The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

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Around the time period when IR has scored his first 100 (Balu Mahendra's 'moodupani' starring his wife and Pratap Pothen was advertised as IR's 100th, had English translation of the title within brackets as "the mist"), there was an interview or Q&A with him published in cinema express mag. This mag was published by the Indian Express / Dinamani group (not sure whether they still publish this).

One question asked was 'நீங்கள் இது வரை இசை அமைத்த பாடல்களில் உங்களுக்கு மிகவும் பிடித்தது எது?' (not exact words, but this was the sArAmsam).

IR's answer : சுத்தமான ஹம்சத்வனி ராகத்தில் அமைந்த 'மயிலே மயிலே உன் தோகை எங்கே' என்ற பாடல்.
(கடவுள் அமைத்த மேடை படத்தில் பாலுவும் ஜென்சியும் பாடியது, 1979). This is the #23 in the SPB-IR series being posted in this thread To get this unusual kind of approval from IR talks a lot about the song! (Ofcourse, he wasn't that philosophical those days and it helped...had he become sAmiyAr much earlier, we would have got some unpalatable replies).

The violin(s) / chords / santoor delight, that had me following the song madly wherever it got transmitted from, is unforgettable. I don't remember how many times I rushed to radio to stay close to listen or stopped walking while on a road to enjoy or loyally get into the bus that plays this number, even though it's only 3rd or 4th in the line etc (means will not start for another 30-40 minutes). SPB sounds quite mature in this song (or made to look like that by the konjals of the co-singer). There're not many SPB-Jency duets that I can quickly recall but this one is easily the top number!

If you want to have a hearty laughter, search for the youtube of this. (I've seen only once and that was enough for a lifetime).