The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

[app_engine]

#344 இன்னும் என்னை என்ன செய்யப்போகிறாய்
(சிங்காரவேலன், 1992 , ஜானகியுடன்)

'innum ennai enna seyyappOkiRai' from singAravElan, with SJ

What a sweet joy ride this song! rAsA in his thEneechcha form and the top duet pair delivering a thoroughly enjoyable number for a beautiful pair on screen! Supposedly a 'gambheera nAttai' rAgA based number. That should have been among the sweeter set of rAgAs Also, the overall construct of the song has the effect of making one soar high and float - paRavaikaLaippOl uNara vaikkum aRputha number!

Lot had been written and discussed about this song on TFM-DF and elsewhere on the net. The song deserves every one of those praises and more! Obviously, I have little more to add by way of musical analysis and let me take my favourite tangent trip

It was a year after kAl kattu. Towards the end of 1991, work related travels increased like anything. The company possibly had an unwritten policy to send newly-wedded engineers on a lot of tours However, I was smarter and took my wife along in 90% of them and one occasion was really funny. It was an evening in MG Road, Bangalore and we were both enjoying the weather - talking , walking happily & also shopping. And, there he was, my boss coming from the opposite side in the footpath He couldn't believe his eyes that someone can be so "indisciplined" and take spouse on an "official trip".

Well, when he had to approve my travel bills for that trip, he was hoping to catch me with lot of bills and expenses (he was a terror for all but could never frighten me). Since the statement showed every thing on a "flat rate" thingy (matlab, much lower than what was typically spent), he was in for a disappointment. All those trips also meant that there was very less time for listening to TFM in life. However, it provided a lot of opportunities to meet with new (wife side) relatives and naturally a lot of music-related-talk with newer people.

My old-bachelor associates were talking about this singAra vElan movie a lot in the workplace and I got the cassette during one of those trips in Bangalore. Obviously, this song was my top & instant favourite. I don't think the cassette had 'thoothu selvadhAradi', which became another top favourite after watching the movie. (The others were initially disappointing a bit - coming from IR for a pAvalar creations movie with Kamal - but "grew on me" to be favourites over a period of time ).

[app_engine]

#345 அட ஒரங்கா ஸ்ரீலங்கா கொப்பரத்தேங்கா
(சிங்காரவேலன், 1992)

'ada OrangA sreelankA kopparaththEngA' of SV

The lyrics and the scene Ofcourse, such references are not new in TFM - right from MGR days (and may be prior), such tease songs abound. The difference is such were reserved for front benchers - with loud orchestration etc in the pre-IR days and the "elite" typically avoided such numbers. (MGR's 'kAyA idhu pazhamA konjam thottuppAkktumA' etc were big kOlambi speaker hits in villages but middle-class and above generally did mugam suzhippu to such songs). OTOH, IR simbly brought such songs to main-stream, firstly with a big gang of dedicated IRFs -that prior composers could not boast of & a group that came from all walks of life (vAdi en kappakkezhangE was played across all social groups without inhibition) and secondly with very polished orchestration that often hid the shocking lines.

Well, catchy song, SPB excels - Kamal has uninhibited fun on screen and rAsA provides sweet orchestration. (The KH-Kushbu friendship is so much that recently the lady made a remark that KH knows her likes / dislikes better than she herself )

[jaiganes]

thiraippAdal lists a movie called 'irumbu pookkaL' and that has a SPB-KSC song 'muththAna muththam' - never heard it before, skip.

next movie is 'idhayam' - I've heard only the IR song 'April MayilE' & the KJY song 'pottu vaiththa oru vatta nilA'. Both the SPB songs - 'idhayamE' & 'poonkodi thAn' are unknown to me. skip.

kaNNukkoru vaNNakkiLi is next - 'unnai nAn pArkkaiyil' with Asha B - never heard of it. skip.

'pooththu pooththu kulunguthadi' & 'pAttu onna' - both songs sound so sweet from the GA directed movie kumbakkarai thangaiyyA - but I'm hearing both the songs for the first time, so cannot host on the thread.

thAlAttu kEtkuthammA has 3 SPB numbers - nEnthukkitta, sutti sutti, yammA yammA - all unfamiliar, from a Prabhu movie

Even more shocking is the fact that two SPB-SJ numbers from a Sridhar movie - thanthu vittEn ennai - mannavanE & thenRal nee are also unknown to me (Was this the debut of Vikram?)

kanavu paliththadhu from veRRippadikaL - another skip

Nothing against any of the songs above - lack of familiarity must be my problem.

So, end of 1991

Fantastic numbers these..
Particular mention goes out to Poongodi dhaan poothadhamma from idhayam.. This is how a soup song must be done -
proper thamizh song admonishing a shy guy for not having guts to speak out his love.. From Kadhir, this song had a nice picturisation in the backdrop of
rough bay of bengal shore around ennore. Had the staple Raju sundaram dance troupe doing strange dance moves.. Vaallee's lyrics were nice and apt..
But the soul of the character and the sequence was carried off by SPB's choked singing in charanams where the rhythm again shifts a few gears down and
conveys the confusion of the character...
A nice pathos song from a melodious album..

