I don’t know if I will have the time for a full-fledged review of Ilayaraja’s soundtrack for Neethane En Ponvasantham. Also, after just a few listens, the songs haven’t sunk in fully — though they have left behind rough outlines in my mind. But the main reason for my inability to launch into detailed thoughts about the whole album is my thralldom to Sattru munbu, the song that instantly made me sit up — and it’s been on endless loop ever since.
The tragic song is built on the kind of dynamic contrasts, the swelling and the subsiding, we rarely hear in our film music (stray examples include In lamhon ke daaman mein, Sundari kannaal oru seidhi, Engay nimmadhi). The first line is sung a capella. Then a disorienting — seriously jolting — blast of horns and percussion. Second line a capella. Followed by another blast of music. A hint of strings. And an undistinguished ticktock rhythm sets in. (Anything more complicated may have made the song too much.) What anguish in the melody line that closes the pallavi — ellaame poi endru solvaaya! This is why music was invented, to dramatise the spoken word, to give full shape to feelings that even words cannot fully express. The singer stops, as if she reached the edge of a cliff and suddenly opened her eyes and saw the drop below. A hint of steadying strings. And she’s back to the beginning.
Dynamic contrasts again in the first interlude. Piano and strings swelling their chest and issuing stentorian notes, then calming down and playing variations in a (relative) whisper. By the end of this interlude, there’s been one more swell, one more whisper. The singer again. The stanza begins, and slowly she ushers it to my favourite part. Vaangi pona en idhayathin nilamai enna da. Okay, in tune with the rest of the stanza. Nothing out of the ordinary. But the next line ends with a twist in its tail. Thengi pona oru nadhiyena indru naanada. She seems to be preparing for liftoff. And what a liftoff it is. The ascent begins with thaangi pidikka un tholgal illaye… And boom! Without his shoulders to support her, she’s lost in space. A higher-octave rendition of the lines that opened the song, followed by a vertiginous drop back to earth. Sattru munbu…
She picks herself up and begins all over again. A more conventional (even old-fashioned) interlude. The second stanza begins and ends. Time for the last iteration of the pallavi, which hoards the separate instances of dynamic contrasts we’ve been hearing so far into one simultaneous segment — the singer whispers, the chorus roars behind her. Mesmerisingly operatic music. (Appropriately, wrist-slashingly melodramatic words as well: maari poga, for instance, rhyming with keeri poga.) And it leaves the tantalising question: however the hell are they going to do justice to this on screen?
PS: But some of the songs seem to have been sung by people who shouldn’t have actually sung them. Ramya NSK sings Sattru munbu well enough, but the singing is a little… timid. A song this boldly dramatic needed a diva capable of reckless drama. I kept thinking of how someone like Sunidhi Chauhan would have sounded.
PPS: But at least she keeps in tune, and her pronunciation is fine — even if she cracks into a falsetto when asked to climb into the higher reaches of the tune. What about the singers who go off key? But I guess I’m old-fashioned that way. Today’s “youth,” from what I keep hearing, aren’t sticklers for what used to be called sruthi suddham. Pitch, apparently, is just something you get from petroleum.
Baradwaj Rangan 
rameshram
September 5, 2012
Sticks fingers firmly in ears. nanananana….notlisteningnotlisteningnotistening….. 😀
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Gradwolf
September 5, 2012
Vaanam Melle and Kaatrai Konjam make this album for me. Not yet cottoned on to Sattru Munbu. Maybe it is following the familiar trajectory of Manipaaya (hey that is the parallel here, right?!) 😀 *runs*
The singers, yes, oh God what is up! Yuvan, Bele Shende, what a fail! If you’re hyping up the soundtrack so much, then why these, Ramya NSK, or even Sunidhi! Where is 00s Raaja favorite Shreya man! Ok this is fanboy talking but even then…
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vijay
September 5, 2012
“Today’s “youth,” from what I keep hearing, aren’t sticklers for what used to be called sruthi suddham”
sruthi suththam illa, OK. Atleast pronunciation suththamaadhu irukka.
Yuvan dhanda raaja wouldnt clear the prelims round of Vijay TV’s airtel junior singer.
The male solos all suck tune-wise and singing-wise. Karthik’s voice doesnt have a presence at all. Why IR didnt look at a Haricharan or Vijay Prakash or an out-of-the-blue Alfonse(aromale) like singer, when he did so for the female solos beats me. You feel for this kind of tune/singing, you didnt need a London orchestra but the local Gummidipoondi string Quartet would have sufficed
“A higher-octave rendition of the lines that opened the song, followed by a vertiginous drop back to earth”
Did’nt impress me, its an old trick. Sundhari kannal oru sedhi itself is a example, finishing the charanam with a higher scale variation of the opening pallavi lines. .
Mandram vandha thendralukku, kaadhal rojaave and many other songs have this kind of finishing on a high note(incidentally both these songs finish on the word “sol” at the high note in one of the charanams, as if screaming out their protest) and a big drop back to the lower notes of pallavi.
BTW, Sunidhi sang the other female solo in this, in case you missed. Iam surprised that these songs didnt go to Shreya or Manjari. It is uncharacteristic of IR to think beyond his usual suspects when it comes to singers. Maybe the decision was someone else’s.
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baskar
September 5, 2012
satru munbu sounds like konjam nilavu of ARR
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brangan
September 5, 2012
vijay: I’m hardly saying that this has never been done before (I do quote some earlier songs) — just that it works very well here, combined with the lyrics 🙂
baskar: thank you for putting ganesha circle to what everyone knows is coming.
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Aparna
September 5, 2012
My goodness! What a beautiful piece Baradwaj! I’m simply wowed!
I don’t know much about music; but this line :’This is why music was invented, to dramatise the spoken word, to give full shape to feelings that even words cannot fully express’ makes me wish I did. Will listen to that song now 🙂
Aparna
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KayKay
September 5, 2012
Number of listens: 4
Reaction: Meh-nowhere close to the “glory days” Raja I so love. And nowhere clsoe to the sheer joy and exuberance of the VTV soundtrack (I mean, it IS an apt comparison here, right? Both GVM films, both love stories?)
Mini rant: YSR is an atrocious singer, let me put that on record straight away. He ain’t just awful in that “voice grates on nerves” kinda way, he sounds (consistently) like a drunk who’s just stumbled into a karaoke bar and grabbed the mike off a better singer he’s just booted off the stage. And he gets 2 songs? Isn’t nepotism wonderful?
“Yuvan Dhanda Raaja”….hehehe…thanks for the Chuckle Of The Day, vijay:-)
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rameshram
September 5, 2012
“thalldom”
mmm? kollidom!
ThRalldom? perhaps? (says the king of misspelling not unironically)
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KayKay
September 5, 2012
“It is uncharacteristic of IR to think beyond his usual suspects when it comes to singers. Maybe the decision was someone else’s.”
