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From: bb on: Sun Nov 09, 2008 10:11 pm
Song of the Day: A Tribute to Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan- Part IV
http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/973.html
- Saravanan writes:
isaiyaai thamizhaai iruppavanE
A Tribute to Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan- Part IV
We now progress to the 1975 page of the KV chronicle. We find that 3 movies came his way and he did ample justice to all of them. Let us look at 2 of them in this chapter.
The first movie of 1975 to be released with KV’s music was ‘manithanum deivamagalam’ (Vijayavel Films). This was the second movie of Sivaji Ganesan that KV got to work for, and it was a Pongal release of 1975. Based on a story by Mullappodi Venkataramana, the movie had its screenplay and dialogues written by Balamurugan. It was jointly produced by Chinna Annamalai & V. Arunachalam, and was directed by P. Madhavan.
The movie narrated the conflict between 2 brothers- the elder a conservative pious man, deeply wedded to religious beliefs and the younger a reformist who is outraged at the gruesome atrocities committed in the name of God. The moral of the tale is “Service to humanity is service to God”. Sivaji Ganesan appeared in the dual roles of the sparring brothers, with Sowcar Janaki and Usha Nandini playing the consorts. M.R.R. Vasu, V.K. Ramaswami and Sukumari were the others in the cast.
KV sat with Kannadasan and came up with a set of 5 songs, calling upon Seergazhi Govindarajan to sing for Sivaji playing the elder brother and TMS to sing for Sivaji playing the younger brother. It was a judicious choice and struck the right contrast between the two siblings- Seergazhi mirrored the piety and bewildered anguish of the virtuous traditionalist, while TMS was the strident voice of the assertive younger brother spewing idealist thoughts, with joyous romance thrown in for good measure.
Seergazhi Govindarajan renders a loving paean to his Lord- ‘kaavlukku vEluNdu aadalukku mayiluNdu kOvilukku poruLennada kumaraa nee irukkum idamthaanadaa’. KV keeps changing the pace of the song with ‘deivayaanai thEdi vandhaaLO’ and ‘azhagiya thirumagaL vaLLi vandhaaLE’, and gives the song a serene ending with Seergazhi gently lulling the Lord to sleep.
Seergazhi has another solo as well- this one a tremulous request to the Lord to appear before him- ‘ennada thamizhkumaraa ennai nee maRandhaayO’. In this poignant petition to the Lord, Seergazhi reaches a crescendo while rendering ‘kadhaRugindREn, padhaRugindREn, en bakhthi poiyyavadhaa, un sakthi poiyaavadhaa’ KV lets the clangour of the temple bells respond to the devotee, a profoundly moving moment in the song.
Then there is the memorable debate between the brothers, each professing his beliefs in lyrical lines- Seergazhi Govindarajan reflects the tranquil patience of the elder, who is firm in his faith, and sets the skirmish going with ‘vetRivEl vellumada, vinai theerppaan vElanada’ TMS sings for the younger brother- wedded to the concepts of atheism, he is impatient and impetuous while pouring scorn on the beliefs of the elder, though remaining respectful throughout. He enters with the hard-hitting query ‘iRaivan aaLum ulagam endRaal yEzhaigaLai yEn padaiththaan’. The highpoint is Sergazhi predicting ‘un kaNNil orunaaL thOndRum vadivElan arasaatchi’ which TMS counters with ‘un nenjil oru naaL thondRum periyaarin manasaatchi’. A worthy composition by KV, the tune based on his own devotional composition ‘muthuvEl rathinavEl’.
TMS gets to sing the sardonic shrug of the tipsy protagonist ‘vaazhakkkaiyE bOdhai naadagam, vaalibam kaadhal kaaviyam’. He sounds intensely brooding and fills his lines with righteous rage at the various wrongs that life brings his way. KV sets the lines to a stylish tune, punctuates the lines with grand interludes, and has chorus voices lending humming support.
