The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

[groucho070]

Oh okay, I confuse both a lot.

[Plum]

About the song itself, what majestic, complicated phrases in succession below:

navarasa naTanam (swaram) jatiyuta gamanam - set the pace with a trot

sitagiri chalanam suranadi payanam - go low here decrease pace

bharatamaina naaTyam - Maintain tempo, wait for the kill

bratuku nitya nRutyam - Start Pouncing

bharatamaina naaTyam bratuku nitya nRutyam -
tapamuni kiraNam taamasa haraNam - Pounce!

tapamuni kiraNam taamasa haraNam - Rip!
Sivuni nayana trayalaaSyam - Kill!

And right here: WARNING: DANGEROUS CURVE AHEAD!

dhirana dhirananana takiTa takiTatadhimi
dhirana dhirananana naatyam dhirana dhirananana takiTa takiTatadhimi

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Great discussion, Plum, on the Telugu originals!

Please keep'em coming!

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App-Engine
The movied had 5 great SPB songs, your post said 3 more songs and hence made me wondering which film you are talking about

Sorry for the confusion, I was talking about my account keeping (one song per day) and how I'm behind by 3 songs, as I didn't post on Sat / Sun / Mon (Sep 3/4/5) .

Even now, I'm behind by a day and I'll post two songs today (for Sep 6 & 7) to catch up

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And didn't veetula raman have a title song - not so much a song played during a title as one with the title as its pallavi - sung by SPB as well?

Veetula raaman veliyila krishnan eppodhum agaadhamma?

You're right Plum, it's by SPB and I remember hearing this a few times.

thiraippAdal says MV and that prompted me to skip it even without mentioning.

Cannot be called a "hit" IMHO.

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#138 தகிட ததிமி
(சலங்கை ஒலி, 1983 )

Kozhikkode is a very interesting place, a city where it rains heavily during the monsoon and the place is perhaps second only to Mangalore in annual rainfall in SI. I had the privilege of being there on two different monsoons - raining non-stop, getting drenched thoroughly etc. One of those occasions has a connection to 'thakida thathimi'. Actually, 3 connections - rain, liqour and food Fortunately, it was a 'sugha booze' and not 'sOga booze'. (Well, this was not college days when I was a toto teeto but a decade later).

The rain connection is obvious, the song's music has the rain sounds, KH gets drenched while dancing on the well pipe. Similarly wet was I in Kozhikkode, with two friends, when we reached hotel room after a training day. (Oh, those trainings away from home were always fun).

Obviously, on a rainy evening in a hotel room in Kozhikkode with close Malayali friends, "getting wet" was the natural thing to follow. And the friends gave a different kind of training in liquid diet. A new method for the first time. Swallow 1/3 of a 650 ml Kingfisher bottle and refill that part with whisky and consume What a terrific feeling, real nice high!

தத்தரிகிட தத்தரிகிட தா, தரிகிட தா, தரிகிடதத்தரிகிட தா, தரிகிட தா... those KH "dialogs" prior to thakida thadhimi are among "the best ever" in Indian films!

Well, after a couple of hours, we were extremely hungry. Observing that I was such a big parOttA fan and that I was having parOttA as BF/Lunch/Dinner all days (one should taste parOttA at Kozhikkode, mouth waters as I write this), the friends arranged to go to a very special place that they knew. One of the friends, who looks like Sathyan Anthikaud, had a great tongue for taste and terrific database on top places to eat. So, happily complied, pushing all three of us into one of those incredible autos. (Even in 90's one can go to most places inside Kozhikkode for < 5 bucks on auto, perfect meter, returns 50p etc , great, great drivers!).

Now, that night's food was once-in-a-life-time kind of experience! What great parOttAs and what a fantastic curry! All three of us weren't even counting and let the server do that for us appadiyE enna oru piramAdhamAna, sugamAna anubavam - no comparisons at all! (The bill was so low - I don't know how those businesses survived but ever thankful for providing such a delicious meal).

Now, what is the connection between this song and that food?

The scene that leads to the song - the தத்தரிகிட தத்தரிகிட தா one - is so much one of a rare kind. Phenomenal!
(Unlike that night's meal, though, this can be had whenever we feel like - thanks to technology / youtube.)

No words can describe the great way SPB has sung this song and the great way rAsA put together the melody and orchestration - one of a kind number!

[Plum]

A song on which volumes can be written. A song whose mention gets the vAtAvaraNam inside your head raining cats and dogs. The thunderous percussion rains through the song thus amplifying the ambience.
Rhythm innovation, eh? This is rhythm innovation masquerading as background music for the song.

Note for grouch - this song throws lip sync to dustbin and Vairam does his own thing. Result is as much failure as naadha vinodham where failure was induced by the attempt to stick to lipsync.

narudi brathuku natana -
Ishwarudi thalapu ghatana
Aa reNdi natta naduma
Neekkendhuku intha tapana?

That's thunderous declaration of his philosophy by the protagonist keeping with his fiery persona.

In comparison, this looks a limp statement:
Ulaga vaazhkai nadanam
Nee oppukonda payanam
Mudiyum bodhu thodangum
Thodangum bodhu mudiyum

That's really not from our fiery protagonist: this is from some wimpy soul unlike our grandiose failed artist

[Plum]

Ofcourse, the peak moment in the song is SPB's aaaaa aaaa humming with the percussion stopping its thunderous effect as a stunned Kamal beholds Jayapradha.
The veenai strains just before that as Pradha decides to wear kungumam - P Vasu and KSR, choosi nErchkOndi. That is how you milk thali sentiment and move the viewer classily. Not by getting ponnambalams throwing manja thanni on Manorama.
I am digressing. If those veenai strains aren't the inner feelings of a conflicted traditional women, I am the queen of England

[Plum]

I think given the strong Telugu brahmin ambience of K Viswanath's world, which reflects in his movies, songs and lyrics, with endless off-the-cuff references to Hindu Gods and the myths associated with them in parallel to the story and situation, atheist Vairam is not exactly comfortable in translating the idioms seamlessly. It is a tough task, admittedly, and probably needed Kannadasan to do justice.

It is not that Vairam doesn't know Ramayana or Mahabharatha or possibly even scriptures and other stories. But it is clearly not inside him as it would be inside someone like Kannadasan or Veturi, lyricist for this song. Veturi probably is able to empathise with the protagonist's cultural background as he is from the same background. The references slip out from him very casually - they don't even seek attention as references.

[Plum]

Needless to say, all those posts came spontaneously at the mere mention of the song. There was no need to refer by playing it.
Etched in memory. This is art fusing 5 extraordinary artists each of them in extraordinary form. No, I am not counting Pradha, who is slightly more than adequate.