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From: bb on: Tue Oct 03, 2006 12:54 am
Song of the Day: A Hundred Songs of Bhanumathi - Part IV
http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/812.html
- Saravanan writes:
ippadiyum oru peN
~ A Hundred Songs of Bhanumati ~
Part IV: raaNi- kaadhal- chaNdiraaNi
Thus five movies starring Bhanumati were released in 1949 alone. This was a remarkable score for a newcomer, considering that there were only 17 Tamil movies released that year. Her on-screen performances won critical approbation; acting with established stalwarts of the time she managed to walk away with the honors. And as for her songs, they attained unprecedented heights of popularity. Working with masters like Papanasam Sivan, G.Ramanathan, Saluri Rajeswara Rao and C.R.Subbaraman, and singing with legends like Thyagaraja Bagavathar and P.U.Chinnappa, she elicited their approval and even admiration.
And so she stood, at the dawn of the 50s, poised to soar to greater heights, and make the chapter chronicling this particular decade of Tamil cinema brim with her magnificent exploits. Truly, when thinking over Bhanumati’s long career, the 50s undoubtedly would rank as her finest decade, both in the number of her assignments, and in the scope that they offered Bhanumati to display her histrionic and music skills.
Strangely enough, with all her successes in 1949 establishing her credentials, Bhanumati did not have any Tamil films released in 1950 and 1951. But on contemplation, there seem to be many factors that explain this puzzling aberration. The first is that considering that movies were made over long periods of time in those days, some of Bhanumati’s subsequent releases were doubtless made during these two years. Another fact is that Bhanumati was always fastidious about the roles that she accepted and has gone on record stating that she had turned down many a prestigious offer merely because she felt that the role was not challenging enough. (And this could well be the reason for the total tally of Bhanumati’s Tamil films standing at a trifling 48, when actresses of much lower caliber have gone on to notch nonchalant centuries) Thirdly, it was during this time that Ramakrishna and Bhanumati were preoccupied with completing the construction of their Bharani Studio at Saligramam in Madras and fitting it with the best equipment that was available at the time. And lastly, Bhanumati did have some Telugu releases in these two years, the two most notable among them being the Gemini’s Telugu (and Hindi) remakes of the old ‘mangamma sabatham’ titled ‘mangala’ (1951) and the evergreen classic ‘malliswari’ (1951/Vauhini). Bhanumati’s performance in the title role of ‘malliswari’ and her immortal songs like ‘ pilichina baguvatara’, ‘nelaraja vennela raja’, ‘aakasa veedhilO’, ‘avunaa nijamena’, ‘manasuna mallela’ etc, glittering with the poetic genius of Devulapalli Krishna Shastri under the baton of Saluri Rajeswara Rao ensure the film a treasured place in the pantheon of the timeless classics of Telugu cinema.
Delving into the archives of Tamil cinema, we next encounter Bhanumati in 1952, when two of her movies were released.
7. raaNi (26.4.1952/ Jupiter Pictures)
‘The Loves Of Carmen’ (1948/ Beckworth Corporation) was an English movie that was doing its rounds at the time. Based on the story ‘Carmen’ by Prosper Mérimée, and worked into an engrossing screenplay by Helen Deutsch, the movie was a great success. The story revolves around an unscrupulous gypsy, Carmen, whose bewitching looks have spelt doom for many an innocent man. Soldier Don Jose Lizarabengoa falls head over heels in love with the temptress, and in the process, falls into deep and deeper trouble. He even kills his commanding officer who was himself one of Carmen’s many paramours. The story continues thus, ending with Jose killing Carmen, then himself falling to another soldier’s bullet. The movie was produced by Rita Hayworth, and needless to say, she acted as Carmen, with Glenn Ford playing Jose. “The Loves of Carmen’ showed Rita at her stunning best, and is ranked as her finest performance ever.
‘Jupiter’ Somu, one of two founder-partners of the hoary Jupiter Pictures decided to adapt ‘The Loves of Carmen’ and make a Tamil movie of the story. He got the talented A.S.A.Sami to work on the adaptation; Sami came up with a story suitably reworked into an Indian setting and titled it ‘raaNi’. The film was to be made simultaneously in Tamil and Hindi, and Somu appointed L.V.Prasad to direct both versions. Akkineni Lakshmi Vara Prasad Rao had come a long way since he started off as “bit-role” actor in Imperial film company, Bombay. As we had seen earlier, he made waves with his first directorial venture ‘grihapravEsam’ (1946) starring Bhanumati. With his subsequent movies like ‘palnati yudhdham’ (1947), ‘drOhi’ (1948), manadEsam (1949, in which Prasad introduced N.T.Rama Rao), ‘shavukaru’ and ‘samsaram’ (both 1950) all becoming top grossers, Prasad had risen to prominence as one of the top-ranking directors of the time.
