Pick of the week: 1 Mar to 5 Aug 2006

Pick #106

http://tfmpage.com/stream/songs/thiru_vep.rm

Song: thirupathi malaiyil
Film: vaazhvu en pakkam
Singer: MSV
Lyrics: kaNNadasan
Music: MSV

Actress Lakshmi can infuse life to even ordinary roles. When she is given a role that needs good performance, she makes it even better with her subdued but powerful performance.
'vaazhvu en pakkam' is one such film. in VEP Muthuraman ( the favorite hero of heroine oriented films), plays a rich guy who marries a dumb girl Lakshmi. His family is against this marriage and they physically abuse her . Unable to tolerate their abuse she flees. Todays song is played in this sequence. Lakshmis expression in this song is a treat to watch.
MSV, a talented singer with so so voice, wisely chooses the song he gives voice to. He always sang the asareeri song or for some unimportant character. Todays song is for a train beggar-saamiyar.

VEP is another inspiration of geetha aur seetha. Lakshmi played a dual role. The movie was just ok but her acting made it watchable.

Dig :- Admin, Most of the archived threads before year 2000 just show a blank page. Please restore the pages as Iam one of the very few who spend more time on archives esp pre 2000

Pick #107

http://tfmpage.com/stream/songs/kanav_aov.rm

Song: kanavodu aengum
Film: anbe odi vaa
Singer: SJanaki
Lyrics: Vairamuthu
Music: iLaiyaraja

The mikes, Mohan and Murali, are the 2 heroes who benefitted the most from IR' s songs. Even their worst movies had best songs.
AOV is one such bad film. The film had Mohan, urvasi , Raasi etc. Only the songs are memorable.
The joyful 'azhagaana pookaL' (SPB's version of todays pick)
the soulful 'jodi nadhigaL'(SPB) and the romantic duets
'kaadhil kettadhu'(MV,UR) and 'idazhil amudham'(KJY,VJ) are all musical treats.
Todays pick is one of SJ-IR-VM combos best. The songs sounds like hindustani based one but i'm not sure.

This song must have had its beginning in one of those very vibrant moods of Raja...with excellent guitar leads in the prelude / counter melodies...Soulful singing by SJ...especially when she sings `kanavOdu' in a twisted mode ..ghazalish...(probably that adds to the overall `hindustani' feel)...excellent choice Ramki!

IMHO, 'azhagaana pookal' is a classier version of this song. 'jodi nadhigal' is also a great number. What a contrast SPB brings out in these two songs..! Must be two of his bests (among the rare ones).. Both are my alltime favorites..

Pick #108

http://tfmpage.com/stream/songs/orukelvi_pm.rm

Song: oru keLvi unnai ketkiren
Film: Priyam
Singers: Sujatha, UnniKrishnan
Lyrics: Vairamuthu
Music: Vidyasagar

'Priyam' could be called a debut of disasters. Neither the vaarisu arunkumar nor the voluptuous Manthra could help this sorry piece from sinking. I happen to watch a few minutes of the film and couldnt make out whats happening or why the film was even made.

Vidyasagar, who was slowly making his mark in the music scene ,was the only saviour. Though his dilruba hogged the limelight, today's pick and 'udaiyadha vennilla' is best of all. Unni and Sujatha gives their best. To my untrained ears, this song, too , sounds like a hindustani tune.

Pick #109

http://tfmpage.com/stream/songs/onahot_ryk.rm

Song: on a hottu summer morning.
Film: Rani yaar kuzhandhai
Singer: SPB
Lyrics: ?
Music: TVRaju

Though the temperature here is close to freezing, from my window, it does look like summer outside.
When i combine this with todays SPB's freak out song, it does feel like summer even inside:).

I think Raju was also the MD for 'raadhaiyin nenjame' song film?

Hi Ramki !

it came before "surangani" in avar enakkE sondham ...
yes.. I think TV Raju is the MD of kanimuthu pappa...

ayyayo.. what can I do.. tell me what to do ? :lol:

kokkarakkokkO...SPB'in thuLLal pAttu!

Thanks Madhu. Do you know who acted in RYK?

ramki,
jaishankar and lakshmi acted in RYK.. directed by D. yoganand..

Pick #110

http://tfmpage.com/stream/songs/ennen_ldrk.rm

Song: ennenbadho aethenbadho
Film: Lorry Driver Rajakannu
Singers: SPB , Vani Jairam
Lyrics: kaNNadasan
Music: MSV.

Finally i was able to find this beautiful song. This is one of my favorite Vanijairam songs. SPB doesnt try too hard to sound like Sivaji and this works to song's advantage.

