The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

[app_engine]

#49 உறவெனும் புதிய வானில், பறந்ததே இதய மோகம்
(நெஞ்சத்தைக் கிள்ளாதே, 1980 , ஜானகியுடன்)

Sophisticated!

That's my one word description of this song and none can come anywhere close, never, IMO! ('poongARRu puthithAnadhu' / 'en iniya pon nilAvE' are distant second)...Sounds modern ever, with no indulgence in English or technical terms or anything that's "supposed to sound cool" but the song sounds hip even today!

Right from the prelude, one can sense that Raja was on a different trip in this song (actually the whole album). Perhaps pre-determined by the combo (IR-Mahendran-Pratap-Ashok Kumar) that they're going to have the music unlike anything heard before. The guitar (bass / lead), synth, flute, strings - every one of them was possibly pre-planned to be stylish (well, it seemed like that to me). I wish Madhavan heard this 1980 number before making a comment on the 1991 'rAkkammA kaiyaththattu' as 'something not expected from IR'

IIRC, the team planned everything about this movie in a classy manner (the artwork of posters, pictures on them, movie title, songs - everything looked sophi). I watched the movie only recently on web -it had its flaws but definitely enjoyable and way ahead of its times. Well, the good thing was it becoming a big hit both commercially and among critics, something only the likes of Mahendran can do!

Though 'paruvamE' had more air time, uRavenum was my personal #1. It had everything that I wanted - a modern sounding Raja, sweet melody, excellent singing by SJ & SPB, decent lines with absolutely nothing to irritate! This is one youtube that one can happily search for and there won't be any disappointment! While my +1 classmates had funny comments about the heroine when it arrived, they loved the movie & songs so much!

(Ofcourse, one should look at Suhasini as "some new girl doing her first movie", i.e. without prejudice and not the artist who played many annoying feminist roles with KB & others later in her career or the too-talkative TV artist or MR's wife who gives controversial interviews to media every now and then or the niece of a great actor having far less talent or the one who had a share in Chiru's massacres of many IR-TeFM-songs or the infamous dialog writer of rAvaNan.

At least look at her as a DHIRF or the pAdaRiyEn / nAnoru sindhu girl )

First TF for Mohan also (who did 'kOkilA' in Kannada with Kamal/Balu Mahendra earlier) and Raja definitely gave him a rousing welcome with two superb duets. Ashok Kumar, IIRC, won NA for his pleasant camera work. Suhasini started her film career as assistant to Ashok Kumar (after film institute study of cinematography I think).

At that point of time, a great team - everyone thinking modern / sophi - working with IR! Per my theory ("oft-repeated-in-the-hub" by me), whenever Pratap Pothen and IR were together in a movie, the guitar work was endearing and so Pratap could've exerted some positive peer pressure on IR. Whether true or not, we are the greatest beneficieries of this one fantastic team of NK!

[PARAMASHIVAN]

[PARAMASHIVAN]

This is one hell of a song by the "Lethal" SPB + IR combo, love this song to the core! I am great fan of the "greatest villian" Raghuvaran, but some how he is all over the Place when it comes to Romance , Sumalatha

[app_engine]

from tfmpage archives:

Friends,

It was sometime in 1979, when I was seven years old - we were in Mangalore - our next door neighbours were a group of bachelors - they used to take this kid next door ( that is me) to a beach near Mangalore - ULAAL Beach - the approach to the beach is awesome - a straight road going uphill with the trees on both sides slowly giving way to shrubs and then no vegetation - by this time, the road reaches the top of the incline and as this point approaches, my mind used to fill up with a thrill as if we were going to drop out from the edge of this world itself -and Lo! behold, from the top of the incline the road climbs on a downward slope and you have a breathtaking view of the Ullaal beach especially on a rainy , murky day with thin needle like drizzle caressing you - these neighbour bachlors used to have some kind of an audio set, playing this song -

" Uravenum pudhiya vaanil , parendhadhey idhaya moham " from "Nenjathhai killaadhey " -

OH GOD ! what a creation from Raja !! that song invoked the same kind of feelings that used to run thru my mind at that tender age - andru mudhal indru varai, this song invokes the same feelings over and over again.

The above post had also been quoted in the dhool-SOTD hosting of uRavenum puthiya vAnil, nice nostalgia!

