferences and opinions. On anyday, my preferences, among the three, would be 1) PS, 2) Chitra, 3) SJ. However, IMO, I would call both Chitra and Sujatha as the best singers in TFM, as of now. Otherwise, I agree with you.
  
  If you guys are taking a vote for the best TFM female playback singer, here goes mine
  1) PS, 2) SJ, 3) Chitra.
  
  
• From: lalloo P. Yadhav (@ kcecfp01.sprint.com) on: Thu Mar 18 15:10:34 EST 1999
  
  arrEy bhaai Srinath,
  
  nimbaL vOtu kEtkiraan? idhO vOtu nambaL pOduraan.
  
  hamaaraa ballot box mEy:
  
  Chitra - 999,998 votes
  SJanaki- 1 vote (yE Srinath kown hai yaar!)
  PSusheela-1 vote (arrEy karthi, jeevan pE nafrath aagayi kyaa?)
  
  
  
  

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