Maestro Ilayaraja News and Tidbits 2014

[rajsekar]

I had earlier planned to comment on this news item, but couldn't do it.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/e...w/44924781.cms

Where are our so called superstars and egocentric technical artists in Madras? Few are busy dancing with 27 year old actresses. I would be really surprised if Ilayaraja didn't attend Ashok Kumar's funeral. I see Raaja attending all kinds of functions in recent months. Anyway, I cannot comment on film world politics.

I want to highlight the great artistic work done by Ashok Kumar combined with fantastic musical scores by Ilayaraja. Ashok Kumar has done maximum number of movie/ song cinematography using Raja's scores. Incidentally Ashok Kumar handled the lens for all of Mahendran's movies. Ashok Kumar won the National Award for Nenjathai Killathe in 1980. During that period, the Indian film banner/ poster had a rare design wherein only three technical artist's names would be printed against a background silhouette of the movie title. It would be "Mahendran, Ilayaraja, Ashok Kumar". Everything else is irrelevant. Some of those movies became super hits. It was a rare and great combination of artists in Indian films. Even today you cannot see see such film banners or posters. If I am correct, India's first female cinematographer BR Vijayalakshmi (worked in several Bhagyaraj's films) tutored under Ashok Kumar.

The current trend is to show the hero's name prominently printed followed by the heroine's item number. The names of Music director and Cinematographer is printed in the smallest font. The music director is anyway a complete waste for current movies, since pirated tunes and scores are most sought after. Have you heard the latest "Kathi" songs? - all third rate tunes. Sorry, I am digressing from the main post.

Ashok Kumar and Balu Mahendra were two pioneering cinematographers who used natural lighting for all their work. The entire film shooting would be scheduled to suit day light conditions and as a result their movies would take longer time to complete. They used filters to the maximum extent. Below you can enjoy three of my favorite and extraordinary song sequences of Ashok Kumar's brilliant day light frames (pay attention to the hair frills and wide angle shots in natural light) along with Ilayaraja's mesmerizing orchestration.


(Ashok Kumar directed this super hit movie and requested Raja to re-tune another super-duper song. Hear the two great interludes and compare that with the original Tamil song)

(Uma Ramanan's rendering)
(S.Janaki's soulful rendering in Hindi and possibly the first full Hindi song in a Tamil film)

[rajsekar]

Forgot to attach this link of Ashok Kumar's photo album. Raja and Amar with Ashok Kumar in the composing room.

http://indiaz.com/shri-ashok-kumar.html
http://indiaz.com/shri-ashok-kumar.html/2

[krish244]

The news says IR has completed song recording for "THAARAI THAPPATTAI". Also, there are plans to make audio release a grand function.

http://tamil.filmibeat.com/news/ilai...gs-031451.html

thanks,

Krishnan

[sivasub]

http://tamil.filmibeat.com/specials/...ng-031237.html

[rajsekar]

Siva, thanks for posting this piece. I remember seeing the photo of Raja and Rajini in PA's house several months ago in another post. If I remember correctly, the article mentioned that Rajini and Raja would jointly produce a movie free of cost for PA Arts banner due to the financial difficulty of PA as a result of long term medical treatment costs. The Filmi Beat article quotes that "Kalyanaraman" was directed by SP Muthuraman. That's not correct. GN Rangarajan directed "Kalyanaraman". In fact GNR directed nearly 12 movies for PA Arts banner (all super hits) and Raja didn't charge any fee for the background scores and songs. GNR mentioned this during an audio launch function. It remains to be seen whether Rajini would do another movie after "Lingaa". Lingaa production is being rushed through as a fast paced project to compensate Tamil film distributors for their losses incurred after Kochadiyaan flop. As always, the distributors bear the brunt of any flop as well as reap rewards when the film becomes a runaway success. The artists, director and producer(s) walk away with neat money after the movie is auctioned or sold to distributors & TV companies. I am also doubtful if Rajini and Kamal would do a movie with Raja in future. Time will tell us, soon.

[K]

Raja Fans and Others

[rajaramsgi]

ஒளிபதிவில் அசோக் குமார் ஒரு டிரெண்ட் செட்டர் என்பது நம்மை போன்ற சாதாரணமானவர்களுக்கே தெரியும். அவரை பின் பற்றி வந்த இயக்குனர்களும் ஒளிபதிவாளர்களும் , அவருடன் வேலை செய்தவர்களும் அஞ்சலி செலுத்த போகாதது வருத்தமான செய்தி. ஒரு வேலை தீபாவளியன்று அவர் மரணம் அடைந்ததால், அவர் மறைந்த விஷயம் வெளியில் தெரியவில்லையோ என்னவோ. பாவம், கடந்த இரண்டு வருடங்களாக மிகவும் கஷ்டபட்டுவிட்டார்.

மகேந்திரனுடன் வேலை பார்த்ததை சொல்லி விட்டீர்கள். பாக்யராஜ், பாண்டியராஜன், பிரதாப் போத்தன், மனோபாலா, மணிவண்ணன், பி. வாசு, ஷங்கர், பவித்ரன் ஆகியோருடனும் அவர் வேலை பார்த்திருக்கிறார்.

உள்ளம் கவர்ந்த கள்வன்: http://play.raaga.com/tamil/album/ul...alvan-t0002982
அபிநந்தனா : http://play.raaga.com/telugu/album/abhinandana-a0000005
காமாகினி: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CicYv-yQNAU&list=PLZlsAlSE3yKQOq0XCBagOYHx8lTnsSDZ_

[rajaramsgi]

http://tamil.filmibeat.com/specials/...ng-031237.html

தாரை தப்பட்டை பாடல்களை 3 நாட்களுக்குள் 12 பாடல்கள் முடித்து குடுத்து 6 மாதங்களுக்கு மேல் ஆகி விட்டதே....

[irir123]

the trendsetter from Tollywood, "Shiva" completed its 25th anniversary of its release - Ram Gopal Varma barely just about mentioned IR in that function.

Shiva without IR's score would have been a dud!

[Russellhaj]

கவிஞர் வாலி பிறந்தநாள் விழா: MSV / இளையராஜா / நா. காமராசன் / பிரபஞ்சன் / பஞ்சு அருணாசலம் கலந்துகொள்கிறார்கள்