The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

[San_K]

Many Thanks app, really enjoying Thenrala Theeyo song. Very very familiar tune but I can't remember this song. Is there any song IR produced with same tune?

[app_engine]

#123 வா வா பக்கம் வா, பக்கம் வர வெட்கமா
(தங்க மகன், 1983 , வாணி ஜெயராமுடன்)

Historically, the top most "TFM-deepAvaLi" for IR should have been this 1983. He had movies with ALL the biggies in the industry - Rajini / Kamal / Shivaji (MV started doing pinnaNi for him and so IR got back to composing for NT).

All three movies were 100+days runners. All had super-duper-hit songs. We'll do them one by one alphabetically. To start with, thanga magan, that featured a rare Rajinikanth - Poornima Jayaram combo. (Possibly to "match" the Jayaram name, Vani Jayaram got two songs in an IR album after quite some time). MGR-RMV-Sathya movies production hired A Jagannathan to direct this masAlA. Interestingly, this director who did some remakes in the past, wasn't that much in the limelight those days but suddenly had two deepAvaLi release projects with Rajini / Shivaji - big banners, top-selling artists, Ilayaraja music etc. Quite unusual, possibly MGR had a hand in them

thanga magan was perhaps the most-played-album in the hostel, in that "already-talked-about-national-panasonic-stereo-player", often in blasting volume! This vA-vA-pakkam-vA song used to be my most fav those days (though not featuring SJ, my most fav)! Ofcourse, I didn't like that 'anybody can kiss me' etc business that happens in the end - then and now - but rest of the song was so "hip" when it arrived It was IR's own brand of disco, his own unique sounds and not imitating any of the then-popular bands, IIRC.

SPB rocks in this song! What a lovely singer we're blessed with! Often we lament at the life-time earnings of worthy composers such as MSV / IR, comparing with how people in other countries with a fraction of that talent make. Those who do < 0.01% of MSV/IR's output and still make a fortune many times over what these legends ever had.

The same is applicable to SPB too I think...he wouldn't have seen the money some western singers made / make - who do only a very few songs in their lifetime, that too those that get tossed off in a few weeks!

[V_S]

It was IR's own brand of disco, his own unique sounds and not imitating any of the then-popular bands, IIRC.

App, bang on! Well said. Very true about the earnings of true composers and singers that time. I heard MSV/KVM worked for some meagre amounts. And how many films IR did for free and also just on belief they would pay him later. I also heard that still today, some producers owe to IR. And can we spot out the difference in quality/contribution from these legends. No chance!

[app_engine]

nanRi V_S!

Located the vA vA pakkam vA youteeb, not great pic quality but there seems to be no better ones there...

[groucho070]

By 1983, disco was outdated in fact. Thanks to Michael Jackson, the breakdance was catching on. IR must have known this and did not succumb to the typical disco sound (basically danceable funk), unlike his Northern counterparts which were churning out outdated crap. That's why IR's pop numbers are still listenable today. His work does not age.

Thanks again for the hardwork, app. Here's another song where poor Poornima was "victimised" by Rajini

[app_engine]

groucho070

I don't remember clearly the timing part but Poornima should have already been serious with KBR (dating / marriage / engagement kind) as they were in love right from darling-darling-darling days. This movie was possibly something like what was alai pAyuthE to Shalini

Interestingly, another movie where Rajini didn't enjoy a male solo - all were duet songs (male-female or female-female)

[app_engine]

#124 ராத்திரியில் பூத்திருக்கும் தாமரை தான் பெண்ணோ
(தங்க மகன், 1983 , ஜானகியுடன்)

TFM lyricists and composers have been strong in one department traditionally - that of making a completely AbAsamAna song feel like "hey, nothing of that sort is in this song". This one is such a specimen, loaded with all kinds of maRRa stuff but sounds like a sweet love duet (Someone might say, well, isn't "love" mostly about "that"...obviously that is out of syllabus for this thread Suffice to say there had been a lot of "corridor talks" in the hostel on this song.)

That apart, what a lovely melody! And excellent singing by SPB-SJ! And phenomenal orchestration, especially the prelude -I love it - one that takes me into some dream world instantly - rAsA is a magician here. This is one of those songs where even people who don't regularly follow prelude-interlude etc can recite them / identify the song right when the first note starts playing etc.

The song almost sounds semi-classical, though not having the swara biz, possibly because of the chorus parts - someone please post the rAgA and other nuances, innovations in that area.

Most people who had the thanga magan songs recorded in TDKs had this song as the first one, don't know why - may be the first song on the first side of the LP that prompted the recording center fellow to follow the order. Or, may be the most loved song by many when the movie arrived. It was #2 for me after vA vA...the order of preference of those 4 great duets have changed over the years and I'll post the current order at the end of the 4th song.

[jaiganes]

The movie thangamagan had two golden boys - one Rajini and the other one Raaja...

[app_engine]

Took out VM's name, I'm not 100% sure whether it was him or vAlee...

I always thought it was VM - going by the prayOgams like 'sElai chOlai', 'rAja sugam' etc. However, there're some sites that credit the kuRumbu vAlee...someone please post who actually wrote the lines.

[app_engine]

I'm surprised to see that the SPB-special-blog too has a very similar observation on maRRa content :

இந்தப் படத்தில் பாடல்கள் நன்றாக இருக்கும். பின்பு ஆணவம் "அடங்கிய" பூர்ணிமா ரஜனியை - தமிழ் சினிமா பார்முலாபடி - காதலிக்க, இந்த அருமையான பாடல் வருகிறது. காதலின் தீபமொன்று மாதிரியே மிக இனிமையாக அமைந்த பாடல். என்ன.. கா.தீபமொன்று தனிப் பாடல். இது டூயட். பாலுவும் ஜானகியும் பாடியிருக்கிறார்கள. இரண்டாவது சரணத்தின் வரிகளும் சரி (வாலி), காட்சியமைப்பும் சரி - மகா விரசம்!

என்னமோ போங்க! பாலுவுக்காக, ராஜாவுக்காக, ஜானகிக்காக - மற்றதை மறந்துவிட்டு பாடலின் இனிமையில் லயிக்கலாம்.