Pick of the Week: Aug 2006 - Sep 2007

Thanks a million for hosting this song, ramki. Excellent rendition by SPB and VJ. Lyrics and music grace this song. :)

mmm Jn eppO "VJ" Fan aanaanga :oops:

before Jn reply, I'm still alive :!:

Nandri nandri :)

Pick #454

http://tfmpage.com/stream/pow07/thangachi_k.rm




Song: thangachi thangachi enge pore
Movie: kutti
Singer : iLaiyaraja
Lyrics: iLaiyaraja
MD: iLaiyaraja
Year : 2001

Very often i make fun of those senseless mass action masala movies in which every damsel in distress will be saved by punch dialogue mouthing vijay or vikram or rajinikanth.
When i was watching Kutti, i was wishing..actually praying for any of the above to come and rescue
that small innocent girl from her impending journey.
Kutt is a fantastic piece of cinema. This touching film starts with the journey of a small village girl kutti(Swetha) to chennai to work as a housemaid/cook/babysitter. Her employers, a young working couple (Ramesh Aravind and Kousalya) are nice to her, but their first son takes a instant dislike towards her. The arrival of Ramesh Aravinds mom(MNRajam) makes life more complicated for kutti. She befriends a good soul(Vivek) in the neighbourhood maLigai kadai. She also comes in acquaintance with a bad guy(Ramesh khanna), who exploits her innocence and sells her to Red light district in Bombay. Unaware of this ploy, the girl sneaks out from her employers flat and starts another journey. She thinks she is going back to her village to see her mom, brother etc. But we know where her journey is to.

And this is where todays song is played. In the background. My respect for IR as a lyricist grew manifold after listening the excellent lines.

pachai kodi kattum pavi magan ippo sivappu kodi katta maatano
sivapu viLakkukku nee poi serathaan pachai viLakku pottaano

Every soul that watched this scene would have had the same prayer in their hearts.

Tears well up eyes when he sings the lines

kanavodu payanangaL pogidnra kaNNe
pogum oor edhuvendru arivaayo kaNNe
kaNNe maniye amudhe kaRpagame

Very rarely we get to watch such films in tamil. Film that draws you in and makes you a part of it is a rarity in our tamil films.
The girl Swetha is a real real find. It was a stunning performance. Her facial expressions are a treat to watch. She could take class for the current heartthrobs.
Everyone in the film did very well(Ramesh Aravind surprised me with his natural portrayal).

The film had 2 other songs by IR. But 'thangachi' is my absolute favorite.

what to say Ramki..

மறுபடி அழவச்சிட்டீங்களே .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ramki

Very rarely we get to watch such films in tamil. Film that draws you in and makes you a part of it is a rarity in our tamil films.

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Very well said, Ramki! I too had the opportunity to watch this movie and when this song comes at the very end of the movie, it is touching... eyes filled with tears... hoping for a miracle...
@2:00, the music turns haunting as the credits roll... a very well made movie!

The movie was by a female director, Janaki Viswanathan(?), I think. Did she make any other movie?

RC, Janaki V also directed 'kanavu meippada vendum'.

I think kutti is based on Sivashankari's novel(or short story).

Ramki: very touching movie with lots of sadness that haunts you for a very long time. kodumaiyin moththa uruvam andha M.N.Rajam amma. ippadi koodaa peNgal iruppaangaLaa nu kavalaip pada vaiththadhu.
andhap poNNu train le ukkaandhirukkirappo endha kadavuLaavadhu vandhu kaappaaththirak koodaadho nu irundhadhu. I only pray and hope that such incidents don't ever happen in real life.

I don't remember today's pick at all. May be I was too busy crying. :(

Thanks Madhu, RC and jn.

JN,IMO, MNRajam's characterisation was slightly exaggerated. I'm not denying that such people exist but still her character was contrived.