Maybe the “Ngani” had one of his (not infrequent) “Dhurvaasa Munivar” moods and alienated his favorites (albeit, temporarily. he eventually goes back to them) . He goes through these cycles. Even the great SPB was not spared (the emergence of Mano was apparently a direct result)
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vijay
September 5, 2012
“But I guess I’m old-fashioned that way. Today’s “youth,” from what I keep hearing, aren’t sticklers for what used to be called sruthi suddham.”
when have they ever cared about it? Did you really think the college youth of the early 80s cared about shruthi all that much and were more demanding/discerning? Yedho MDyaave quality control panna dhaan undu. IR, with his offkey singing, managed to have his own fanclub in the 80s for his singing.So did some of his suspect singers. The grip on quality has loosened over the decades.If Rahman manages to have some kind of QC on voice/singing, he turns the other way when it comes to pronunciation.
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rameshram
September 5, 2012
Dear Mr Rangudu (of the rettaival fame), and bhaskar…and kay kay… Considering I shall not listen to this gautam menon soundtrack, I hereby designate the job of defending Illayaraja to a worthy deputee: Roboda sangar. fight among yourself, children!
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baskar
September 5, 2012
there was a time for IR to depend upon the tune added with the magic musical instruments but at a later stage it went the opposite and that is the reason that he could not handle ARR when he could have have still done it . MSV had a similar situation when he was composing with KVM, Sankar ganesh, v kumar , chandrabose , shyam , IR ,vijayabaskar, et al but he was able to survive for a while because he relied on tunes . IR could not even for few years after the emergence of ARR for the simple reason that he lacked on that area . many may oppose my view but the fact is that .And there is one psychological downing which both MSV AND IR had too
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Prakash Srinivasan
September 5, 2012
NEPV is a monstrously brilliant album by IR (I really mean it with those flashy words). I am loving Kaatrai Konjam/Mudhal Murai/Sattru Munbu/Ennodu Va Va/Yedhi Yedhi (telugu version sung by Shaan). I have been listening to it last 4 days and am still not saturated! The album is like slow poison, each song grows on you with multiple listens.
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strickland
September 5, 2012
It is a little funny to hear people say this is IR’s comeback album. With Nandalala, Paa, Pazhassi Raja, Sneha Veedu, Sri Rama Rajyam etc he has been more active off late than ARR and even a ubiquitous commodity like harris-church-jabaraaj.
Just because he has now worked with this so-called fancy director, suddenly it has become fashionable for everyone to appreciate Ilayaraja and his music and romanticize it as a comeback…
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Karikala Cholan
September 5, 2012
Indha PS’ku aprom PPS’lam has lost its significance. It makes a reader cringe.
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baskar
September 5, 2012
what is the use of being busy when the very work do not speak of you or the work you have done. Even if kannadasan survive today he may not pen like what he did thirty years back and same is the case of MSV too . its a time of tide and in case of IR it was over ten or fifteen years back . take the case of KB as he flopped in poi his hundredth film and BR is still talking about annakodi . Mahendran had the same fate and how about BM . it is a fantasy and great happiness infected moments to revive the past as it is like rubbing the wound for a satisfaction . no doubt they were stalwarts , of those days ,underline those days .
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Karikala Cholan
September 5, 2012
That’s the reality when it comes to creativity. There is a certain peak and there are certain qualities your creation will exhibit during that peak. Fans cribbing about why those qualities are non-existent or have changed in the later years – are just living in the past. People wrongly attribute a glorious 30 years of Raja’s reign. In reality it was probably 1976 to 1992. 16 years of glory. You can add 2 -3 years at the end if you like. This was as much or as close to what AR Rahman had (At best, he is in his last stages of peak). Now it does not mean that post this peak they fade out with no credible creations. They will still come up with occasional flashes of brilliance that might take you on a nostalgic trip – but don’t judge them with those time-machine lenses. Don’t view Raja through the rosy lens you wore in 1980’s. Probably you are romanticizing your own life during those periods and with it – Raja’s music too. Reality has changed – Even in your life you might be in a position where you earn well, settled down in a certain way etc. etc. But you still yearn for those years. And this yearning reflects in the music you want to listen. Neither your life nor the music will ever be what it used to be.
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venkatesh
September 5, 2012
Ok nothing could have lived upto the hype – but i would have been happier if we could have had at least one hummable / danceable number , technical niceties aside. This is the fanboy speaking but i would have loved a barn-busting, fata poster nikla hero type of song.
Sattru munbu , Kaatrai konjam and may be Saindhu saindhu are the pick of the lot for me – at the moment.
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Shankar
September 5, 2012
Naan intha vilayattukku varala!! 🙂 I love the soundtrack, densely orchestrated yet has a feeling of lightness. When one listens a few times, you start appreciating the intricacies in it…truly mind blowing.
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thundadome21
September 5, 2012
Ouch….ouch…ouch, struck the right nail there…..
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Bala
September 5, 2012
Don’t look now but it says Bitty Ruminations “69” . Apt for a song that seems to be as good as sex-o ? 😀 😀
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baskar
September 5, 2012
my god , i listened to few songs and i wonder what a hype is created for these numbers when in reality they are less than a average number . going by the hits of GVM with Harris and others ( whatever be the source) it is clear that GVM fell at the feet of IR with no choice and naturally when the fascination rules he has no choice to question the quality of the numbers and old directors like BR and BM had the liberty and courage to question or ask for change . but in this case of this much hyped combo the output is subzero . i even wonder why that half page article in the metro plus for all these . surprising.. am sure this will not go well in the box office and if it goes for these songs its sure a downfall of the taste of Tamil Rasikas.
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rameshram
September 5, 2012
intha sanian adi patte saha poran…although I refuse to dignify a goutam menon thread.with my flames.
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dtwdy (@dtwdy)
September 6, 2012
VTV soundtrack has straight forward inspirations. This album does not. Cannot compare like that.
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vijay
September 6, 2012
satru munbu-the opening phrases actually sail pretty close to his own son’s song “konjam konjam enakku unna pudhicrukka” from arindhum ariyaamalum. Blasphemy, eh?
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Aravindan
September 6, 2012
Couldn’t help notice the title and the coincidence with Raja’s age. Not that it means any significant.
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brangan
September 6, 2012
vijay: “The male solos all suck tune-wise and singing-wise. Karthik’s voice doesnt have a presence at all.” Actually, this is a singer who always confounds me. He’s always in perfect sruthi. Pretty good voice too, covers a good range without strain. And yet, something’s always missing when he sings. Can’t quite put my finger on it.
As for ” Why IR didnt look at a Haricharan or Vijay Prakash or an out-of-the-blue Alfonse(aromale) like singer” — IMO, my categorisation of Raja’s “golden era” coincides with the time SPB and Yesudas were in form. (Though SPB, amazingly, is *still* in form.) None of the male voices afterwards have had their kind of (1) consistency and (2) malleability across a varied genre of songs. I don’t want to get into Mano bashing now, but how that man poondhufied into some astonishing songs (all of which were diminished by him; saved solely by Raja’s tunes/orchestration) is a mystery I will never be able to solve.
