The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

[groucho070]

vader.jpg

I repent. I repent.

[Murali Srinivas]

App,

3 Super songs in one go! Would have expected to savour one by one! Still no issues!

Udhya Geetham was released on Tamil New Year's day in April 1985. There were so many releases during that period with the likes of Khakki Sattai, Naa Sigappu Manidhan, Neethiyin Nizhal, Udhya Geetham, Pillai Nila and Kalyana Agathigal hitting the screens at the same time. Myself working at Kerala took 5 days leave combined with Vishu and came down to Madurai as I usually do and my theatre yathra started with right earnest. 11th April Thursday Khakki Sattai was released and I saw the Morning opening show at Madurai Central, next day 12th Naan Sigappu manidhan got released and again I saw Morning opening show at Mathi theatre. 13th Saturday Neethiyin Nizhal released and being a NT film [though he was a guest artist] needless to say it was also an opening show affair this time at Meenakshi theatre in the morning. The same day night show I saw Udhaya Geetham at Sundaram. Next day Sunday night show it was Kalyana Agathigal at Shakthi. Monday afternoon show saw Padikkadha Pannaiyaar [NT - KSG combo] which had been released a month before that in Nadana theatre and finally on Tuesday afternoon it was Pillai Nila at Minipriya. Took the night bus back to Kerala on the same day.[My grand father while I was leaving home for the bus stand said ஊருக்கு வந்த அன்னைக்கு காலையிலே பார்த்தது. மறுபடியும் இப்போதான் பார்க்கிறேன்!]. Well those were the days!

Divine, சங்கீத மேகம் IIRC is by Muthulingam.

App, I think there is some other song by Mu. Metha which preceded Padu Nilave. Talking of lyric writers this was one movie where all the six songs were written by six different writers. Other than Muthulingam and Mu.Metha, Thene thenpandi meene was by Vaali, ennodu paatu paadungal was by M.G.Vallabhan [?], மானே தேனே கட்டிப்பிடி was by Naa.Kamarasan and உதய கீதம் பாடுவேன் was by Vairamuthu.

<Dig
App that reminds me one more thing. You had mentioned Paadum Vanambadi was by VM. But i have my own doubts. In NPP, Paadava in paadalai alone was written by VM [IIRC].
> end Dig

Great going! Keep it coming.

Regards

[app_engine]

nanRi V_S, baroque, Divine22 & Murali sir!

Plum & groucho,

Murali sir,

Your post is quite informative as usual and the statement "ஊருக்கு வந்த அன்னைக்கு காலையிலே பார்த்தது. மறுபடியும் இப்போதான் பார்க்கிறேன்" made me What a dedicated movie fan!

[app_engine]

#181 என்னோடு பாட்டுப் பாடுங்கள்
(உதயகீதம், 1985 )

We've earlier talked about the 'ennOdu pAdungaL, nalvAzhththuppAdalkaL' in this thread. One gets reminded of that number as both had the same 'sing with me' phrase in the pallavi, apart from the IR-SPB connection.

This is a flash-back song in the movie, featuring the 'dancing son' of a TF field genius, Nagesh. I think Anand Babu got intro'd in a TR movie and continued his disco dances in a number of movies in the mid-80's before trying to take up lead roles and disappearing from the scene. While people may ridicule his dance now, i.e. after watching the likes of Prabhu Deva and his brother, it's a fact that people enjoyed AB during the dhinam dhinam un mugam / ennOdu pAttuppAdungaL time period. (I wasn't among those 'people' BTW but I was a big admirer of his dad's dancing).

The song starts like a reggae (IR indulges in such forms briefly before bringing in his own genre) and then moves on northie-ish, with SPB infusing a lot of life. My favourite parts are the sweet wind instrument sounds and the brief synth sounds (that are like guitar & piano but neither). It was the least preferred song within the movie at the time of arrival but I was generally happy that IR got another movie full of hit songs that reverberated around the state. From that POV, happy for this song though at times FFed when listening to cassettes holding all songs from this movie.

Plum was talking about Revathy switching from saree to modern in pagal nilavu first but I don't remember which came first - PN or UG. In any case, I didn't watch PN in theater. It was around this time period (late-84 & 85) that the "deck vAdakaikku" culture started in TN. Since we had the solidaire color tv in the hostel common room, quite often guys will collect together some money and rent deckku / cassette and watch movies in the hostel. pagal nilavu belonged to that deckcku-watched-films-list (MR's first film) and I'm not sure about the timing. Per Murali sir, UG is April and so high probability for that to be firsttu...

Another college recall is the badminton (i.e. the ball one, pooppandhu) tournaments that we held on behalf of our hostel. Back then, in REC, each hostel hosted a couple of cups/shields for games / sports and was allotted an indoor and an outdoor tournament. Those inter-hostel ones were like India-Pak matches while there was absolutely no focus on inter-college stuff (where REC was generally a loser...except in cricket I think). Since I had a 'poonthAks' into BB college team in the first year, when we moved into Emerald hostel which was the host of that game, I became the default organizer. It was fun collecting fund from college and also collect from teams and then manage prizes, matches, fixtures, function etc.