Pick #455

http://tfmpage.com/stream/pow07/engaiyo_mn.rm




Song: engaiyo thikku thisai
Movie: Mahanathi
Singer : Kamalhassan
Lyrics: Vaali
MD: iLaiyaraja
Year : 1994


This short bit follows one of the most emotional scene our tamil cinema has witnessed so far. When the song is played the audience breath a sigh of relief not because the preceding scene was boring but was emotionally exhausting. Kamalhassans peformance in this scene was uncomparable.
I remember watching this film in 1994 in singapore. It was before the internet days. I watched the film without any idea of what is it about. After watching it, i couldnt get the story and scenes out of my mind for few days.
Mahanadhi is another film that draws you in. Though it had some commercial elements, it was a very good film. I wish Kamal could do more of such kind of films. He played the role with so much conviction that you almost forget that you are watching a fictional character on the screen. The peformance by the supporting cast, esp SNLakshmi and Poornam , added a notch to the films appeal.

Todays song has Vali's admirable lyrics. IMO, someone other than KH should have sung the song.

Thanks Ramki for this great Song

Mahanadhi when I watched in Singapore created an impression that was very hard to explain (i had never cried before watching a movie). This intense movie had exceptional performance from Kamal and as you rightly pointed by Poornam and SNL. Rajesh's role was good as well. Vikatan after several years gave 60+ for this movie if I recall correctly.

And Kamal and the movie were forgotten during many of the awards of 1994. IR gave an unbelievable BM for this film and I could not believe that went unrecognized as well.

To me this is the best movie of 90s..

Thanks for the song

Bala

Kutti a very good movie indeed.

There is one long forgotten song which I happen to hear in OLI last week. Song from 'Sattam Sirikkirathu- Malai Mugattinil Madhu Katrinil. Breezy duet by S. JAnaki & T.K.S.Kalyan??

Any idea of the storyline & actors?

mahanadhi was a powerful movie by kamal

i saw in Ramvictoria in madurai where the 1'st day it was full and the next day you could see harldy few .. Many other masala movies which got released along with mahanadhi were running houseful

Tamil Audience doesnt need good films at all and this is one classic example..

you dont need to be a kamal fan because kamal was way beyond the normal kamal in this movie

As ramki rightly said, SNlakshmi,poornam, rajesh,thalaivasal vijay , sukanya all gave able support

spl mention about mahanadhi shobana and the teenager(grown up shobana)

thanks for the pick

Vaali's lyrics throughout the movie (in all songs) were classic and IR's music was amazing

I like Thangachi song for its opening line and the exact moment in the film it was placed. Like a picture can speak thousand words, one song line can express all the emotions when presented at the right spot. Some of the other similar movie moments (for me) are oLiyilE therivathu in Azhagi and ithO enthan deivam bit in Babu.

About Mahanadhi, I may be in the minority here. I thought that the film was very depressing, dark, bleak, pessimistic and height of melodrama.

Ramki: indha week pathos week aa? :)
Vaali is honoured with Padmashree award.
:clap:

Rajesh: I also watched this movie in Madurai. I don't remember the theater name. Is this Ram Victoria in arasaradi area?

yes jn, it's near solamalai theatre

Thanks everyone :)

Jn idhu 'kutti'(s) week :)

Mahanadhi will always be on the list of my fav movies. No need to say about Kamal's act. I almost cry every time I watch this movie and I can watch this one any number of times (if my wife allows me to do so :( )

Pick #456

http://tfmpage.com/stream/pow07/thulli_noa.rm




Song: thuLLi varum maankutti
Movie: nenjil oru aalayam
Singer : PSuseela
Lyrics: kaNNadasan
MD: Viswanathan Ramamurthy
Year : 1962


A short piece turn haunting primarily due to the ucharippu perfect, pitch perfect, emotion perfect voice of PSuseela.
I have goosebumps everytime i listen to this moving piece. Only PS voice can create such feelings in her listeners. Only Kannadasan can write such lines.

TFM will not see such combinations in the future. We will have to treasure what we had.
I'm wondering what people thought about these songs in 1962?. Were they complaining that the new songs are bad and relishing the songs from say, the 1940s?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ramki

I'm wondering what people thought about these songs in 1962?. Were they complaining that the new songs are bad and relishing the songs from say, the 1940s?