Filmed at Central Studios in Coimbatore, Somu mounted the project on an opulent scale. Cinematography was by W.R.Apparao and editing was by M.A.Thirumugam. Art direction was by A.K.Shekhar. Vedantam Raghaviah and Heeralal choreographed the dance sequences.
And as for the actress to play the pivotal role of ‘raaNi’, Somu and L.V.Prasad did not think twice before approaching Bhanumati. The role was complex, it had dangerous shades of gray that required nimble tightrope walking; and the only person who was capable of handling such a fragile characterization with the care it demanded was Bhanumati. Such challenges were, of course, not new to Bhanumati. Hadn’t she accepted with alacrity roles of more intricate subtleties in the past and come out in flying colours every time? And so without any misgivings, the sporting woman acquiesced to play the devious raaNi. If one reason was the exciting scope that the role offered, the other was of course, the pleasurable prospect of working again with L.V.Prasad. For she had shared a rare rapport with Prasad when ‘grihapravEsham’ was being made. That was the first movie directed by Prasad and Bhanumati was the heroine in it. Prasad had also acted in that movie, and had been charmed by Bhanumati’s vivacious performance. Bhanumati recalled in an interview years later that she had thoroughly enjoyed acting in ‘raaNi’. Prasad and Bhanumati had rounds of animated discussion on every scene. Being an excellent actor himself, Prasad would enact each shot and Bhanumati would then add her inimitable flourishes. Thus Bhanumati found working with the talented director an immensely enriching experience.
Another factor that made ‘raaNi’ truly memorable for Bhanumati was that the lead actor cast opposite her was the formidable S.Balachandar. SB was himself a genius of many skills; thus the movie benefited by his arresting presence and dynamic involvement. Rajawahab Kashmiri, Mustafa, S.V.Subbiah and M.Saroja were the supporting actors. (Baby) Sachu made her debut playing the child raaNi.
‘raaNi’ was the among the last movies that C.R.Subbaraman completed composing music for before death snatched him at the prime of youth. The lyrics for the songs were written by Udumalai Narayana Kavi, K.D.Santhanam, T.K.Sundaravaathiyaar and Ku.Sa. Krishnamoorthi.
I have with me 3 songs sung by Bhanumati from ‘raaNi’. Let us listen to these forgotten numbers- vintage vignettes that deserve resurrection from unjustified oblivion….
We have first the spirited ‘seeppu simizhi bommaigaL chillarai saamaan’. Bhanumati is the exuberant vendor of bric-a-brac, and how attractively she peddles her wares! 'saamanai paarunga, vilai salasamthaanunga' she urges them. Customers then surround her and she does brisk business. 'kaappaNam, idhu araippaNam, adhu mukkaappaNam, muzhuppaNam' she quotes. ‘pOnaa vaarathunga pudhu pudhu saamaan’ she tempts the undecided ones with this call. Listen to the flamboyant ‘nada raaja’ with which the song ends…
Listen to the song (seeppu simizhi)
‘madhimayangum malarvadhanam’ is the next delight. As a teenager, Subbaraman walked everyday to Triplicane to learn western music, and this effort served him in good stead in later years. Take this amazing song as case in point: Listen to the longish prelude with feet-tapping western notes- they must have surely shaken the sedate tfm world of the early 50s! Bhanumati begins her account with characteristic aplomb- hark at her race through the catchy pallavi in scintillating style, and breeze through the charaNam with endearing enjoyment…
Listen to the song (madhimayangum)
‘uNmai illaatha ulagilE unnai aRiyaa nilaiyilE’ is a song of abject desolateness. Her tranquil world is torn asunder by a sudden storm. She is rejected by her lover who suspects her fidelity; she is scorned by the world when her very morals become suspect. Hounded by ignominy, there seems to be only course for her take…the ominous path of no return… Listen to Bhanumati’s song, a gut-wrenching cry of despair…
Listen to the song (uNmaiyillatha ulaginilE)
But who can predict the whims and fancies of cinegoers that decide the fate of every movie that comes out of the cans? With everything going for it, ‘raaNi’ was a commercial disaster. The movie is all but forgotten today and the songs buried deep in the inexorable sands of time. The Hindi version, starring Anup Kumar and Bhanumati shared a similar fate, despite Bhanumati’s song ‘O dEkh dEkh balamwa’ enjoying a fleeting stint of popularity.