LDRK was one of the many unwatchable and unbearable 80's sivaji movies. Sripriya was his jodi and sathyakala acted as his sister. Todays pick is for sivaji and sathyakala

Thanks RC

Hi Ramki !

After hearing the song, u should not see the movie or atleast this song sequence... better to hv your own imagination..

BTW, if u hv the song "ponnoviyam onru radhiyin vadivilE" by SPB and Vani Jayaram from "Kumari pennin ullathilE".. ?, a Bhagyaraj, Radhika starrer..?

its also a beautiful song.. (ofcourse, u should not see.. but only just listen)..

If so, plz include it in ur picks... if possible..

Madhu: yes kumari pennin uLLathile is a Bhagyaraj and Radhika starrer. I had the misfortune of seeing this one. Bhagyaraj who is in love with Radhika helps(?) her become an actress. But she is in love with Vijayababu, I think. In the end, Bhagayaraj gets killed by villains but before dying unites Radhika & Vijayababu. ponnoviyam ondru is a duet for Bhagayaraj & Radhika where she performs(poses) in bharathanatyam attire.

RC kalakureenga :lol:

FM: naan enna kalakkinaalum unga range-ku vara mudiyumaa? :)

RC : neenga boomiyai kalakkureenga ! F~M sevvayai (?) kalakkurar... mathapadi reNdu perumE kalakkal mannargaLthAn :lol:

madhu: sandhula sindhu paaduradhu-nu solvaangaLee.. adhu idhu thaana? :)

RC : chinna koyandhaikku enna theiryum... ? idhukku perthan kalaaikkaradha ? :P

madhu: chinna koyandhaikku onniyum theriyaadhu.. aana chinna koyandha maari "bose" kudukkuravangaLukku theriyaadha vishayam edhuna irukkaa?

ayyang !

nangalllam "bose" kudukkaravanga illa..
meyyalume koyandhathan..
dhammathoondu irundhukinu aisa vela seyyura bada killadi koyindhangala kandukkama poveengala.. inna naina.. kalaichukinE keerE ?

Pick #111

http://tfmpage.com/stream/songs/thaam_poi.rm

Song: thaamtha theemtha
Film: pagalil oar iravu
Singer: Sjanaki
Lyrics: kaNNadasan
Music: iLaiyaraja.

Another less known gem of SJ and one of her best songs for Sridevi. 'POI' became popular for skimpily clad sridevi and the heavenly 'iLamai enum poongaatru'. Other songs like todays pick, 'ponnaaram poovaaram','thottam konda' and 'kalaiyo silaiyo'
were rarely played on radio.
IMO, Sridevi is the only actress who has paired with likes of sivaji, vijayakumar to young stars like arvind swamy, salman, shah rukh etc. In POI she had 2 pairs (i think)-ravikumar and vijaykumar.
I have not watched the film and only recently watched the 'iLamai enum poonkaatru' and was quite shocked with the picturisation.

Hi Ramki !

"thamtha theemtha" is for actress Seema in the film !

I think, this is the first song picturised in such a way that all the dancers are Seema ! superimposed !

IR used only tabla and voices of the singers and no other instrument for this song ! amazing ! isnt it ?

May be some friend here, who knows abt composition of music etc. can explain more !

I was shocked too :) sevaayila ellam indha maadhiri picturize paNNa maataanga, romba dejent ah edupaanga :lol:

`ponnAram, poovAram' had its regular airtime in the IOKS...espeically in the evenings from 5.30-6, it was played every alternate day in one time period...

The rhythm arrangement of `thAmtha, dheemtha' is really novel and fascinating...so much that Rajiv Menon / ARR combo used this for the audio recording studio scene in kaNdukoNdEn,kaNdukoNdEn...(scene involving voice test for Aish or something like that)...

Those years of Raja were like the initial phase of a river...jumping through the hills, quick and energetic streams...(compare them with current phase which is like a river in its delta region...)

I feel I V Sasi had very good taste for music...(this song is on Seema, who is I V Sasi's wife and is also an accomplished actress)...almost all his Tamil movies, however few were them, had great music (POI, guru, kALi are the three I can remember)

ramki: thanks for this song:)
this song is picturised with seema in a saree shop woth sarees flying all over:)
Vijayakumar who is murai paiyan of seema (doctor in the movie), is coming to meet her to tell her an imortant news. Seema thinks he is going to express his love for her and this is a dream song sequnce. Actually, Vijayakumar comes to tell Seema about his love for Sridhevi.