Reg. “Did you really think the college youth of the early 80s cared about shruthi all that much and were more demanding/discerning?” — well, it certainly wasn’t *this* bad, was it? Mano was just a bad and expressionless singer (I still get the shudders when I recall his mini raga essay in his charanam in “Vizhiyil oru kavidhai padithen hoi”), but he didn’t go offkey like the current crop AFAIR.
baskar: “that is the reason that he could not handle ARR when he could have have still done it” — IMO, the reason Raja kinda fell out of favour with a certain section has more to do with his recording than his music. ARR onwards (Yuvan, HJ etc.), sound engineering has become a very important part of songs.
KayKay: If you want a sample of “glory days” Raja, you may want to give the “Kumki” album a try. Imman and Co. are proving that dipping into the “old” Raja style is still very much capable of yielding abundant riches 🙂
strickland: “Comeback” is generally a term used more in the commercial sense (rather than a creative one), like how people called “Godfather” Marlon Brando’s comeback even though he’d been doing movies on and off. Something that re-establishes someone as a major force in the eyes of the larger public. I guess that’s the sense being used in this case.
Bala: Neenga eppavume oru maadhiri dhaana? At least the TMI emails IDs have stopped 🙂
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Aakarsh (@kamalaakarsh)
September 6, 2012
Most hilarious comment ever 🙂
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baskar
September 6, 2012
just mind the language and if you dont i may have to .. you cannot even imagine how crude it could be and for your information i live near a slum and i think it is enough for now
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rameshram
September 6, 2012
Sani not vonly living near koovam mouth also koovam. Fully threatening and everything!
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vijay
September 6, 2012
” well, it certainly wasn’t *this* bad, was it? ”
BR, my point was, it was the MD’s own initiative that took care of shruthi and all that. Its not like there was a public outcry or a youth rebellion whenever someone went out of shruthi. The MDs of the 50s/60s were classical singers themselves and were sticklers for this. From 80s onwards the standards relaxed a bit. But I agree, shruthi wasnt as much a problem back then,as just plain bad voices/singing. IR’s notorious male singers especially, he was really unlucky with none of his introductions panning out(Malaysia Vasudevan wasnt introduced by IR, although he had all his moments with IR). The few good singers were those he inherited. Amongst the lady singers, SP Shailaja, besides others, was annoying. She did’nt possess a fraction of her brother’s singing genes. The problems with his singers run deeper than just Mano. Chithra is his only redemption.
“He’s always in perfect sruthi. Pretty good voice too, covers a good range without strain.”
These are basic minimum qualities for getting to the finals round of talent shows these days, which he might have. But to be a leading playback singer, you need to have that X-factor. His voice itself, to me, leaves a lot to be desired. Kenathulendhu thavala kaththara maadhiri. I miss the ganeer voices of yesteryear singers. Haricharan is better in expression(quite a few people in the industry consider him to be the best of the recent crop), and Vijay Prakash in having some kind of presence with his voice. But generally, we have been unlucky at unearthing good male voices.The voice quality/timbre should make you instantly sit up and take notice. Swarnalatha had that in spades in the early 90s. Karthik is the poster boy for the pre-pubescent singer brigade that has invaded the scene in the last decade. One of my friends used to comment sometime back “paal pole padhinaaru, enakkoru girlfriend venum”–indha maari patta mattum dhana avan paadanum, for teen boy heroes.
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vijay
September 6, 2012
and another one.. funny how the mind senses familiarity with a tune but takes a lot of time to find the right ‘file’ from the archives. Iam getting old 🙂
Take “hare dewaanon, muje pechachanaon, kahaan se aaya….”
rehash it a bit like how some of the remix artists would do these tays. Tinker with the meter/rhythm a bit to get to adjust it to the tempo of the current song, what do you get?
mudhal murai paartha gnyaabagam….
with the phrase “idhayaththil yeno….” syncing well with “kahaan se aaya…”
I’ll attribute this to coincidence maybe, since that is a pretty blah song to get inspired from, for someone of IR’s calibre
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vijay
September 6, 2012
Talking of “how the fuck do they get to sing these songs” type singers, Suchitra should lead the list, especially with the kind of coverage she gets in live shows. Yedho rendu item songsukku paadinoma ponomaannu illama, they get her even for singing old MSV/IR classics sometimes in live shows. The better singers would be sitting in the audience staring elsewhere.
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raj
September 6, 2012
Baradwaj, as an aside: Long long ago, so long ago, we ahd this conversation:
Me:
In other words, I am asking you to go ahead and complete that theses – when and how synth actually works to natural orch seeking ears. Because some synth does appeal to us – raja and non-raja.
You:
Ah, you’re asking me to my first full-fledged post on Raja, versus all the comments-only stuff I’ve been writing about . I will get around to it sometime, as this column isn’t restricted to current occurrences (as the paper is). Or perhaps, I’ll just do more bits and pieces like this, as and when time permits.
Would you get a better chance than now to convince your editor to sanction a half page article ont his? Consider. Workku worku. Playkku play. Musingku musing. Funku Fun Next saturday?
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raj
September 6, 2012
And yeah, elsewhere in WWW, I have also been talking about the Raja-influence in Imman’s Kumki. Honestly, I didnt expect it from him. Can you expand on what exactly you maen by Raja-influence here? Would like to know your exact hook for this feeling.
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KayKay
September 6, 2012
“although I refuse to dignify a goutam menon thread.with my flames”
This thread, if you want to classify it, although discussions around these parts can get pretty fluid on topics and themes, is on the merits of the new ILAYARAAJA soundtrack that happens to be composed for a GVM movie. So you’re ignoring an album by a composer you supposedly regard as Christ’s second coming in the music world because it’s in service to a movie by a director you (apparently) loathe???? Very mature, boy 🙂
“just mind the language and if you dont i may have to …….”
Baskar sir, please carry on…indha mariyathai illadha podiyanukku rendu potta than buddhi varum.
Since it’s my hands usually delivering the slaps upside his head, I think I’m developing carpal tunnel syndrome. I could use some help 🙂
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KayKay
September 6, 2012
B, can we re-number this Bitty Ruminations? A TRUE Bitty Ruminations 69 is one where you turn the discussion upside down 🙂
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KayKay
September 6, 2012
B, I’ve heard a lot abt Kumki as well. Will give it a listen, but I guess as other far more eloquent voices here have pointed out, pointless to fish for past glories in present waters.
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Gradwolf
September 6, 2012
That thing about new crop of male singers not sounding s ganeer as SPB might be true (leaving aside Shankar Mahadevan who is still post SPB era only right?). But still, Karthik is first rate IMO. Haricharan etc and all ladder vechalum ettadhu.
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Bala
September 6, 2012
@Baradwaj: youth saar. Idhu vaaliba vayasu 😛
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Bala
September 6, 2012
I agree with Vijay’s comment above on “ganeer” voices. Karthik has a nice enough voice but not the strength to make one sit-up and pay attention. It seems to operate at a lower range to SPB. What would you say about a Sonu Nigam or Shankar Mahadevan btw ? That is someone who seems to have the range and the “punch” imho.
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sachita
September 6, 2012
Karthik has an X factor in his singing … … his voice lends itself well to different emotions. he was and is a huge as far as singers in this generation go.