* * * *
8. kaadhal (14.6.1952/Bharani Pictures)
Amongst her numerous pursuits, Bhanumati nurtured a lifelong passion for writing. In fact, of all her accomplishments, writing was what she relished the most. Perceiving her keenness, her father Venkatasubbiah had actively encouraged her to keep writing even in the midst of shooting schedules. When she was working in her second movie ‘malati madhavam’, Venkatasubbiah got her writing skills honed under the expert guidance of two renowned literary figures of the time- Viswanatha Kavi Raju and Viswanatha Satyanarayana. Satyanarayana led her through the intricacies of Telugu grammar and taught her the art of penning verses. Under his able guidance, Bhanumati soon came out with a collection of poems. Kavi Raju cheered her on to write short stories, and himself being a witty humorist, inculcated into Bhanumati the greatest gift of all- a sense of humour! He then advised her to try writing a short story based on some personal experience, and at the age of 14, Bhanumati wrote her first story. Titled ‘marachembu’, it was a hilarious account of a journey with a jug of water. Kavi Raju made some small corrections and sent it to a magazine. Imagine Bhanumati’s joy when her very first literary effort was accepted and published!
Bhanumati continued to write in the following years. In her husband she found an avid supporter of her literary interests. And when they formed their own production company and established the Bharani Studio, Bhanumati was eager to write a story that they could make a movie of.
‘prEma’ (‘kaadhal’ in Tamil) was the first movie produced by Bharani Pictures that was based on Bhanumati’s story. Directed by Ramakrishna, ‘pRema’ was an intense love story with an unhappy ending.
When the city-bred Raja visits a hillside hamlet, he falls in love with the guileless tribal lass Mothi. Mothi reciprocates his love in equal measure. Rapturous are the moments that the lovers spend together. Raja promises to return and make her his wife. But destiny has other plans. Raja gets delayed, and in the meantime Mothi is under pressure to get married to Parasuram. When things come to a head, she runs way from home and comes to the city in search of her Raja. She sees him soon enough…in the company of another woman! Circumstances lead her to presume that Raja has forgotten her and is now smitten by the suave Latha. Raja searches everywhere for his beloved Mothi but all his efforts are in vain. Finally he is forced to give up his search for Mothi and gets engaged to Latha. They visit a theater together and Raja is stunned to see Mothi performing on the stage! The clouds of misunderstanding get cleared, but now the wrathful Parasuram enters the scene and the story rushes headlong to a tragic climax.
Nageswara Rao (Raja), Bhanumati (Mothi), Mukkamala (Parasuram) and Sriranjini Jr (Lata) were well cast in their respective roles. CSR Anjaneyulu, Relangi Venkataramiah, Kasturi Siva Rao and Suryakantham were the other actors. The movie was a bilingual, with the dialogues for the Telugu version written by Kondamudi Goparaya Sarma and the Tamil dialogues written by Udayakumar. Kamal Ghosh was the cinematographer and V.S.Narayanan handled the editing. K.Nageswara Rao was in charge of the art direction and Pasumarthi Krishnamoorthi choreographed the dance sequences.
‘kaadhal’ was again another of the last few albums of C.R.Subbaraman. Lyrics were by K.D.Santhanam. The songs include ‘inba kaaviam aagum vaazhvE kaadhalinaalE’ (Ghantasala & Bhanumati), ‘aahaa inbamE… aahaa engumE… aahaa pongudhE’ (Bhanumati), ‘jeevithemellaam sweet-aaga seiyyum’ (Ghantasala & Bhanumati), ‘kanavu thaanO ninaivu yaavum kaanal neeraamO’ (Bhanumati), ‘anandamE aahaa anandamE’ (A.P.Komala) and ‘naan koNda kaadhal ivvaaRuthaan’ (Ghantasala)
As in the case of ‘rajamukti’, I know I have all the songs somewhere, but am unable to find them right now. Thankfully, I found the two duets alone in another CD, and we can listen to them now:
‘inba kaaviam aagum vaazhvE kaadhalinaalE’ is a joyous duet by Ghantasala and Bhanumati. Subbaraman gifts the pallavi an alluring prelude and draws the charaNams along lilting lines.