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Nice pick Ramki! No Ramki, there were no complaints as long as the lyrics were Tamil and clean! :) I remember thanjai ramaiyadass being taken to task for 'jollylo jimkaana' ! :) People still had memories of MKT,KRR,PUC and other old timers.

oh yes.. thulli varum mankutti ... perfect rendition by PS .. well emoted by devika on screen

thanks for the pick ramki

I feel I have missed a lot of songs :
"maalai malar" Even though SPB excels, I could not think of any other singer apart from VJ to do full justice for her part. I started hearing this song after a long time thanks to Neel Dhandapani and his site vanijairam.com
Kutti song : padam paarkkum poluthellaam orae bayam thaan "innum eppadi ellam intha kutty kashtapada pogiraal" endru
mahanathi : I hope kamal's voice suits very well. ramki, I disagree.

thuLLi varum is a classic song. situationally it is a very emotional song. ellaaraiyum azha vachirum.
Ramki: kuttis week le oru happy song m potrukkalaame. :)

Rajeshkrv: Sangeetha is the grown-up Shobana in Mahanadhi. She acted as heroine with Vijay in Poove Unakkaaga.

Thulli varum mankutti... ramki idhu varayil naan havenot listened to. Simply wonderful piece. Thanks. Whether devika sings for good-health of kutti padmini?

Thanks Raj. Nice to hear from Lion's mouth :)

mani:)

JN indha week ellaam happy songs

vel, welcome back. Yes the song is sung by Devika after Kutti Padminis operation.

Pick #457

http://tfmpage.com/stream/pow07/azhage_kk.rm




Song: azhage vaa
Movie: kaliyuga kaNNan
Singers : SPB, ?
Lyrics: vaali?
MD: VKumar
Year : 1974

Song should be listened just for SPB's freakish rendition with some Rafi's style of yodelling at the end. I'm not sure who the female singer is(any chance is it Swarna?).
I remember watching KK very long time back. I just remember the ending and 'kaNNa nee jaichutte' song. I know thengai and Sowcar were the main actors. Who were the other actors?(Who appears in todays song?).
'kaathal poNNedu' is another good number from KK

other actors were jai and jaichitra
yes ramki, story,dialogues,screenplay & songs were by kavingar vaali

Ramki: This song is for jai and jayachithra in the movie.

Thanks rajeshkrv and JN

Pick #458

http://tfmpage.com/stream/pow07/en_tv.rm




Song: en kaadhali
Movie: thangathile vairam
Singers : SPB, KJYesudoss
Lyrics: vaali?
MD: Shankar Ganesh
Year : 1975

This is the one of my favorite Songs tuned by SG duo. This is also the first duet by the 2 leading singers of TFM. I believe KJY sings for sivakumar and SPB for Kamal. Sripriya and jaisudha were their jodis.
I'm not sure if it was in this film or in pattikattu raja, but i read somewhere that SK and KH had lot of clashes and SK swore not to act with KH anymore.

Are there anyother good songs in TV?

azhagE vaa kEkkum pOdhu kaalam ponnaanadhu paatu gnabagathukku varudhu..

en kaadhali arumayaana paadal... neeNda naatkaLukku pin kEttalum tune manadhil appadiyE irukku... indha paatu kEkkum pOdhu naaLai namadhE paatu gnabagam varudhu..

Ramki: Can't resist repeat listen of En kadhali. Somehow I feel, KJY could not show that thuLLal in his rendition, as SPB steals (even overshadows KJY) the song.

BTW, SK with Jayachitra and Kamal with Sripriya. Jayasudha did not act in this movie.

Dear Ramki,
Thanks for the nice song.. :)

With Love,
Usha Sankar.

Ramki,

Thanks for post such unforgatable and nice song. I think SG done wonderful job in this song.

Jack

Thanks everyone.