[app_engine]

the archive discussion page

Some interesting comments :

A fantastic piece of work from IR which gives a haunting feeling. vijay - a senior DFer - once commented that he associates(imagines) the initial flute prelude to a the flight of a kite slowly going from visibile region into obscurity.

What a beauiful song !
When i first heard this song was struck with disbelief. Tamizhil ippadi oru paatta !
For me this is always a once more song.

Mind soothing prelude with a humming that caresses the heart, gently, very gently.
The pallavi tune makes the mind stop all other work and brings all the attention to the music - only this music. The first interlude music starting with the guitar piece and this is when the mild percussion also enters, starts filling the nerves one by one. And when the violins take over the body is full of music. What a great saranam tune -'Paarvai Ovvondrum Koorum...' and i am floating, floating, floating... until the end of the song.
The final humming of SPB will continue to haunt me for the next couple of seconds. I then start hearing the noises around me and back to this world. Great singing by SPB/SJ. One of my all time favourite

I really wonder what some reviewers will do when presented with songs like this to review-when the current songs are reviewed with eack tinks and tonks and plinks and plonks given their due,songs like this and rakkamma-their reviews will run into pages.
The flute at the end of the strings before the songbegins -if there is a musical equivalent of breaking out in gooseflesh-this is it!

This is one of the many jewel's in IR's crown and it is so soothing to hear the voice of young SPB and it gives a feeling of hearing the ocean waves in a lonely beachside. This rythm plays all over you. The other highlight of this song is the video. This visuals and the song gel so well to the situation. Hats off...Also check the ye...thendraley song (P.Susheela).

[KV]

App, what a start to the 'sophistication phase' of IR's career! This one's among my all time favourites of the man, specially those charanams, poignancy personified.

Now, here's an incident that happened at my college, the days when I would fervently 'market' IR's brand among my classmates and others. The college fest had just gotten over in which our band had covered Metallica's instrumental 'The Call of Ktulu', which there after went on to become a bit popular among my group of friends (who were not really rock/metal fans). The week after the fest, one of the guys brought his new Sony 'discman' (gosh! this thing already seems like a dodo, doesn't it!) to college. Carpe diem! I promptly took my (then, 1st or 2nd disc!) 'IR Mohan hits' cd the next day and played them Ilaya Nila ("now you know where your Nele nele comes from"), Paruvame, Mandram vandha thendral, etc and quite naturally, had most of them impressed (predominantly non-Thamizh folks). Then when it came to Uravenum, the fun began. When the backing rhythm guitar started playing (from 0:13) one of the guys jumped and declared - COPY! COPY! Quite amused, I asked from where he thought it was stolen. "Can't you recall? Metallica? The Call of Ktulu?" he said. Then it struck me that the pattern was indeed a bit similar ( ). It was just a simple chord, four notes being repeated in a loop and there wasn't anything substantial in labeling it plagiarism, I tried to explain. But the guys wouldn't budge (gultys, Ramanagokula fansulu!). Not willing to give in, I hurriedly looked up the internet to see if this had been discussed anywhere (romba mukkiyam paarunga!) but found nothing. IMDB only had the year of release and other movie related information. Cometh the hour and to the wikiots, wikipedia will rise! And what a brahmastra it turned out to be! Call of the Ktulu features in the album 'Ride the lightning', which Wiki declared in big bold letters, released in 1984! Khatham gatham!

[KV]

Thanks for digging out some treasure App, very interesting!

[sakaLAKALAKAlaa Vallavar]

What a song Thanks a ton App Engine for posting this gem! your and KV's writeup too is too nice

[app_engine]

நன்றி KV & SKV!

KV's recap of college experience is quite interesting!

Sounds like the copy claims that come up on hub threads from time to time

...இணைந்த கோலம், இனிய கோலம், இளமைக்காலம் ... 30 வருடம் ஆனாலும் வயசாகாத பாட்டு...

இந்தப்பாட்டு எப்போதுமே "இளமை" தான்... இளைய ராசா மாதிரி...(GA has done ok job of unobtrusive lines)

[rajkumarc]

Superb posts App & KV on Uravenum Pudhiya Vaanil. In my books, Uravenum is the song of the century for it's brilliant orchestration, divine singing and mesmerizing tune.