Listen to the song (inba kaaviam)
‘jeevithamellaam sweet-aaga seiyyum prEma ding-dong bell, priya raaNi nightingale’ were the pure Tamil lines written by K.D.Santhanam in 1952! Perhaps to suit the urbane hero singing happily of his love? Anyways Bhanumati weeps and wails at the other end- ‘jeevithamellaam yEmaatRam thaana prEmai idhu thaana, aaNgaL pEchu poi thaana’ she sobs, perhaps when Mothi sees Raja with Latha and imagines the worst!
Listen to the song (jeevithamellam)
* * * *
9. chaNdiraaNi (28.8.1953/ Bharani Pictures)
And in the subsequent year came chaNdiraaNi, and with it Bhanumati set a record unparalleled in the annals of Indian cinema. Years ago, in 1936 to be precise, T.P. Rajalakshmi had written, produced and directed ‘Miss Kamala’ (Sri Rajam Talkies) and donned the title role as well. Rajalakshmi had thus earned the rightful honour of being the first woman director. But Bhanumati now bettered Rajalakshmi’s record by writing, producing, directing, singing and acting in a dual role in the tri-lingual chaNdiraaNi! She created further history by getting ‘chaNdiraaNi’ released in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi all over India on the same day.
But according to Bhanumati, she did not set out to create any records. Then how did this remarkable achievement come about? The stirring saga of the brave Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi had always evoked awe in Bhanumati. And now that they had their own studio, she wanted to make a movie based on the legendary queen’s story. Since she had become popular in the Hindi heartland in the aftermath of ‘nishaan’ and ‘mangala’, she approached Sohrab Modi for this venture. However, to her dismay, she learned that Modi was himself contemplating making a movie on Lakshmibai. Undeterred, she started to write a story of her own, she mixed adroitly therein elements of the brave queen’s exploits with that of apoorva sagOtharargaL, and thus was born the engrossing tale of the twins- Champa and Chandi. Ramakrishna was just then occupied with the post production work of ‘prEma’ and was also engaged whole time in the administrative work related to the studio- Bharani studio had by then become a much sought after center of film making. And knowing well the infinite capabilities of his wife, he suggested that she try her hand at directing the movie. Bhanumati was never the one to let go of a challenge. She had observed directors like Pulliah, Raja Sandow, Krishnan-Panju, Ramakrishna and L.V.Prasad at work, and was confident that she could do an equally good job at calling the shots. This was how she turned a director. She made the movie in three languages. In the absence of advanced techniques of these days, they had to shoot three separate negatives for each language. It was a long-drawn laborious process, but thanks to the wholehearted support and enthusiasm of the entire unit, Bhanumati saw her labour of love coming to life.
The story of ‘chaNdiraaNi’ goes like this: King Sukumaran is overjoyed when his wife Kala gived birth to twin daughters. The evil commander-in-chief Prasandan, who had fallen for Kala even before she married the king, now poisons her. Shocked by the sudden death of his beloved wife, the king loses his sanity. Prasandan then imprisons the king and declares himself the ruler. The loyal minister escapes with one of the twins. Prasandan manages to track him and put him to death, but the minister had already entrusted the infant to the trusted care of Ramsingh in the forest. Prasandan brings up the other princess himself, claiming that he was ruling the kingdom on her behalf.
Years roll by. Chandi who grows up in the forest is a fearless, intelligent girl. Champa who grows up in the palace is timid and good-natured. Mukund, the son of Prasandan is in love with Champa and his father approves heartily of this alliance. However, Champa is already in love with the handsome Kishore, the son of the late minister. Once when Kishore ventures deep into the forest, Chandi meets him and falls in love with him. But in due course, she becomes aware that Champa and Kishore are in love with each other. Though grief-stricken, she renounces her love for the sake of her sister’s happiness. Prasandan is furious when he comes to know of Champa loving Kishore and imprisons Kishore to prevent the affair from progressing any further. Chandi now rouses the people to revolt against the tyrant. In the gory climax, Chandi slays Prasandan, but is fatally wounded in the clash. She unites Champa with Kishore and breathes her last.
Bhanumati played Champa and Chandi, and gave a spectacular account of her talents. She even fought with a tiger in a thrilling sequence and practiced assiduously the minutiae of sword fighting so that she could do adequate justice to the stunt scenes. N.T. Rama Rao acted in the role of Kishore. S.V.Ranga Rao was menacing in the role of the villainous Prasandan. Relangi, Amarnath, CSR Anjaneyulu and Vidyavati were the other actors.
