Golden Period of Tamil Cinema

//60s is the Golden Period of Tamil Cinema//

Brother NOV,

Can you please list 10 good films of 60's with Artist Name, MD, Lyricsist & Director's name which I may not aware of. I absolutely adore these giants (+KVM/Vaali...) and have no doubt on what you say but I would like to judge by the quality of films.

app_

Though you didn't intend to draw a decade comparison it sounds that you are more likely devoted to Raaja' entry. Well that doesn't emphasize anything late 70's & early 80'snu solrathukku pathila 80's la Raaja/Mahendran's/BR pottu paarkalam.
[/u]

If interested, we shall take it to a new thread 'Golden Period of Tamil Cinema '

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Originally Posted by app_engine

NK
Mahendran & IR வாழ்க :-)

Makes one think whether some of kurumbus in post-marriage-MR movies had his wife's inputs...

Also re-emphasizes the fact that the best movies in TF happened in late 70's / early 80's :-)

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yep! :)

I can certainly see it if we talk about 60's being the golden age for music, lyrics etc. Although I, along with app, might consider 70's for that also, one can see why 60's can be held as the pinnacle for music as well. Lyrics - well, there cant be any doubt, Kannadasan strides like a colossus and his peak IS TFM's peak on lyrics

But what I cant see is the 60's being the pinnacle for movies. A colossal waste of Sivaji's talent is the theme of 60's tamil filmdom. If we didnt have NT, then we can justify the kind of standards we had in 60's, but the fact that with such a talent on board, TF only managed to churn out what it did is a shame.
Dont get me wrong NOV, I will watch many of those movies with relish now but to call them the golden age is quite taking it too far. Mahendran is really the peak of Tamil Cinema. And he has never got enough credit for that.

And what a waste that Mahendran didnt have a role for Sivaji Ganesan although NT was active and kicking in the late 70s and early 80's. I wonder if the people around NT pushing him into meaningless sandhippus and the like were the reason for this. Maybe MS can clarify.
I cant believe that Mahendran didnt even think of doing a movie with NT.

(Btw, I do know about thangapadhakkam )

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Originally Posted by Plum

A colossal waste of Sivaji's talent is the theme of 60's tamil filmdom. If we didnt have NT, then we can justify the kind of standards we had in 60's, but the fact that with such a talent on board, TF only managed to churn out what it did is a shame.
Dont get me wrong NOV, I will watch many of those movies with relish now but to call them the golden age is quite taking it too far. Mahendran is really the peak of Tamil Cinema. And he has never got enough credit for that.

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agree on each and every word except i would add maniratnam/bahrathiraja/balu mahendra "creating" at the same time period along with mahendran as the peak of tamil cinema.....highest peak that cant be scaled again IMO 8-)

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Originally Posted by MADDY

agree on each and every word except i would add maniratnam/bahrathiraja/balu mahendra "creating" at the same time period along with mahendran as the peak of tamil cinema.....highest peak that cant be scaled again IMO 8-)

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+1.

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Originally Posted by MADDY

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Originally Posted by Plum

A colossal waste of Sivaji's talent is the theme of 60's tamil filmdom. If we didnt have NT, then we can justify the kind of standards we had in 60's, but the fact that with such a talent on board, TF only managed to churn out what it did is a shame.
Dont get me wrong NOV, I will watch many of those movies with relish now but to call them the golden age is quite taking it too far. Mahendran is really the peak of Tamil Cinema. And he has never got enough credit for that.

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agree on each and every word except i would add maniratnam/bahrathiraja/balu mahendra "creating" at the same time period along with mahendran as the peak of tamil cinema.....highest peak that cant be scaled again IMO 8-)

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KB illaama 70's and 80's'aa .... peak of tamil cinema'va ?

guys, we can never come to a consensus on this one as each of us have our own standards.
a person (much) older than me would probably consider MKT days as the best. :lol2:

I posted that in response to a_e to actually pinpoint this. ;)

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Originally Posted by Scale

app_
Though you didn't intend to draw a decade comparison it sounds that you are more likely devoted to Raaja' entry. Well that doesn't emphasize anything late 70's & early 80'snu solrathukku pathila 80's la Raaja/Mahendran's/BR pottu paarkalam.

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Scale,
I posted in another thread about my "movie-watching-sabbatical" from 76 to 81 save a lone dharam-veer :-) That way, though I got immensely attached to Raja's music in those years, my interactions with on-screen stuff was nil :-)

I've revisited some of those classics over the years - actually still visiting , seen uthirippookkaL & NK only in the last 10 days, yet to watch muLL-malar, haven't watched avaL app etc. OTOH, I have watched a good % of BR, BM, MR movies as well as the yesteryear classics like the 'pA' series movies of Bheemsingh and other acclaimed Shivaji movies of 60's. Those are great movies, phenomenal music no doubt but the offerings of Mahendran are a class altogether different, superior!