SN23 thanks for the correction. KJY tamizh ucharippum konjam nerudhalthaan indha paatile

Pick #459

http://tfmpage.com/stream/pow07/naanoru_nn.rm




Song: naanoru medai paadagan
Movie: naaLai namadhe
Singers : TMSoundararajan, LREswari, SPBalasubramaniam
Lyrics: vaali
MD: MSViswanathan
Year : 1975

Remaking a magnum opus like yaadon ki baaraat is not an easy task. The film had a novel storyline(first of the seperated family reuniting by song genre) and had superhit songs.
Creating songs for the remake without an iota of resemblence to the original should have been a difficult task. But MSV did it with his own style and fashion.
Allmost all the songs were good in the remake. Todays song and 'en idaiyilum' song were the least popular among the 6 .
The original had Dharmendra, Late Vijay arora(passed away this 2nd Feb), Tariq, Zeenat etc. Since MGR *ed in the remake he chose to act in both the characters of Dharam and Vijay.Chandramohan(odd choice) played Tariq's role. Latha did Zeenat's.
Was sripriya in the cast too?

Ramki: you know...YKB had Aamir khan in the cast as the third son (iLavayadhu Taariq). Cast also included Neetu Singh as jodi for Taariq. One Anamika acted as pair for Dharmendra.

Do you know who acted in Tamil version in place of Neetu? Anamika's role was played by V.Nirmala (in black costumes) pairing periya wig MGR :)

This song is spoiled due to LRE's overplaying. Should have been given to some other singer.

The best of the lot always goes to Neela nayanangaLil :)

Senior hubber Murali Srinvas on NN from an old post:

"Naalai Namadhe: As you know it was a remake of the evergreen hit Yaadon Ki Baarat. YKB was making waves all over TN in 1973-74. Sethu Madhavan of Malayalam film world (A great director who had done some excellent films in Mal. Also directed some Tamil films, the last of which was Nammavar) got the remake rights and approached MGR. The initial plan was MGR will do Dharmendra’s role, Sivakumar will do Vijay Arora’s role & Kamal for Tariq’s role. But MGR again as his wont did not accept and he dictated his own terms and made it happen. Since the eldest did not have Jodi and songs, he took the second son’s role also and brought Chandramohan (Sankarabharanam fame- though it was released much later 1979) for Tariq’s role. This clearly affected the movie and moreover when it was released on 4th July 1975, YKB was still fresh in the minds of the people and if you remember NN had no such elements that would satisfy a MGR fan. The supposedly long run of MGR’s films in normal circumstances can be contributed to another factor. The Gap between two MGR films will be big and for hard-core MGR fans who used to repeatedly view the movie, they had no other go and this helped the movies to run for more days. Compared to this NT’s movies always had a short gap between them. In the case of NN, the MGR fans had nothing to cheer about and moreover on 22nd August 1975 (just after of 49 days of NN’s release), Idhyakani was released and so MGR fans dropped NN and it bit the dust at the BO. After it’ release (it was not announced before) the ad came out stating that NN is MGR’s 125th movie, but it did not help. "

Kamal in Tariq's role would have been a WOW! Ofcourse knowing MGR, he would have not have allowed that. Sivakumar in VA's role is as bad/or even worse as MGR in that role.
(Sivakumar after acting in zillion movies with the same expressions, Zero acting and same voice modulations finally got salvation in Marupadiyum or something with Sedhu Madhavan as the director)


"Ennai Vittal" in NN to me is the best song...

Bala

Ramki,

Thanks for Another gem...Naanoru Medai paadagan. Ippo enna iruvar specialaa....kalakkunga thalaivaa. Letme list down few more iruvar songs.

1. Nanbhaney..Enathu Uyir...........Sattam......S.P.B & M.V.
2. Naanoru Koyil Neeyoru.............Nellikkani.......S.P.B & M.V
3. Maama Maama .......................Thaai Veedu......S.P.B, K.J.Y & S.J
4. Maami Sivakaami.....................Ilanjodigal......... .S.P.B & M.V
5. Ennamma Kannu..................Mr.Bharath...........S.P.B & M.V
6. Pattukottai Ammalu.............Ranga.................S.P.B & M.V.
7. Enakkoru Kaathali............Muthana Mutthalavo......S.P.B & M.S.V

Thanks,
Jack

few more iruvar songs.
8. paadinaal oru paatu paal nilavinil netru(MGR, muthuraman)
9. ramu i love you raja...(Sivaji,gemini)
10. kavalaigal kidakkatum maranthuvidu(same pair)
11. pon onru kandean pen angu illai(sivaji and balaji)
12. paradi kanne konjam paithiyamanathu nenjam(manohar.....)

MP