Besides giving his wife immense support and encouragement, albeit from the sidelines, Ramakrishna did a brilliant job of editing the canned shots. Cinematography was by Selvaraj, and Art Direction by A.K.Shekhar.
Bhanumati appointed her favourite C.R. Subbaraman to compose the music. But as fate would have it, the 28-year-old Subbaraman passed away suddenly after composing a couple of songs. And the mantle passed on to the young M.S.Viswanathan, who met Bhanumati’s exacting standards with ease. Indeed, MSV is among the very few persons in the film industry who has earned the grudging admiration of Bhanumati! Samudrala Sr, K.D.Santhanam and Vishwamitra Adil wrote the lyrics in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi respectively.
Listen first to the mellifluous ‘nilaa nilaa Odi vaa, nillaamal Odi vaa’, (‘kilaa kilaa navvulaa’ in Telugu and ‘khili khili chaandni’ in Hindi) a gentle proclamation of love, perhaps by the demure Champa, beseeching the moon to bear testimony to her inexplicable emotions…
Listen to the song (nilaa nilaa)
‘en vaazhvinilE naan magizhum naaL idhuvE thaan’ is a song that overflows with the ecstasy of being in love…this time, probably by the feisty Chandi..
Listen to the song (en vaazhvinilE naan magizhum)
‘innadhendRu aRiyaamal’ is an appealing semi-classical number that is right up Bhanumati’s alley. Bhanumati’s music plane was always higher than the hackneyed and this dainty solo is ample evidence.
Listen to the song (innadhenRu aRiyaamal)
‘en vaazhvellaam siRaivaasamO’ is soaked in tears of despair… is deliverance in sight? The soft, caressing interludes seem to match the mood in empathy..
Listen to the song (en vaazhvellaam)
There is another jaunty Bhanumati number that goes ‘meow.. meow ..meow…ting ..ting’, but I am not able to trace its whereabouts within my disorganized audio collection. Will get it one of these days and share it here..
I have saved the best for the last…the immortal ‘vaan meedhilE inba thEn maari pEyuthE’. Time seems to stand still when one listens to this song of eternal allure.. Viswanathan weaves some silken notes and Ghantasala and Bhanumati conjure up an exquisite rhapsody..
The song ruled the airwaves in all the languages… ‘O taaraka navvulEla nanu ganee’ in Telugu (Ghantasala & Bhanumati again) and ‘chanda talE muskuraayi jawaaniyaan’ in Hindi (Talat Mehmood & Bhanumati)
Here is the mellisai mannar reminiscing on this song… he recounts the interesting tidbit on how the Hindi song got its pallavi..
Listen to MSV’s speech and the song (‘vaan meedhilE’)
That the song’s appeal transcends barriers of time is witnessed by ‘vaa vennila unnai thaanE vaanam thEdudhE’ (mella thiRandhadhu kadhavu/1986) wherein IR worked with MSV to recreate the magic of the lilting original…
Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, though two years older to Bhanumati, was ten years her junior in the film industry. Making his debut in a police inspector’s role in manadEsam (1949), he rose to fame quickly with his subsequent films. He paired with Bhanumati for the first time in ‘malliswari’ (1951), and developed a lifelong regard for her. They teamed again in movies like aggi ramudu (1954), tenaliraman (Tamil & Telugu/1956), chintamani (1956), saarangadhaara (Telugu/1957), vivaaha bandham (1964), bobbili yudhdham (1964), todu needa (1965)…the list goes on…she went on to direct NTR in ‘ammayi pelli’ (1974). Bhanumati played an impressive cameo even in NTR’s 1992 epic ‘samrat ashOka’. Indeed she has the rare distinction having acted with NTR in movies released over 4 decades!
Thus when the Andhra Pradesh Government chose Bhanumati to receive the NTR Memorial Award in 2001, the forthright veteran mused aloud that the honour ought to have her way much earlier. ‘NTR entered the film field later than I, and he, an eminent actor had a great liking for me. He was a good man and I feel proud to receive an award, even though late, set up in his memory. I am sure that people do feel that Bhanumati should have been the first to be given the award. That feeling is enough for me” she pronounced with characteristic candour. As always, she was conscious of her rightful eminence and did not mince words to show that she was not too happy at this belated recognition.
‘With people of only moderate ability modesty is mere honesty; but with those who possess great talent it is hypocrisy’ declared Arthur Schopenhauer. And Bhanumati was never a hypocrite.
- More to come-
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