Sruthi suthama he doesnt sing – i have been disappointed way too many times when that guy starts singing in interviews. As far as musicality goes, both Vijay Prakash and haricharan are far better. but then Haricharan’s voice isnt that great.
Suchitra as a singer is a crime.
Your blog comments is too skewed away from public nu thonrathu ( slightly older demography? ). Karthik is one of the most popular singers among this generation.
PS: I just heard three songs from this touted as comeback album. Instead of putting them in a playlist, took two older illayaraja songs and have been hearing those!
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Shankar
September 6, 2012
Well, 69 happens to be Raja’s age…so it is probably an apt title.
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strickland
September 6, 2012
BR – Not that this is of specific reference to this post, but in general to what you do:
Do you ever feel that all this expression of impression (which is what people do when they say “this song/movie moved me such” or “abc singer has xyz quality”) is so moot?
Ultimately the way a piece of art – music, movie, painting – works or doesn’t for a person is intensely personal. What chord it strikes in me depends on what strings I am made of.
So what are we all doing expressing our impressions?
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brangan
September 6, 2012
raj: I don’t know if I can describe this exactly, but the song can be seen to have the the soaring emotion of the charanams of “Manram vandha thendralukku” and the stones-in-a-can rhythm + the long, sustained melody lines of “Ival oru ilanguruvi” (all based on similar ragas)… WRT the arrangements, the synth-symphony feel of Raja’s music circa 1990, the way the interlude segues so cleanly from the melody (without skipping a beat, staying with the same rhythm/beat, as opposed to breaking off and doing something completely unrelated and new), the dramatic (and beefed-up) strings… I’m not saying it’s a copy, but at least to my ears, it’s the same philosophy of song-making.
sachita: I love voices/singing of Shreya Ghoshal, Mohit Chauhan, Sonu Nigam, Shankar Mahadevan, Vijay Prakash, Shail Hada (where is he these days?)… And I disagree that Haricharan’s voice isn’t great. He sings with more raw emotive power than Karthik, IMO. Karthik, to me, is like Javed Ali — a very “pleasant” singer, but without much personality.
strickland: That was a funny comment. Then why discuss art at all? Or cricket? Or politics? We can just form our individual impressions and go to bed, right?
What we are doing here is trading points of view in a (hopefully) civil manner, so that we can see the same thing from someone else’s POV. And even if we remain unconvinced by that POV, we may still learn something, see something we didn’t see earlier, or be moved by something. That is the point. Not proving that I am right or that you are right.
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Strickland
September 6, 2012
Yeah, my question was whether you have felt like going to bed ever, not wanting to take the effort to say what you felt because it is tiresome and they just won’t get it anyway (not that they always have to)
But maybe I did the wrong thing by asking someone who makes a living from taking that effort.
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Madan
September 6, 2012
Great description of the song. Glad to hear somebody else in this country’s netspace describe the dynamics of a piece of a music. I cringe when I hear people critique a singer’s performance in those TV contests just for that one sangidhi or such with barely a mention on the (usually lacking) dynamism.
I am not sure if you are trying to say in the comment there that this sounds like Ivaloru Ilanguruvi because I couldn’t think of a more unlikely comparison. It has that sort of late-Romantic flourish and bombast but emotionally reminds me more of Ithayame Ithayame from July Ganapathy (only better orchestrated). That by the way is another brilliant song from his supposed ‘wilderness’. Anyway, anything he does is going to remind us of one of his hundreds of compositions and I am not sure we can hold that against him beyond a point.
I don’t know if you follow the trends in Western pop/rock music but this year, Fiona Apple made a big splash with a very un-contemporary (though timeless) collection of songs driven largely by her vocals, piano and sparse percussions. There is this mania for ‘real’ instruments and ‘organic’ sounds in the air. Though I grew up on such sounds initially and never could quit liking them, I am not sure where this path leads to for music. Just 15-20 years ago, we were being told all possibilities within the conventional approach had been exhausted and with advanced synthesizers, composers didn’t need an orchestra anymore. Now we have people going crazy about the number of instruments Ilayaraja uses. Going backwards to move forward? Idk. Is this the symptom of an art form grasping for some of the relevance it lost long ago in mainstream culture?
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vijay
September 7, 2012
“”Suchitra as a singer is a crime. ”
old demography, old demography….you kezha bolt 🙂
Karthik lacks range as well. Range as in the kind of songs.Maybe jury is still out but haven’t yet heard an authentic classical or sufi or folk and so on. No, ava enna enna thedi vandha anjala kind of nursery rhymes don’t count in the latter category.
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vijay
September 7, 2012
Shankar Mahadevan- maybe the most colossal waste of talent in Tamil film music in the last 15 years or so. Relegated to singing intro songs for the likes of ilayathalavali and tharu’thala’ . Save for Rahman a bit(‘thom karuvil piranthom’ ‘varaaha nadhikarai oram’ etc.), no one used him well.Even the one-off he did for IR, ‘sittu parakudhu kuththaalathil” from that Karthik movie was mildly enjoyable.
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Filmbuff
September 7, 2012
The difference b/w ARR and IR is that ARR is STILL in his peak (“Vinnaithandi Varuvaya”, “Rockstar”, “Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na”, “Jodhaa Akbar”, “Endhiran”, “Dehli 6”, etc.). That being said, “Neethane En Ponvasantham” is one of Illayaraaja’s best soundtracks in a long time and probably one of the 3-4 best soundtracks in a Gautham movie (“Vinnaithandi Varuvya” is without a doubt the best soundtrack Gautham has ever had in one of his movies, and likely will ever have)
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Rahul
September 7, 2012
Strickland, to me talking to others is a round about way of talking to myself.
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kG
September 7, 2012
Dreadful to be forced in to doing this for money. Although a very envious job to have, trust me it doesn’t seem all that easy. Of course, you could do it like certain other ‘critics’, that doesn’t rise beyond assertive statements and relative qualifiers without actually discussing the film itself. But to do it credibly (for most pieces) like BR, for all the slack he gets, is actually darn impressive and credit worthy.
Interested to know if BR really got to a point when he felt “It was fun until it turned in to a job”..
A critic’s mind usually has the block, particularly visual medium, where most are subsumed subconsciously. You’re almost always in need for tangible reasons and palpable sensations (mechanically put in to words, how they are caused) to back it up.
Also, now that he has a name, the pressure of having to publish in wider domain should be immense. You are allowed to say what you like, however thick and daft, unless and until you get famous, then you should never say anything, ever.
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rameshram
September 7, 2012
vaa daa mullamaari! , veliku onan saachi! 😀
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Filmbuff
September 7, 2012
Also, don’t get the negative comments about Karthik. He has been singing great solos for over 10 years now. Both he and Haricharan are the best male (Indian playback) singers of their age group.
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Vasisht Das
September 7, 2012
strickland,
to attempt a simple answer to your anguished query –
timepass – between entry & exit.
or simpler still :
the same existential-punch nakkal that Velu Nayakar delivered to his impertinent little grandson’s query: “neenga nallavara, kettavara?”