Thank you all for the details. Never knew seema was part of POI

Pick #112

http://tfmpage.com/stream/songs/thodu_nt.rm

Song: thoduvaanam romba thooram
Film: nyaya tharasu
Singer: PSuseela
Lyrics: Vairamuthu
Music: Shankar Ganesh

Malayalam films of early 80s can be classified into 2 categories: slow or sleaze. Then a crop of new directors like bhadran, sibi malayil , hariharan etc brought in an excellent change and malayalam films started getting notice for their brilliance.
'Panchagni' directed by Hariharan is one such film. DD's regional service showed this film on a lazy sunday afternoon. I started watching without any interest or prior knowledge of the film.
The story starts in a jail. A female prisoner(played by actress Geetha) is released on parole to visit her dying mother. The story then travels with her. We are shown flashbacks of her past, the reason for her imprisonment. She has a drug addict brother, a sister(Played by Nadhiya) married to heroine's ex boyfriend. No one wants to speak to a prisoner. A journalist (Mohanlal) befriends her and they fall in love. Her only confidante is her close friend(idhayam nallennai chitra) who is married to a abusive husband.
Geethas mother dies and she moves out of the house to live with Mohanlal. When you think the film is going to end on a happy note, a shocking twist comes in the end .
The film was excellent. Geetha, Mohanlal, chitra, thilakan each and every actor were at their best.

Panchagni was remade in tamil as 'nyaya tharasu'. Radha chosen played Geethas role and nizhalgal ravi for Mohanlal. I think Anand babu played the junkie brother. I did not watch the tamil version but know it was a flop. Shankar Ganesh, who were at the tail end of their career, came out with few good songs.
Vaanam arugil oru vaanam(KJY)
vennilla ennodu (Mano)
yaarukku aarudhal(KJY,PS) and today's pick.

Todays pick has a brilliant violin interlude after the first charanam. Though PS voice sound jaded, it still expresses the desired emotion of the character.

I was asking about this song in PS thread. The lyrics are great and pulls up the listener's emotions. PS brought it out very well, but as Ramki said, age showed its colour in her voice in today's pick as well as the duet. Was the film released in 1989/90?

I never knew that Nadiya acted in Panchagni. In Tamil, no idea about Nadiya's replacement, but I know very well that NalleNNai Chitra was replaced by Kutti Padmini.

And Radha did extremely well in the movie, I think.

Ramki, it was Charlie (not Anand babu) as the drunken brother.

vennilla ennodu paada vaa was picturised on charlie. superb performance by radha

SN23, yvsM thanks for the correction

Pick #113

http://tfmpage.com/stream/songs/pagai_en.rm

Song: pagai koNda uLLam
Film: ellorum nallavarae
Singer: KJYesudoss
Lyrics: Pulamaipithan
Music: Vkumar

This is my fav KJY solo of 70's. Pulamaipithan's lines are outstanding. If given an opportunity, i bet he will come out with good lyrics.
My sisters keep talking about this film but i have never watched it. I think it had Muthuraman and ManjuLa. 'Padaithaane bhramadevan' and
'sivappukallu mookuthi' are other popular numbers from EN.

Yes Ramki, EN is a thought provoking movie worthy of a watch

Hi !

I think Ellorum nallavare is the last film produced by Gemini Vasan.
its the remake of kannada film "Boodhayyana maga ayyu".
muthuraman, manjula, lokesh and jayanthi are the lead artistes..

not so good at box -office.. so Gemini stopped producing movies after this film...( is there any other film produced by Gemini after this ? :roll: )

Gemini produced a film called 'Janani' in the year 1988. It was a super flop movie. You can remember the song "Mannikka Mattaya un Manam irangi" from this movie.

Ellorum nallavare was produced by Gemini Production but after the demise of SS.Vasan. SSV's last Tamil film was ViLayaattu piLLai. EN production was under SS.Balan S/o SS.Vasan. He himself directed the movie.

Manjula was the heroine in all 3 languages Telugu (Soban babu) and Hindi (Veteran RajKumar). All 3 flopped, though the story was good and the climax flood scenes were pictuirsed well.

Later Gemini Films under somebody else produced Janani. The rights of GF were sold to that somebody.

Pick #114

http://tfmpage.com/stream/songs/ninai_nv.rm

Song: ninaithaal podhum
Film: nenjirukkum varai
Singer: SJanaki
Lyrics: Vaali/Kannadasan?
Music: MSViswanathan

Silirppu. Thats what i feel whenever i listen to this immortal beauty. The range SJ shows in this song is absolutely amazing. I feel this song has one of the best interludes by MSV in 60's.