Watching three within a short span of time - UP, Johny & NK within a span of 10 days - has kind of changed my perception of TF history and I'm at awe with this colossal talent called Mahendran :-) These are Padmarajan kind of stuff, for which there are equivalents only in MF, IMO.

Also, now I seem to understand why many consider SKV as the biggest blow to TF quality :-(

Yes, it delayed Kamal by 7-8 years in pursuit of a certain type of Cinema. Who knows? Marudhanayagam might have happened earlier?
(Considering that ALAvandhAn was written in early 80's, there is a huge gulf between his mind and the average movie he churned out in 80's)

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Originally Posted by NOV

a person (much) older than me would probably consider MKT days as the best. :lol2:

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:roll:

I was revisiting pAsamalar a couple of days back (a movie which drained the eyes completely the first time I watched in the college audi).

20 years older now, while I still find it impressive and the on-screen performances phenomenal, as a movie there are a lot of speed breakers, boring stuff, sudden switch to "senthamizh" sounding funny etc. In other words, there are a lot of avoidable stuff :-)

Sure, there are such "compromises" in UP (kalyANam pAru) / Johny (Asaya kAththula thoothu vittu) / NK (mummy pEru mAri), but they seem to be the minimum.

Well, let me watch muLL-malar & avaL app & then continue this discussion :-)

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Originally Posted by Scale

Brother NOV,

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Brother Thulaabaram, if you are really interested in the gems of the 60s, please go thru the list here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_films_of_the_1960s

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Originally Posted by P_R

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Originally Posted by NOV

a person (much) older than me would probably consider MKT days as the best. :lol2:

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:roll:

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well, technically, you are much older than me.
btw, I have yet to open the plastic foil of the CD you gave me. :oops:

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Originally Posted by app_engine

.... In other words, there are a lot of avoidable stuff :-)

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in that case, lets talk abt Mahnedram in 2030 :P
I doubt I will be alive to see you change your opinion :cry:

:x NOV One of the finest voices of all time.

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Originally Posted by P_R

:x NOV One of the finest voices of all time.

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Possibly.
I may recognise it when I reach your age, if at all I reach it. :oops2:

NOV,
மாறிமாறி வரும் என் போன்றோரின் ஒப்பீனியன்களைப்படிப்பதற்காக நீர் குறைந்தது இன்னும் ஐம்பது ஆண்டுகள் ஹப் வரும்படியாக, இதோ, பிடியும் சாபம் :-)

P_R,
Sure golden voice (i.e. my dad's most preferred) :-)

However, to sit through original version of haridAs won't be quite easy (not anymore, not even for my dad) :-)

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Originally Posted by app_engine

Also, now I seem to understand why many consider SKV as the biggest blow to TF quality :-(

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Actually, I think this is ascribing way too much importance to Kamal and his films. சகலகலா வல்லவன் வணிக வெற்றி பெற்றதோ, ராஜ பார்வை பெறாமல் போனதோ, கமலுக்கு பெரிய பாதிப்பை ஏற்படுத்தியிருக்கலாம். (அதுவே அவர் பல இடங்களில் இவ்வாறு கூற காரணம் என நினைக்கிறேன்.) ஆனால், தமிழ் சினிமாவையே பாதிக்கும் அளவிற்கு இருந்திருக்க முடியுமா என்ன?

irundhudhE! If Rajapaarvai had won and SKV lost, distributors would have been more lenient to his indulgences, illaiyA? Opportunity cost-pA!

when Astro Vellithirai started, the first movie shown was Haridas. I could take in the movie but had some urgent appt to catch an hour later.
one day I will see the whole movie I say..

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Originally Posted by Plum

irundhudhE! If Rajapaarvai had won and SKV lost, distributors would have been more lenient to his indulgences, illaiyA? Opportunity cost-pA!

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But that's very hypothetical. Kamal might argue that he'd have never done an SKV had 'rAja pArvai' done well. But is that really true? May be, he'd eventually have, when the next 'rAja pArvai' from his stable failed!

equa,
Warning - long post :-)

I think that has more to do with the general psychology of the film industry.

In the prior era, MGR meant masAlAs (dance songs / comedy / fight sequences / "no more tears") while Shivaji was kind of symbolism for "alternative cinema" :-) Though this was not strictly true, at least in the psyche of general public and industry.

