DhooL.com Song Of The Day

Song of the Day # 876

From: bb on: Wed May 30, 2007 9:58 pm 

Song of the Day: MSV in the 80s: Part XII

http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/876.html

- Saravanan writes:

MSV in the 80s- Part XII

~ sugamaana raagangaL ~

I always look back at the summer of ’85 with fondness, for it was the first time that four of us- my brother, two cousins and I, were allowed to travel on our own during the long summer holidays, and the new found freedom was something exhilarating. And as usual my memories of those joyous months are linked with the movies that we got to see during the vacation, and the songs that were on everyone’s lips .…

The Tamil New Year of 1985 saw the release of numerous movies, and in order to accommodate all of them, vividh bharti had extended its viLambarathaarar nigazhchi to late in the night. Mohan had three movies at the marquee- udhayageetham, piLLai nila and deivappiRavi. Kamal’s khaki sattai and Rajini’s naan sigappu manithan were being eagerly looked forward to. The valiant KB was pitting his kalyaaNa agathigaL against such favorites. Sivaji and Prabhu got together for needhiyin nizhal; and hoping to cash in on the recent success of poovilangu, Murali and Amirjaan were returning with iLankandRu.

Another movie that was announced for the New Year was R. Sundararajan’s ‘sugamaana raagangaL’. The movie was given a slot well towards the end of the viLambarathaarar nigazhchigaL. The curtain raiser would commence teasingly with SPB’s humming in ‘aaththa kadakkavENum’ and would end with Vani’s ‘hOhO hahaha’ of ‘pon udhaduyenum’. Even in his lone offering for the season, the mellisai mannar seemed to prove a point, and I was determined to watch the movie…

The four of us first went to Pollachi to camp at our aunt’s sprawling house, and we saw ‘udhayageetham’ on the very first evening at Durais Theater. ‘naan sigappu manithan’ was the next wish that was fulfilled soon thereafter. I was perhaps the only person who was disappointed that the release of ‘sugamaana raagangaL’ was apparently delayed. We caught up with ‘khaki sattai’ in Ooty (being ordered to get down by an irate conductor when we had boarded a bus to Udumalai under the mistaken impression that Udumalai was the Tamil name for Ooty is something I wish vainly to forget!) ‘piLLai nila’ we saw at ATSC Theater on the evening of our return to Pollachi, and we were destined to spend a sleepless night, with our imaginations running riot on ghosts, blood and revenge!

The next day as we were out on an errand, I saw walls liberally pasted with posters that that announced the belated release of ‘sugamaana raagangaL’ at Nallappa Theater. However, no amount of pleading would lessen my uncle’s resolve to permit us to watch a movie that day. He had suddenly woken to the fact that we had been watching too many movies and instructed us firmly to remain indoors that day. Incorrigible that we were, no sooner than he had left home, the four of us took our two little cousins (for the fear that they might give us away to their father if we leave them out), and squeezing into an auto, we were soon on our way to Nallappa. Whom should we pass on the way but my uncle who was walking down to the Mahalingapuram Arch! We would have escaped notice even then, had not my little cousin looked out and waved his father a cheery ‘ta ta!’ And being the sport that he is, my uncle waved back with a grudging smile!

* * * *


After such a lengthy preamble, I am sorry to say I do not remember much of the movie! ‘sugamaana raagangaL’ (Durga Bagavathi Films/ 1985) starred Sivakumar, Saritha, Jeevitha and ‘meesai’ Murugesh. All I can recall today is Sivakumar being a dutiful police officer, his being convicted on trumped up charges and coming out of prison to settle scores with the villains, his gullible rustic wife Saritha being killed midway and Jeevitha stepping in. Veteran Ravichandran made a comeback with this movie, playing the villain (His name in the movie was ‘Mr. X’ if I remember right!) Years later I happened to catch the Prabhu-Sangeetha-Ranjita starrer ‘seedhanam’ on TV, and I realized that R. Sundararajan had recycled his own ‘sugamaana raagangaL’ again, only to meet the dismal fate of the original!

However, even when he was all but written off, MSV came up with a worthy album for ‘sugamaana raagangaL’. Vaali had written the lyrics for the songs. The highpoint of the album was Ilaiyaraja singing what is perhaps his only song for MSV- the folksy title track ‘aaththOra mEttu mElE aaRu muzha sElaikkatti aadi asainju vaRaa en maama maga’. MSV gave himself a solo as well -‘uRavaadum oru thendRal’. The other songs were ‘mooNaampiRaiyai pOla neththiyila thaan’ (P.Suseela), ‘enna therinjaa solaathingO’ (SPB & Vani Jairam) and ‘maaman magaLE unakkenna kavalai’ (Malaysia Vasudevan).

* * * *

For the SOTD, I have picked my two favorites from the album-

aaththa kadakka vENum by SPB & P. Suseela
Lyrics by Vaali
Music by M.S. Viswanathan

Listen

A boat song… and MSV is the oarsman who with his seasoned baton rows the vessel gently across the tantalizing waves of music. The mellisai mannar sets the stage for this cruise across country waters with his opening music, and SPB is the coxswain who woos his ladylove with ardour. Dulcet as ever, Suseela commences the pallavi with aplomb and SPB responds in breezy style. If she hints at hordes of hidden yearnings in her ‘maamanukku paarkuRappO yEkkam’, he goes a little further in his fantasy. Listen to the unobtrusive percussion, the hallmark of the master, that steers the song along, and hark at the varied repetition of the lines in second half of the charaNam, the repeated version bearing the same tune as the pallavi- another well-known touch of the master…

ponnudhaduyenum kadhavu by SPB & Vani Jairam
Lyrics by Vaali
Music by M.S. Viswanathan

Listen

A song structured on captivating classical notes, and MSV has only to send for Vani to do the honours along with the ever-obliging SPB. In a recent episode of his TV show, SPB cautioned a participant who been trained in classical musical not to let the classical influence seep in unrestrainedly into light music and went on to cite Yesudas, Unnikrishnan and Vani Jairam as classically trained vocalists who knew how to strike the perfect balance when they render film songs. Listen to this song as a case in point… Vani embellishes her lines with few dainty brighas, but never steps out of the platform of a romantic duet. SPB is the aroused lover again invigorating his lines with lusty longing. An intriguing prelude…an infinitesimal pause thereafter where a tabla beat gives SPB his cue to commence…. wonderfully structured charaNams…The master in full flow..

I recall being disappointed that this song did not find place in the movie.

Amidst a delightful deluge of ‘sangeetha mEgam’, ‘paadu nilaavE’, ‘thEnE then paaNdi meenE’, ‘vaanilE thEnila aaduthE paaduthE’, ‘raaja magaL rOja magaL’ and ‘pon maane sangeetham paada vaa’, it was but inevitable that ‘aaththa kadakka vENum’ and ‘ponnudhaduyenum’ went largely unnoticed. All the more reason for us to resurrect them to rightful glory… sugamaana raagangaL….

Discussion Page in DhooL on this Song

http://www.dhool.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=6083