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KayKay
September 7, 2012
The gorgeous “Varaaha Nadhi Karai Oram” and the majestic “Kumari” are the only 2 instances where Shankar Mahadevan’s voice has been allowed to soar to sublime heights IMHO.
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raj
September 7, 2012
” don’t know if I can describe this exactly, but the song can be seen to have the the soaring emotion of the charanams of “Manram vandha thendralukku” and the stones-in-a-can rhythm + the long, sustained melody lines of “Ival oru ilanguruvi” (all based on similar ragas)… ”
idhukku dhAn kEttEn. Elsewhere in WWW, I had also recorded my impression that I got reminded of “Engirundho Ilanguyilin”(which, you’d know, is just another version of Ival Oru Ilanguruvi, although now you say, the match is mroe pronounced with Ival oru Ilanguruvi I can see) in the way the rhythm has been structured around the melody lines. Ofcourse, I do value you as a music critic(and was disappointed with what I think is a lazy article earlier on NEPV ) so I wanted to know if you felt the same thing exactly for the same reason. I was also reminded of Asalem gurthukku raadhu from Andhappuram, which you might or not have gheard.
Yeah, no assertions of copy at all. He has taken the structure and played around with it well. I thought DimMan was NOT an IR fan, and did not expect this from him.
That aside, if directors want their obligatory IR-in-80s reference in their movies, I wish they got their MDs to work hard and present it like this than the terrible remixes.
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raj
September 7, 2012
I somehow cannot escape the feeling that Shankar Mahadevan inadvertently gives a vibe of “mocking at the song he is singing now”, especially while singing the intro songs that you mock at. For example, when he sings “Babaeeeee…sinama sinama”, it is almost as if his soul is whispering in parallel “idhellAm oru pAttA, idhaiyellAm pAdaNamunu thalaiezhuthu”. The intonation around the end of the word Baba is the tone I can imagine that voice would take when trying to mock at a particular word. Like when we say “VevvevevveVe”. I find this often with him – and I personally think it is inadvertent and therefore, even more hilarious. For all his technical prowess, I have never been able to hear him seriously for this reason.
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raj
September 7, 2012
Another song I can quote off my head right away for illustrating this is Vidyasagar’s “Picha vecha” from Puthiya Mukham. I think Mahadevan is giving his best romantic, dripping with love expression but some of the kozhaivus he attempts are so fake and artificial that my ears perceive it as singing a mockery or spoof of the tune he was given(inadvertently, again, to stress)
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raj
September 7, 2012
Except that ARR is in a stage of his career that IR WAS several years ago :). And one of the things about IR sounding repetitive(not specifically in your post here) – repetitive after 4500 songs vs repetitive after 400 songs. Vast difference. (And repettitive itself is a subjective topic that would need several posts to examine. I am just talking memes here). Same way, we are talking about being in peak after composing what volume of music? Probably lesser than the volume of music(overall numbers and filtered numbers for quality) IR had composed in
his first 10 years.
Let’s see what ARR is doing in 2037 when he’ll probably be closer to IR’s age now. (and still wouldnt be close anywhere to IR’s output in volume – both sheer volume of “# of all songs composed” and volume of “# of great to good songs, BGM and instrumental music composed”)
Ofcourse, the way you frame it all is itself is an insult to both ARR and IR but I doubt if you realise that. I had to respond in the same way as you to make you see the absurdity of your framing of facts in a certain manner. Yes, it is possible to frame it that way but is it really worth doing that?
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raj
September 7, 2012
Madan – BR and I are talking about DimMan’s Gumki – there is a song in that album, that is similar in structure to (but not copy of) “Ival oru Ilanguruvi” . We are not talking about NEPV song resembling IoI.
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raj
September 7, 2012
That’s vintage KG, if you are the same KG that I think you are 🙂
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raj
September 7, 2012
ramesram – romba bigu paNNikkAdhapA. If you dont dignify a Kavudham Menon thread, what will you dignify? Come on, out with your impression of NEPV, I say. When was the last you did a proper post in your blog?
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hari
September 7, 2012
as a dhoorathu sondham of “Suchitra” I object to your statement 🙂
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Govardhan Giridass
September 7, 2012
Strickland, then you are in the wrong forum. You should watch a Swedish film (in a completely non-reactive way of course, as it seems to be what you do) called Eat Sleep Die that accurately describes your point of view, or lack thereof. RIP. Amen. Thank You . And goodbye.
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Praveen
September 7, 2012
http://www.backgroundscore.com/2012/09/neethaane-en-ponvasantham-orchestration.html
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rameshram
September 7, 2012
aaaaa maaaaten! i am bigu panning!
My blog shall die from neglect before I sully it with a goutam menon film.
(BTW my NEXT blogpost is also going to be a link post to someone else’s blog.)
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S.Mohan
September 7, 2012
Beautifully said. ‘Fancy directors do make news and sad that even IR after all these 30 years is seen to make news because of fancy directors’ fancy interviews! IR is much more than that.
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S.Mohan
September 7, 2012
Remember Thiruvilayadal Nagesh’s dialogue? “Pattezhudiye per vangum pulavargal irukkirargal, kutram kandu pidithe…” Baskar idhil neengal endha vagai endru ….
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Vicky
September 8, 2012
Sad that you didn’t share your thoughts on the lyrics of songs
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vijay
September 8, 2012
BR, not sure if I mentioned this before to you. Talking of Kumki and all..I was reminded of a forgotten soundtrack in recent times, forgotten mostly because the movie was a dud. If you get a chance listen to Vidyasagar’s Ilaignan.
http://www.thiraipaadal.com/album.php?ALBID=ALBVID00087
That was recorded in London too with a symphony-lite orchestra, but without all this hype. Listen specifically to thozha vaanam dhooram by Hariharan and Imaithoodhane by Chinmayi.If you are going to take the trouble of going all the way to London then atleast get your singers/tunes/presentation right like this
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IMB
September 8, 2012
Rangan, was eagerly waiting to hear the 2012 IR sound but only to be disappointed. Was hoping for a 2012 version of these tracks
and
given that NEP looks like a romantic drama.
What happened to those soul stirring romantic numbers he is capable of, Rangan?
Why didn’t Menon push for these? Would be interested to know your thoughts on this.
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Karthik
September 8, 2012
Actually I think that Ilayaraja’s compositions were mostly for strong voices like SPB, KJ, that when Mano sung for Ilayaraja, it almost always felt like a weak SPB. Rahman however exploited Mano’s voice in songs like “Ayirathil Naan Oruvan” and “Kikku Eruthe” in a way that Ilayaraja never did.
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rameshram
September 8, 2012
and raj, for pedestrian occurrences, mediocre filmmakers low level films, and concepts there’s always Brannigan who will be happy to write mounds of words in the service of the industry. If you want someone to state the obvious and worship commmonplace things like busstands and phone booths, Kay kay will do it and be proud that he done it. If you want AR Rahman worship or pposi muzzugal that takes choli ke peeche kya hai and gives an oscar to the wrong music director for it, I believe satyamshot has a blog doing this full time.