Though KB was successful with his "conversion of stage dramas into screen versions", it was more like facilitating drama watching in many places, without the full impact of cinema (not just my opinion, the overall perception away from Chennai).

Then came these bunch of talents - KH / RK / IR / Mahendran / BR / BM who made a bunch of movies that I'm trying to complete watching and can any day give a run for the golden movies made in MF during 80's.

When KH-RK chose to take different route and emerge as the next MGR-Shivaji, the obvious expectation was KH to continue to spearhead the "alternate cinema". SKV was the first and big blow to that and it affected the psyche of most film makers is probably the perception.

Well, this is the picture I see as of now :-)

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Originally Posted by app_engine

equa,Warning - long post :-)

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இதெல்லாம் ஒரு long-nu warning குடுத்து public perception-ஐ mislead பண்ணாதீங்க. ஒரு பத்திக்கு மேல இருந்தாலே படிக்கிறதுக்கு மூச்சுமுட்டுற மாதிரி ஒரு சொல்லி சொல்லியே இப்பொல்லாம் ஈக்வர் twitter ரேஞ்சுக்கே maindain பண்றார். :-|

And as for why this is ascribing too much importance to Kamal, why is the same not being said of any other relatively offbeat venture in the late 70s or early 80s. For instance, what if 'avaL appadiththAn' had been a blockbuster?

What, I think (and I'm of course venturing into conjecture here), signifies SKV for Kamal is that he consciously chose to do the kind of films that did big business. That is, with that film, he was asserting his own star power in the wake of the big hits that Rajini and others had started delivering.

a_e,
I think I more or less agree with everything you've said. The crucial point here is that that film wasn't "ahead of the curve" in any sense to influence the overall course of Tamil films. It's the other way round. Kamal was "behind the curve" and did that film in the wake of the big success of films of that kind, isn't it?

Actually A-A was a commercial success and such movies continued till 81-82 (moondRam piRai was 81).

Kamal didn't continue doing such after SKV affecting the psyche of such filmmakers (TTT, kAkki sattai, kaidhiyin diary etc continued till MR kind of broke it with nAyakan - surprisingly, Mahendran waned and BR was also confused).

Well, these are all generalizations. If one keeps analyzing, AVM / SPM appear to be the biggest offenders...

Well, salangai oli kind of happened in-between (but it was in Telugu).

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Originally Posted by equanimus

a_e,
I think I more or less agree with everything you've said. The crucial point here is that that film wasn't "ahead of the curve" in any sense to influence the overall course of Tamil films. It's the other way round. Kamal was "behind the curve" and did that film in the wake of the big success of films of that kind, isn't it?

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equa,

Yes, may be it was not SKV but murattukkALai.

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Originally Posted by Plum

But what I cant see is the 60's being the pinnacle for movies. A colossal waste of Sivaji's talent is the theme of 60's tamil filmdom. If we didnt have NT, then we can justify the kind of standards we had in 60's, but the fact that with such a talent on board, TF only managed to churn out what it did is a shame.
Dont get me wrong NOV, I will watch many of those movies with relish now but to call them the golden age is quite taking it too far. Mahendran is really the peak of Tamil Cinema. And he has never got enough credit for that.

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+1
Often, credit that must go to NT is being apportioned elsewhere

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Originally Posted by P_R

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Originally Posted by app_engine

equa,Warning - long post :-)

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இதெல்லாம் ஒரு long-nu warning குடுத்து public perception-ஐ mislead பண்ணாதீங்க. ஒரு பத்திக்கு மேல இருந்தாலே படிக்கிறதுக்கு மூச்சுமுட்டுற மாதிரி ஒரு சொல்லி சொல்லியே இப்பொல்லாம் ஈக்வர் twitter ரேஞ்சுக்கே maindain பண்றார். :-|

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:lol:

NOV,

ayyo, wiki linkslam enakku theriyaadha? I have spent almost 2 hrs in the morning going thru wiki/discography of KB, Sridhar, MSV, Kannadaasan, Sivaji, MGR, IR, Mahendran, BM,BR + the link of 60's & +.

IMO

KB - ? (This may wreck some but look at his discography seriously a director who has more than 100 films haven't left anything to his credit while the directors of the following eras has hardly 10 films to their credit. I really cant take Mahendran+BM+BR as the peak of tamil cinema with just 2-3 good films infact both MM & particularly UP came as a breakthrough between commercial cinema. Johny oru mokkai except songs.)
Sridhar - Mahendran
KVM/MSV- IR (Agreed 100%)
Kannadaasan - ?
Sivaji - KH (somehow)

Infact, only Raaja have achieved this pinnacle and KH to certain extent.

