Raja's Gems - the latest one you heard...Part 3

[V_S]

IT had several unintentionally funny elements associated with it

1. Mano's singing was totally clinically executed cold-blooded murder of some of the most original tunes of all times! in tamil, 'o paapa laali' became 'o BAABA laali' (as in 'Baa baa black sheep have u any wool?')!, an energetic 'jagada jagada' became a dull, 'vidiya vidiya' perhaps foreboding the hero's abt-to-be-revealed-sickness!, a sincere soulful 'o priya priya' in telugu by SPB, became a hopeless, desperate, almost self-pitying rendition by Mano in tamil! a self-introspective 'aamani paadave' by SPB became a hopeless 'kaaviyam paadavaa thendraley' tat wud have made any self-respecting breeze cry out 'cudnt they have picked up a better singer to invite me to sing ?'

2.Nagarjuna's perfect non-acting, just completely shoved over by IR's genius and brilliance in every single frame - IR must have been laughing inside and delighted at this oppurtunity to run riot with a mesmerising western classical score to complement PC Sriram's brilliantly executed visuals! this movie completed 100 days in tamil ONLY for IR's music, since Nagarjuna was an absolute stranger in TN!
There were some unintentionally scary scenes when the camera pans in to show his face in such closeup, one could see hairs from his moustache sticking out pefectly horizontally like miniature barbs!

3.the unintentionally ironically hilarious comedy track featuring disco shanthi ! it was hilarious primarily for (i) the mundance stupidity and (ii) once again showcasing Mani Ratnam's pathetic sense of humor, or lack of it, following the distasteful 'comedy' track in Agni natchathiram featuring VKR, Janakaraj n Disco Shanthi - however, despite all of this, IR gave us two memorable themes for these sequences!

thoroughly enjoyed your post!

[AravindMano]

To everyone who have thrashed Mano of Idhayaththai Thirudathey -

[rprasad]

I think Geetanjali/IT remains one of the best background scores ever composed in Indian film music atleast in my opinion. One of most commonly overlooked points about that score is the fact that IR uses a predominantly electronic score during the first half of the film while switching over to complete western classical strings based score for the more emotional second half of the film. It is as if two different MD's had scored for the same movie. IR showcases his amazing versatility in dealing with modern electronic sound for bringing out the fun quotient in the first half and going back to his core WCM based score for the emotional second half. Absolute genius work. An absolute masterpiece which will stand the test of time.

[rajkumarc]

Nice posts on Idhayathai Thirudathe. Makes me want to revisit the movie soon. Plum - Who's teacher amma?

[app_engine]

Plum - Who's teacher amma?

As told there by Plumji, I was the culprit who promoted that term when discussing 'ABC nee vAsi' song of OKD. (Now you know who that singer is )

[rajkumarc]

Oh VJ... never knew her mother tongue was Telugu, thought she was a Tamilian. Need to listen to Oru Poongavanam Telugu version despite Plum's warning

Recently revisited Pazhassi Raja songs. The orchestration (percussion especially) felt so powerful & perfect, a thoroughly satisfying album on all aspects.

[app_engine]

never knew her mother tongue was Telugu

Did Plum say that? Or did you read it somewhere? It's news to me

BTW, wiki says:

Vani Jayaram was born in Vellore in Tamil Nadu, in a family of musicians. Her mother is the disciple of Ranga Ramunaja Iyengar, a great veena exponent. Kadaloor Sreenivasa Iyengar, who taught Vani’s sister music, was fascinated by her observation and grasping power. He taught her a few Dikshitar kritis when she was hardly five.[2] The fifth daughter in a family of six daughters and three sons, Vani always secretly yearned for a career in film playback singing. Considered to be a child prodigy, Vani Jayaram claims to have recognized the different ragas of Indian classical music before the age of five. Her voice was first heard on All India Radio, Madras, at the age of eight.
Vani Jayaram studied Carnatic music under the tutelage of Kadalur Srinivasa Iyengar, T. R. Balasubramanian and R. S. Mani. Her Hindustani classical music guru was Ustad Abdul Rahman Khan.
After her marriage to Jayaram she settled in Mumbai, where she realized her dream.

[rajkumarc]

Thanks App for clarifying. Based on the previous discussions, I assumed VJ's mother tongue is Telugu...my bad
Strange that VJ got to sing Telugu version of Oru Poongaavanam.

[Plum]

As app clarified, it's Vani-ji, who is, btw, so obviously a tam-brahm. Is it even possible to think otherwise when you get to see her and hear her speak?

[Plum]

Vani-ji ek dum spoiled telugu dubbing versions of tamil hits. Not that they had much going for them - their lyrics usually have an unusual feature not found in regular telugu songs - the tendency to use "antA" as filler at the end of lines. Suresh/raagas might be able to explain why so but to me those lines signify a poor translation effort. To date, I have never found use of that filler in proper telugu original songs.