If I feel like something amusies me or I think adds value to the world at large by my saying it, I will mention/ rite about it on my blog. My blog is the place someone like Brannigan(if he knew karppora vaasanai) would come and secretly worship WORSHIP, every evening.
Gautam menon has to be satisfied with kabalam’s letter. so saary.
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brangan
September 8, 2012
IMB: I too missed a solid romantic number, something that stirs the soul like “Onna vida…” (And that was for a non-romantic film!!!) But maybe this film demanded this concept-heavy treatment?
rameshram: For obvious reasons, I’m going to have to do what people have been urging me to do for quite a while. I just can’t allow your comments on this blog anymore. Cheers.
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baskar
September 8, 2012
he deserves it for the simple reason that his language was far behind the quality of even reading and as a new person to this area of computers ( learnt cut ,paste copy just a few months back) i was so shocked and i was just waiting for someone to react . Thanks B , for the kind of justice though i have lots and lots of varying opinions about you and the your cinemas .
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rameshram
September 8, 2012
bye brannigan!
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Shankar
September 8, 2012
@vijay, for all the earnestness you display when you get a chance to criticize IR, I have to say you are pretty lazy with your research!! I can appreciate that you didn’t like it and you are entitled to your opinion. But to generalize like this….is lazy in my opinion.
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Shankar
September 8, 2012
Ilaignan was okay…nothing earth shattering. Vidyasagar seems to have fallen off a perch, at least in Tamil cinema. In the same vein of forgotten albums, I must point out Vithagan. Scoring for a Parthiban film at this point is a sure way to be forgotten, but this film had 3-4 delightful numbers by Joshua Sridhar. These weren’t classics or anything, but they employed all the techniques used by compositors….oops, composers today, to create some pleasant songs 🙂
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Nimmi Rangaswamy
September 8, 2012
BR, reading the word ‘flames’ here today I wanted to share this: I live on IIT Hyderabad campus and our internet is routed through the National Informatics Centre (NIC). Your blog [word press] is blocked the past few months. I wonder why? I’ve asked for an explanation…
This does not happen on any other source [corporate or wireless 3G etc..]
Might want to check with other campuses that feed on the NIC routed internet…
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Madan
September 8, 2012
I guess Sayndhu Sayndhu is a romantic number? Imo a much more interesting composition than Onna Vida which was soothing but standard issue, irrespective of Yuvan’s vocals (and Onna Vida was sung by Kamal anyway). But to each his own.
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kG
September 8, 2012
Hi raj. Yes, it’s me.
I’d have liked a response from BR for that. I suppose he hasn’t read it.
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brangan
September 8, 2012
KG: It turned into a job pretty quickly, so I didn’t have as much of a “fun” period earlier to know the difference. In general, I’d say anything that one *has* to do becomes — at times — a Job. But I haven’t yet got to a point where the fun has gone. Maybe it’s because I keep doing different things — like I co-wrote a screenplay, and then I worked on a book. I guess as long as you keep doing different things that are interesting to you, you don’t get to see any one thing as “uninteresting”. Though who can say…
Not sure why you say this though : “Also, now that he has a name, the pressure of having to publish in wider domain should be immense.”
And thanks for the (I think) compliment.
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vijay
September 8, 2012
“Ilaignan was okay…nothing earth shattering. ”
But if that had been done by IR,it would have been hyped as the second coming of Bach
Some of Vidyasagar’s melodies were far better than anything ARR/IR composed in the late 90s/early 2000s. SPB and a lot of other singers hold him in very high regard, his commercial ups and downs notwithstanding
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vijay
September 9, 2012
“Why didn’t Menon push for these?”
did Menon push for anything? Seems like he nodded his head at the first tune that came out of IR’s harmonium. idhu thaan namma oorula “pushing”a?
Its another matter if his movies really deserve any better music.
He got a soundtrack that works in parts and he makes movies that at best, work in parts.Sounds like a good fit to me.
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KayKay
September 9, 2012
“he deserves it for the simple reason that his language was far behind the quality of even reading and as a new person to this area of computers ( learnt cut ,paste copy just a few months back) i was so shocked and i was just waiting for someone to react ”
Baskar, you’re thankfully coming at the tail end of this “Ramsu Pestilence”. But even your (mercifully) short exposure to his rants has easily zeroed in on what makes the Prof such a major pain in the posterior: A Collossal Ego married to Miniscule Talent:-)
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KayKay
September 9, 2012
B, the Prof’s expulsion arouses mixed feeling in me; kinda like watching your mother-in-law go over the cliff…in your brand new car.
On the one hand, the Prof’s routine was getting mighty stale.
I mean, you could practically write a program that could mimic a Ramsu post quite accurately: Read your article, then post a completely contrarian view while heaping condecension on everyone else, playing the Victim when far more eloquent posters call u out on your bullshit rants, and all of the above couched in poor writing and atrocious spelling.
But on the other hand, I feel like Dolph Lundgren’s character in The Expendables 2 upon learning that Jet Li may not return; ” Who am I gonna pick on now?”. It’s not like your blog is exactly crawling with Condescending Pricks:-)
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Balu
September 9, 2012
Singer Karthik truly conveys emotion in his voice and that is what playback singing is all about – you are portraying a character who is lip-syncing on screen. For a film soundtrack, the situation of the song and the character is what matters. Karthik conveys that flawlessly and that is his x-factor. Not to mention his smooth and stylish voice perfectly fits an urban film.
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Shankar
September 9, 2012
@vijay. Don’t get me wrong. I do like Vidyasagar even if he tends to operate with a formula sometimes. He has created some really nice songs…
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Shankar
September 9, 2012
@KayKay, why do you keep saying “Ramsu”. That’s possibly a nickname you’ve given to the Prof, but Ramsu is a different guy who posts here…who also happens to be our junior.
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Madan
September 9, 2012
Actually, these kind of expectations are the problem. I am not grumbling about your viewpoint because we are all prisoners of our expectations when it comes to art and deny ourselves pleasure sometimes in the process. For sometime, I used to compare every new Raja soundtrack with his greatest masterpieces and feel very disappointed but I have since stopped doing that.
Agni Natchatram is a high watermark even for 80s Ilayaraja. We remember Ilayaraja for that score or for Mouna Raagam or Ninaivellam Nithya, but these were not highly repeatable feats even for the maestro. I think very few songs of his are as innovative as Thoongatha Vizhigal. We forget that he also delivered relatively pedestrian soundtracks like Eeramana Rojave or Pandian even during his commercial peak. I think NEP is comfortably better than such scores or even Chinna Gounder (yes, I know it has the hit Muthumani Maalai and I still say that). It’s one of the best, if not THE, soundtracks he has delivered since Sathy Leelavathy and I couldn’t ask for more.