[app_engine]

#346 புதுச்சேரி கச்சேரி எக்கச்சக்க பார்ட்டி
(சிங்காரவேலன், 1992)

'puduchchEri kachchEri' of SV

This is a sweet song - clearly SPB special - that gets extremely good in the saraNam and boasts of a lovely orchestration. The song should have been a kids favourite at the time of arrival (because both my children loved this song years later). I love the solo violin kuRumbu parts of the song. (The sOga version too has nice orchestration).

After MMKR, this one is perhaps the VHS that got played maximum at home during the recent years. It had never failed to keep me ROTFLing. While KH has a great sense of humor and timing, we have gounder as a big bonus in this movie. The way in which he delivers - hA - unbelievable! Ofcourse, the most thrilling scene for me is their visit to star hotel and gounder's remarks for the coffee Everytime I pick up a furniture or an equipment here, I'm reminded of that (as all you get are some pieces of wood / ply wood, screws, legs etc and an align key with instructions to assemble)! It has its advantages, however, as one gets trained and don't depend upon others to do the job. Occasionally, it saves money too (Sears charges > $150 to send a person to assemble an elliptical that costed $375 on sale...me & my 19 yr old assembled it in just about an hour )

[Sunil_M88]

Thanks App Sir, if I didn’t see your post on the latest heard song thread then I might of missed this.

V_S Sir, congratulations on one of the best if not the best colossal write-up I’ve witnessed in the hub.
The and are all worthless here. I don’t see your post as a write-up, in fact for me it was truly one heck of a journey. Moving words which transported me elsewhere and also touched a sentimental chord.

I assume you might reply, saying how all credit is due to the Maestro as he conceived the song but the aspects you put fourth i.e. Tremolo was your brain child. I think I can relate to this Tremolo (signal), it definitely exists between to soul mates, lovers or whatever you want to call them. I’ve definitely felt it for my dear ones. But to explain this bond in mere words and that too through music is definitely an intelligent move, sir!

Back to the song, yes one wonders how Raaja Saab weaves in the contrasting interludes supported by Mani’s picturisation of our Superstar as a samurai. Genius, pure genius! The visuals are how one would picture the song if they had their eyes closed. Right from the tabla (mandir portion) to the military snare drum timpani rolls (battlefield), everything as you rightly said is dreamy. Punjabi: Par Tusi V_S bhaji char chand laga dithe gaane uthe. Eng: but you my bro have put more medals on this song then the song already had.

And well said about Diwali releases!

TBH, to answer your last question on whether we deserve this or not... I think whoever has heard and watched this song, should consider themselves very very fortunate.

[Nerd]

next movie is 'idhayam' - I've heard only the IR song 'April MayilE' & the KJY song 'pottu vaiththa oru vatta nilA'. Both the SPB songs - 'idhayamE' & 'poonkodi thAn' are unknown to me. skip.

Were you in mars? Undoubtedly your biggest miss. And quite a few *big* misses in that post.

Anyway please continue whenever you can. Really miss(ed) the posts.

[V_S]

Sunil Bhai, Thank you so much for your pouring compliments and it's one of the best compliments I have ever heard. Really moved by your words in punjabi. Somehow Maestro writes it for me everytime. Yes as you told the picturisation is well complemented by the music and vice versa. You rightly finished, we are very fortunate to listen to these treasures. Thanks again!

[V_S]

App,
Yes as Nerd told, many from your missing list were big hits. I love Kumbakkarai Thangayya and Thaalattu Kektkuthamma songs very much. I remember poothu poothu kulunguthadi poovu repeating in my home system for weeks. Honey-dripping song. No words to describe Idhayam songs. The film I watched again in Chidambaram, almost everyday evening show. I even remember reading Hindu review of the film and music. They had written really bad about IR songs and music. 'From the music it seems IR was doing some testing on his music' something of that sort. We were all so upset. We know now rest is history. Excellent BGM and whenever I play them I cannot stop them. Raja what can I give you in return just for this? One of my best loved love film. This film is a poetry. It really shook me that time. Every song, every bit of music, every scene is just etched in me. Even today I don't feel tired of watching it. Murali.



Thanks a lot to raajarasigan our hubber for uploading these wonderful bgm.

[Plum]

were you in Mars

No, as explained by him, he was un the newfound grip of planet Venus at that time . 2) V_S - that must have been the handiwork of DS Ramanujam of MtRdMahaVishnu , who was heavily promoting SARs Virus and DEVAngaNam at that time. As you can infer from the name, the feller possibly had caste-based or previous-MD-affection based objection to IR. I'd have loved to unleash hubber geno on him - with full justification for a typical geno diatribe. For PNPN, he wrote of abaswaram in karuththa machchaan - innikku varaikkin engennu enakku theriyala, ungalukku therinjaa sollunga

[venkkiram]

திரு v_s, "சுந்தரி கண்ணால் ஒரு சேதி.." பாடலுக்கான உங்களது பதிவை சொல்வனம் போன்ற தமிழ் இதழ்களில் தகுந்த நபர்களைத் தொடர்புகொண்டு, மொழி பெயர்த்து பதிவு செய்ய முயற்சி எடுக்கவும்/ அல்லது தெரிந்த நண்பர்கள் உதவி செய்யலாம். ஆங்கில நடையில் மட்டுமே அமைந்து ஒரு குறுகிய நதியாக ஓடாமல், தமிழில் பதிவு செய்து கருத்தோட்டத்தை அகல, ஆழப்படுத்தவும்.