I somehow not convinced with this type of celebrity/combo analysis instead I would like to go by films of that era and estimate what so colossal unique about it. Day by Day & Era by Era I feel the story, narration has really lost its depth. For once I can take a movie for its screenplay and technical brilliance but the next one I can't. Be it novel, movie or a painting.

Some films which immediately comes to my mind of 60's.

1. Thiruvilayaadal
2. Thillaana Mohanaambaal (APN/KVM)
2. Aayirathil Oruvan
3. Ethir neechal, Neerkuzmili, Major Chandrakanth,Iru Kodugal, (Kb's) 4. Karnan
5. Kaadhalikka Neramillai, NOA (Sridhar)
6. All P's (ABSingh)
7. Galatta Kalyaanam (CVR)

There could be many. Like NOV said story, screenplay, acting, music, songs, lyrics, comedy & what not .

The advantage of having 10-15 tamil channels is really paying me off. Watching leisurely at your choice of these classics/songs is priceless rather wasting time and money on every new wretched films.


[/u]

1000-il 1, Kaadhalikka Neramillai in the list and Johnny won't feature :lol:

Blasphemy alert - uLLaththai aLLiththaa >> Kaadhalikka Neramillai.

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Originally Posted by NOV

60s is the Golden Period of Tamil Cinema.

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வழி மொழிகிறேன்.

அறுபதுகளுக்கு அடுத்து வந்தவர்கள் தொழில் நுட்பத்தில் வளர்ந்திருக்கலாம். செறிவுள்ள படங்கள் மின்னல் கீற்று போல அவ்வப்போது வந்து சென்றிருக்கலாம். நான் இன்னொரு திரியில் எழுதிய பிராந்திய மொழி வசனங்களை கொண்டு வந்திருக்கலாம். ஆனால் தொடர்ச்சியான சிறந்த படைப்புக்கள், பரந்த கற்பனை வளம் என எல்லாவற்றிலும் முயற்சித்து பார்த்த எழுபதுகளுக்கு முந்தைய படைப்புக்களே இன்னும் கவர்கிறது.

Blasphemy neruppu moottufying alert:
Nerd,
Humor na naama dhairiyama blanket statement-e vidalaam

P.S: Nagesh scenes in Thiruvilayaadal > Kadhalikka Neramillai

Instead of moottufying or anachifying why dont you post what do you feel as best. 10 list pannungha atharkappuram pesalam. If Johny features any of your list, I am ready to rip it apart. kayil :theepandham:
UAT >> potatharkum serthu thaan

Just finished watching முள்ளும் மலரும், fantastic!

I'm not sure whether it was MM or UP that was dissed prior to seeing with BGM (or at least the story written about one of these two movies). If that was about UP, I'll kind of agree half-heartedly.

OTOH, if the story was about MM, vehemently disagree! This doesn't need songs / music / any such paraphernelia :-) It would have still been wonderful!

Mahendran, Rajini, Shobha, fadAfat (IR is obviously an extra extra bonus for this movie), great job!

Sarath Babu :-( Why is he punishing the steering in senthAzham poovil :lol:

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Originally Posted by Scale

Instead of moottufying or anachifying why dont you post what do you feel as best. 10 list pannungha atharkappuram pesalam. If Johny features any of your list, I am ready to rip it apart. kayil :theepandham:
UAT >> potatharkum serthu thaan

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I wonder if there is necessarily any one single period which can be called *the* golden age for the industry as a whole. There have always been pockets of greatness surrounded and dwarfed by mediocrity, right till this point in time, illaya? IMO NT, rose above the mediocrity of his time. The same with the other big guns in their respective times. OK. munna pinna irundhirukkalaam but not by a distance, where we have a clear golden decade. Personal a namakku porkaalangal irukkalaam.

P.S: I like Mahendran and Johny but please feel free to rip apart Johny or any film for that matter :)

UAT > because i laughed heartily in many scenes, something which i cannot say for KM. Generation gap, maybe but it works both ways, right?

Mod,

Please merge from the Films thread?

http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/f...1350330100.htm

'மணிரத்னம் டேஸ்ட் நம்ம மாதிரி'ன்னு காலரைத்தூக்கி உட்டுக்கலாம் :-)

BTW, I've read this article long back and searched in the web after watching MM :-)

Avvalavu complicated onnum illai its between 60's & 70 and 80's may be... paarpom. unga lista podunga paarpom.

P.s: Johny, sure I will (if it features in your list).

End Digression.