While OSTs like Virumaandi or Pithamagan were melodious, it felt (sorry if that’s an impertinent way to put it) like an old man making some good music…very neat and tasteful but not very exciting. In NEP, there is some bite, some passion, some fire again in his music and I have waited a long time to hear that. As I said, prisoners of our expectations…
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Vasisht Das
September 9, 2012
full disclosure:
as the privileged one who bestowed the honourary title of Professore on the much maligned The rameshram, i won’t relish his absence around our asylum.
i mean, as lewis carroll maama might have asked us at this dramatic juncture in our saga,
“what’s the use of a panchaayat scene without subversives and jokers ?”
since you hold the entry pass for each response anyway, why not let him coninue as long as he doesn’t exceed his nuisance quota… 😉
er…dr.rangan ?
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KayKay
September 9, 2012
Shankar, thing is, he was Ramsu to me way before I realized there was another person of that name posting here. Yes, for all intents and purposes, the “Ramsu” I mean is that annoyingly troll-like contrarian who thinks the sun shines out of his rear. No offense whatsoever to the other one.
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IMB
September 10, 2012
Madan, I feel Onna vida (to take an example from recent times) was a far superior composition to all the songs in NEP put together. I was keen to hear what Raja sounded like in 2012 – his masterstroke in a GM movie. But sadly I think Menon wasn’t able to do what he did with other composers. The soundtrack is good as you put it – yes, it’s better than Pandian but surely the stage was set for something far far superior. We shouldn’t have to be defending it in these lines( i.e.better than Pandian, but not as good as Mouna Ragam or Agni Natchathiram. Another argument was, he’s been composing for years so this is decent stuff for someone his age).
Another soul stirrer:
Rangan, not convinced that the film demanded this soundtrack. I somehow don’t think Menon had any input in this soundtrack. Not necessarily musical input but some form of conceptual input. VTV did pick up after the movie released. Perhaps this will be the case with NEP.
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Pradeep Ramakrishnan
September 10, 2012
picha vecha is by deepak dev, not vidyasagar. Deepak Dev had interned with A R Rahman during the “Rythm” days
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Govardhan Giridass
September 10, 2012
“Panchayat-scene illama Tamizh-padama? Romba risk-edukkareenga pa!”
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Madan
September 10, 2012
We will agree to disagree on Onna vida vis a vis NEP. I guess things like harshness, dissonance, suspense, darker shades of emotion generally are not considered particularly remarkable from a traditional indian music pov but they are to me so my perspective is bound to be different. That is why I have, unlike many other Ilayaraja fans, preferred his urbane soundtracks to the rural ones (which too I love, the good ones that is).
As for Mouna Raagam, I am not sure the question of ‘defending’ arises here. See, my point is: is a soundtrack bad or disappointing because it is not as good as Mouna Raagam? If we agree that it is, we must be looking at some hundreds of steaming piles of s*** from the last two-three decades. We have never applied these standards to other composers in the same era, so I don’t see any reason to do so to Ilayaraja either. Even Ilayaraja cannot be expected to better the best of Ilayaraja every time. I understand perfectly why people would desire that because I felt the same way not so long ago.
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KayKay
September 10, 2012
Ok…now I absolutely FORBID ANYONE from coming up with the next obvious line:
“Theerpe Mathunga Naattamai!”
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Maxrider
September 10, 2012
I tend to agree… as obnoxious as he was with BR & a few others, he was also providing us with interesting nuggets & a unique perspective without which the discussions wouldn’t be quite the same.
Also, once you’ve set foot on the slippery slope of censorship, things are going to be messier.
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raj
September 11, 2012
Pradeep. thanks for the correction. Malayalamla hit songnA adhai Vidyasagar accountla credit paNNidaRadhu vazhakkamA pOchu :). But the point remains – adhu gnana pazham idhu vaazha pazham – prachnai ennamO oNnu dAn.
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KayKay
September 11, 2012
“Pradeep. thanks for the correction. Malayalamla hit songnA adhai Vidyasagar accountla credit paNNidaRadhu vazhakkamA pOchu”
Raj, that’s justified in a way, I think. In his brief tenure there, the man has created a musical renaissance in an industry that’s never really produced titans in the field of film composing (sure Devarajan, Ravindran, Ouseppachan, Johnson were all good in their own niche, but it took imports like Salil Chowdhoury, Ilayaraaja and then Vidyasaagar to really shake things up with some certified gems of soundtracks that’s withstood the test of time)
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sureshs65
September 11, 2012
KayKay,
I can probably understand you if you say that Vidyasagar was loved more in the time of Ouespachan, Mohan Sitara, Johnson etc. But to say that the Malayalam industry did not produce any titans is laughable. The impact of the songs of Devarajan, Baburaj and Dakshinamurthy is felt till today. They have withstood the test time quite well. Raveendran, of course, is a poster boy for many when they talk about usage of classical music in a modern setting.
Yes, Salilda, Raja, Bombay Ravi and Vidyasagar all brought in newer sounds into Malayalam industry but that doesn’t take away the achievements of the greats of Malayalam film music. (Even in the external list, Salil and Raja were at a different league. Ravi and Vidyasagar gave new melodies in Malayalam films but were very restricted and template driven. No way can you even compare them to Baburaj or Devarajan or Dakshinamurthy.)
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raj
September 11, 2012
Devarajan, Dhakshinamoorthy, Ravindran, Johnson – all Collossi no? Even IR’s achievements in Malayalam will not place him above D, D & R atleast if you onyl consider his Malayalam output. No, I wouldnt really place VS above any of those titans. (Baburaj paththi neRaiya kELvi patturukkEn but I havent heard much of him)
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KayKay
September 12, 2012
Suresh65, good points and they are noted. I probably didn’t reach further back and consider a wider spectrum of composers in the Malayalam cine field. And agreed, not even mentioning Raveendran in this conversation qualifies as criminal neglect!
However, on one point I must respectfully disagree with you. I simply cannot accept Vidyasagar as a composer who is “very restricted and template driven”. That’s a label I’d reserve for the likes of S.A. Rajkumar and Harris Jeyaraj . There’s no way albums like “Niram”, “Pranayavarnangal”, “Summer In Bethlehem” and “Devadhoothan” can be considered as hewing to a fixed template. Vidyasagar, IMHO is a criminally underrated composer especially in Tamil who’s never quite given the credit he deserves. In any sane universe, soundtracks like “Run”, “Dhool”, “Mozhi” and “Chandramukhi” should have catapulted him to the A-List. He’s fiendishly versatile and demonstrates a knack for crafting gorgeous melodies that’s on par with Raja and Rahman on their best days.
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venkatesh
September 12, 2012
Another name i would add in the criminally underrated list – Keeravani / MM Kreem.
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sureshs65
September 12, 2012
KayKay,
I definitely rate Vidyasagar far above the likes of SAR and Harris. No doubt about that. Also don’t deny that he has given some superb melodies which I love. Still I would say, especially with Malayalam films, after some time he got trapped into one type of ‘sound’ or ‘melody’. Nice songs but very clearly within a certain pattern of his. (‘Pranayavarnangal’ btw is a personal favorite. All lovely songs.)
