After sensational Hindi debut, Vani Jairam was a hit in south

Vani Jairam, who died at 77 in Chennai on Saturday, was widely regarded as a worthy contender to Lata Mangeshkar’s crown.

Her debut song Bole re papihara in Guddi (1971) became a runaway hit, and she was soon recording with the biggest singers and music composers in Bombay.

Around that time, she was employed in State Bank of India. She gave up her job on the advice of her mentor Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan to concentrate fulltime on music. At one point, she was rehearsing 18 hours a day.

“But suddenly, the songs stopped,” she told an interviewer many decades later, accepting his suggestion that professional jealousy had scuttled her prospects in Hindi films.

She was stoic about it, describing herself as just one of many female singers to get a raw deal -- Suman Kalyanpur, Shamshad Begum and Kavita Krishnamurthy being among the others. And she spoke fondly of Lata’s songs.

Cross currents in Mumbai brought her to Chennai, where she was swamped with work. She became part of a trio --- S Janaki and P Susheela being the other two --- who ruled south Indian film music. By her own reckoning, she was the No. 1 female singer in three languages --- Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam --- for 11 years. She sang several hits in Telugu as well.

She is credited with 10,000 songs in 19 languages in a career spanning five decades. She was introduced to Kannada films by music composer Vijayabhaskar, and remained his favourite for decades. Sutta mutta yaaroo illa (Kalla Kulla), Endendu ninnanu maretu (Eradu Kanasu) and Kanasaloo neene, manasaloo neene (Bayaludaari) are among her most enduring hits.