Let me tell the most funny part, however. The purchase of items for the tourney! Coming from a village, stricttu dad-mum and total non-exposure to techniques such as "bill adjustments", it was a shocker when some of my hostelmates wanted me to approve of. (i.e. use such funds to buy personal items and inflate the bills for prizes / refreshments etc). Well, while I didn't let it happen, I got educated / seasoned as to what practices people can do in purchase and wasn't too much shocked when such things got caught / people punished etc when working in the industry during later years. Sticking to the "best policy" is always a live-saver. (Ofcourse, I got ridiculed often - for proper use of funds, even returning unused money - but always felt proud in not letting people booze with that).

[al_gates]

We were in the common room watching the match in the terrific Australian channel (first time in life seeing such brilliant coverage, Richie Benaud's expert commentary etc) when there was a brief power failure Ran to the room for a battery operated radio to continue with some tense moments when power came back. The TV room was packed, hot / sweating, with everyone holding their breath as asking run rate was climbing up. Richard Hadlee had a tight spell and was threatening to stop the glorious run of India. With what style Kapil settled the matter! (Yes, this was the match in which the veggie killed a seagull and was requesting veLLam and the competitive Hadlee objected, not giving any inch of comfort to the enemy).

Actually the seagull incident happened later that year, in Melbourne Test Dec 1985 and it was Border who refused it. And I doubt if Kapil was a veggie

I recollect that semifinal vs NZ(March 5 1985), had come home from school at 3:30 and my family were rushing me out the door still in my school uniform as they decided to take the whole family out for an eye-test. Shastri just got out slogging and India were 117 in the 32nd over needed 90 more from 108 balls(a challenging task in those times). Kapil just got in as we left and later that night we tuned in to the 9pm AIR news that India made it. The next day's Hindu had Kapil and Vengsarkar congratulating each other after the winning hit(Caption: WE'VE DONE IT AND HOW!). I read in Gavaskar's book One Day Wonder that Kapil smashed 26 off Hadlee's last 2 overs and India got those 90 runs off 11 overs. In fact that Indian innings should be available on Youtube.

App Sir, just sneaked in to read your updates before a dentist visit and it was all worth it....as I could bring your narration to my mind's eye whenever I needed it . I am so excitied that we're crossing into the 2nd half of 80s.

[al_gates]

App Sir,
Just before Udaya Geetham's release, there was this Ranji trophy final between Delhi and Bombay which I am sure you and your friends must have followed over AIR(Apr 1-6 1985). More details here: http://thevictortrumpercricketboard.yuku.com/topic/2549

The Rothmans Cup happened Mar 22-29 followed by Ranji final, one week before tamil new year.

[app_engine]

Actually the seagull incident happened later that year, in Melbourne Test Dec 1985 and it was Border who refused it. And I doubt if Kapil was a veggie

appadiyA?

My bad memory

During the whole WCC, they kept showing seagulls on the ground and with this match having max-Kapil focus, my mind mixed things up I think.

In any case, I didn't watch the seagull-kill on TV but only read in hindu but definitely watched those adichchu noRukkal of Hadlee.

What a shouting in our common room!

(It was a great time period when 4 of the all-time-top all-rounders where on cricketing scene. Kapil & Botham were the obviously better batsmen while Imran & Hadlee the slightly better (i.e. only by a small margin) bowlers.

All those four were exciting to watch and were a great inspiration for us in all games behind the hostel (regardless of whether regular cricket ball or tennis ball versions)!

[app_engine]

The Rothmans Cup happened Mar 22-29 followed by Ranji final, one week before tamil new year.

That's why I'm getting reminded of it when writing about UG - thank you for the dates as we can uncover some brain wirings

Rothman's wasn't on live telecast but they showed highlights and we were amazed at those 4 catches by Gavaskar.

[al_gates]

App Sir and others,
I have lot of articles/photos/video clips of that WCC 85, plus that Rothmans Cup game vs Pak video highlights,plus a couple from the Ind-Eng series Dec 1984. If you need, I can upload it somewhere and pm you all. That game vs Pak, we were trying very hard to catch it over radio but the transmission was too noisy and we had to abandon it. It was Rajaram in the AIR 7:10pm Maanila Seidhigal who broke the news of the win. If it raises anyone's sense of nostalgia, I will be happy to contribute

[app_engine]

App Sir and others,
I have lot of articles/photos/video clips of that WCC 85, plus that Rothmans Cup game vs Pak video highlights,plus a couple from the Ind-Eng series Dec 1984. If you need, I can upload it somewhere

Yes, it would be nice!

Also, hubbers in the SPORTS section would probably appreciate the information as well...