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vijay
September 13, 2012
Not to mention, in a pathetic film like Thirumalai he gave an Azhagooril poothavale by SPB and neeya pesiyadhu by Shankar Mahadevan. And the best song of Anbe Sivam was the one that Kamal didnt picturize-Mouname paarvayaal pesikondom with nice Dwijavanthi touches.
For any light classical fans out there check out thendral ennum ther yeri from paasa kiligal, a disaster of a film from Karunadhi’s stable
http://www.thiraipaadal.com/album.php?ALBID=ALBVID00030&lang=en
set in the rare Nasikabhooshani.
The flow in the melody is such that you never get the feeling that this was an unique attempt. MK wrote the lyrics for this one.Probably the best composition in its genre in the last 10 years or so in TFM.
I am not a big fan of Madhu Balakrishnan’s nasal tone, his technical prowess notwithstanding, but VS is one of the very few composers who can actually test Madhu’s abilities.Kana kandenadi thozhi from Parthiban kanavu also comes to mind.
Good to see the shout-out for VS here
Yesterday night I was listening to this, long before VS hit it big commercially
sounds fresh even now. Quite a few songs of him from that period were as good if not better than his big hit Malare mounama.
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KayKay
September 13, 2012
“Another name i would add in the criminally underrated list – Keeravani / MM Kreem”
I have to keep reminding myself that MM Kreem is the Maragathamani I knew way back in the early ’90s. I loved his soundtracks to Azhagan, Nee Padhi Naan Padhi, Vaname Ellai and Jathimalli but then lost track as I believe he largely composes for Telugu movies and I don’t listen to a lot of Telugu songs.
But I also wonder if he could have cracked the A-List as that requires an awesome versatility to extract the best tunes regardless of whether you’re scoring for an indie flick with a niche audience, a big banner blockbuster from a prestige A-list director and Star or the usual assembly line crap offering from the likes of Ajith, Vijay, Simbhu and Kombhu. Have not heard an MM Kreem score for a truly commercial flick.
Which is one of the many reasons behind Raja’s longevity. The man provided the most sublime of scores even to the most turgid of films. My favourite Raja soundtracks are in service to films that are borderline unwatchable (by me):
Payanangal Mudivathillai-“Mike” Mohan sings, coughs and dies…again
Amman Koyil Kizhakkale- The Captain as a (ahem!) singer. ‘Nuff said!
Vaidehi Kathirundhal – The Captain lip-synching to Jeyachandran’s dulcet tones.
A punishable offence!
Naan Paadum Padal- “Mike” Mohan’s dead, but still manages to come between Siva Kumar and
Ambika. Thali sentiment….Yawn
Ninaivellam Nithya- Beyond embarrasing
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Njoy
September 13, 2012
KJY is till very much in form too. Just that he is settled in US and is expensive, and MDs see him as a luxury that they can do without unless absolutely necessary. Here are 2 of his songs from last year, shows a bit of his range.
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Njoy
September 13, 2012
And this may sum up the discussion on Karthik. He is singing pani vizhum malarvanam , which is a perfect song for the jam session, he is all perfect with the notes and stuff, yet you don’t quite get the goosebumps that the song invariably deserves.
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Njoy
September 13, 2012
And Vidyasagar is nowhere near ravindran/johnson/Devarajan/ Ouseppacahan in Malayalam film music.
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Shanmugham
September 13, 2012
@Njoy – This sums up the discussion on Karthik – “All current singers sing from their vocal chords – Karthik sings from his heart” – This comment is from a US teenager who doesn’t understand any indian language…And from me who left India 22 years ago and and started listening to Indian music again only in 2010 after Raavanan was released.
Anyway, the music of Neethane En Ponvasantham is just lovely. This is a great blog, by the way. Glad I stumbled upon it..Good Stuff.
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baskar
September 14, 2012
one thing is sure . the success of music cannot be compared just because it caters to one section of young people . many songs of those days were not too much appreciated but today many people wonder how those were composed . am taking of MSV period and not raja .if a mesmerising song has to linger and remain it should be the tune that matters and not the jarring music or whatsoever . in my opinion it was MSV who understood it better and of course many composers of those days . that flow of creativity was a gift to him to many of those those days because they had a strong base on Carnatic music .
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Madan
September 14, 2012
I do agree to the extent that some of the criticism of Karthik in the comments here is a bit harsh. His problem, by the way, is essentially of a lack of clarity in his diction and also that he doesn’t, imo, feel the words enough. But I don’t think that, emotionally, there is much to choose between him and someone like Haricharan and Karthik has a better voice (again, imo). I also think Karthik has shown good development on this new song Kaatrai Konjam, which he has sung very nicely. One can go on contemplating what it might be like had SPB sung it – and I certainly do like SPB way more than Karthik – but is the rendition itself really that bad is the question we should ask. Once again, the bane of comparison as I have reiterated in the comments before. There’s no point, really, in comparing artistic works from different era, especially popular art, which is influenced by extant cultural trends.
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venkatesh
September 14, 2012
@Kaykay: “a big banner blockbuster from a prestige A-list director ” – did you know Paheli (that attempt by Mr. Khan to go indie) – was scored by M.M Kreem.
But i think on the whole , you have a valid point – Illayaraja somehow managed to get across to different “classes” of listeners , from the technically proficient Chennai cineaste (cough* BR * cough 🙂 to the chap from andipatti.
As an example, i never met anyone in Chennai playing this in his T-Kadai , while this was all the rage around Madurai when it was released.
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KayKay
September 17, 2012
A big thank you to Shankar and Vijay, who have enriched the contents of my iPOD by at least a half a dozen wonderful melodies. Azhagooril Poothavale is just gorgeous. Since I assiduously avoid a Vijay movie and everything associated with it, the existence of this melodic gem was completely unknown to me. But then, VS did give the superb Hariharan duet “Oru Thethi Paarthal” to Coimbatore Mappillai which I believe was the Thalavali’s debut. Had almost forgotten about “Poo thirukkum vaname” (I vaguely remember the atrocious Mammooty movie it was in). VS had composed 2 other gorgeous duets in the same raaga (Reethi Gowle???), one called “Vaa Sagi” in Arasiyal and “Sudum Nilavu” from Thambhi.
Shankar, “Ikkuthe Kangal” from Vithagan is madeningly catchy! I’ve been noticing Joshua Sridhar ever since his skillful reworking of Daniel Beddingfield’s “He Don’t Love You LIke I Love You” into the rocking “Oru Devathai Veesidum Parvaiyile” from Veppam.
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Shankar
September 18, 2012
@KayKay, glad that you liked them. Listen to the other ones as well from Vithagan. I loved the Shwetha Menon sung “Thanana” especially the gorgeous charanam and the Chinmayi sung “Kadalirandu”, again with a superb charanam. Similarly, even in a trance like sounding “Vegamai”, I loved the harmonica based first interlude. I thought that the album deserved some credit but didn’t get any, possibly because it was for a failed movie.
Similarly, another album that had some good tracks was, and I have mentioned this before, Rameshwaram. I haven’t heard Niru since then, seems to have disappeared.
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venkatesh
September 20, 2012
This looked good : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmr6pOkUoTQ&feature=g-vrec
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