When singing legend opened up about cars, casinos

Dr Balamuralikrishna, the doyen of Carnatic music might have had a reputation for being an arrogant, temperamental genius but he also had a rocking, fun side to him. He had a terrific sense of humour, a penchant for fast cars and a preference for movies with fight scenes. And by his own admission, he never missed an opportunity to check out casinos anywhere in the world. In April 2008, soon after The Times of India was launched in Chennai, when we sought an inter view, he was very frank.“I am bored with giving interviews,“ he said. “I have been interviewed hundreds of times in a career spanning over seven decades.“ But the moment we told him the interview would not be about music, he perked up. “Excellent! I am tired of talking about the same things,“ he said.
During the interview he spoke at length about his love for cars and ruefully admitted that he had given up driving as Chennai's roads had become too unruly. “Since 1952, every two years I changed my car.I never had a driver because I loved to drive,“ he said. With his love for punning on words, he talked about an experience on a flight when a cabin attendant asked him if he would have veg or non-veg. He had replied: Naan veg (I am veg).
Questions about his concerts abroad triggered reminiscences about his casino visits. He talked of how much he loved performing abroad as he could go to casinos, mainly to play the slot machines.He loved the sense of privacy in casinos as no one bothered him with requests for autographs. “There (in casinos) nobody bothers. When you put in coins you have lovely music, beautiful ladies giving drinks, good lights and all this for free!“ he said with a chuckle.
In his self-deprecating style of humour, he said he loved performing at marriages as it was a good opportunity to experiment with something new or different as “nobody listened anyway“. His zest for life was evident in his enthusiasm for watching “fighting movies“ and his love for food. He loved movies with kung fu and karate “where a small fellow comes and kicks and ten people die“. And he loved eating “all the things that musicians are not supposed to eat, like ice creams--all flavours except chocolate--and spicy deep fried oily stuff like vadas, bondas and bajji“.
He was hurt by the lack of enthusiasm for classical arts in the media compared to sports, especially cricket. “Musicians give thousands of performances without ever getting run out and yet they are never on front page. I can sing, compose, play the violin, mrindangam and the viola, but the problem is I don't know how to play cricket. If I knew how to play cricket, I would have much more,“ he said, tongue firmly in cheek.