The song that became most popular from the movie is the romantic duet ‘paal pongum paruvam’ sung by TMS & P. Suseela. Listening to the tune that KV had set the song to, Kannadasan and Sivaji Ganesan felt it vaguely familiar, but could not identify the source. With his trademark gleeful grin, KV revealed that the tune was but a ‘light’ version of the classical ‘vaathaapi ganapathim’!
Listen to paal pongum paruvam
Though the movie did not do well, KV had crafted a great set of songs, songs that are listened to this day with pleasure.
* * * *
The second movie of 1975 with KV’s music that we are taking up for this part is ‘thiruvaruL’ (Dhandayudhapani Films). Released on December 26 1975, the movie starred AVM. Rajan, Jaya, Nagesh, Major Sundararajan, Sukumari and Thengai Srinivasan. Scripted by the Devar Films Kathai Ilaaka, the movie was directed by R. Thyagarajan and produced by Chinnappa Devar.
As an interesting aside, according to Vembathur Krishnan, this is how Devar usually got the screenplay developed by his team- “ukkaarungapaa… Maa. Raa, aarambikkalaam! nEththu Thirumaaran sonna comedy, MahendranOda climaxu, KalaignanathOda lovetrack mooNum nallavE irukkappa. R.K. Shanmugam sonna ‘halwa’ scene-ayum mix paNNi, BalamuruanOda pooja seekonsayum sEthukka. ‘akka thangai’ -kkaaga Poovai Krishnan sonna murder scene- adhai maRandhudaadhE. ‘vaazhavaiththa deivam’ padaththukkaaga andha kaalathula Ayyapillai oru scene sonnaaru, adhai Balurao solluvaan- adhaiyum kEttokkOngappa…ellathaiyum sErthu naalE naaLula “treatment” –ai mudichudaNum. vasanam ezhudha Aaroordas kaaththukkittu irukkaan. 7-aam thEdhi poojaippa. aduththa maasam 27-la release!”
‘kanni thamizhukku kaalamellaam mooNupadai
kaRpudaiya mangaiyarin kaavalukku naalupadai
idhuvaraikkum iruppadhu engaL muruganukku aaRupadai
indRu engaL marudamalai kOyiloru yEzhupadai’
The story that Devar’s team developed for ‘thiruvaruL’ highlighted the greatness of the Lord at Marudamalai. AVM. Rajan played Kumaradevan, an ardent devotee of Lord Murugan. His fanatical devotion makes him oblivious to the material world. Gifted with a golden tenor, he sings stirring psalms that bespeak the glory of his beloved Murugan. Once the owner of a music company happens to hear Kumaradevan singing, and mesmerized by his voice and piety, gets him to sing for his company. Kumaradevan soon becomes a famed singer and though he becomes wealthy, his essential simplicity and devotion to the Lord remain unchanged. However, his wife Valliammai who was a garland seller at the temple before their marriage lets the new-found affluence get the better of her, and now resents the besotted devotion of her husband. Goaded by avarice, she is even tempted to lay her hands on precious offerings meant for the Lord, and this leads to an irreparable rift between husband and wife. Well, nothing is irreparable when the Lord decides to step in, and the Kumaradevan and Valli reunite in the end…
The astute Devar got the commonplace proceedings bolstered by features such as a special appearance by Kripanandha Vaariyaar and a succinct recapitulation of the history of the Marudamalai temple showing how the paambaatti siththar came across the idol under a marudha tree. Nagesh stood out in a sensitive performance as the faithful Ponnaan. The best part of the movie was of course, the songs. Heartened by the enormous success of ‘deivam’, KV and Kannadasan came out with yet another fantastic album. However, KV did not send for famed classical singers this time. He relied solely on the time tested magic of TMS and Suseela, and came out in flying colours. Of course, Seergazhi Govindarajan too got to appear on screen and render a song.
TMS, in particular, struck gold in this album. Oh, what wonderful songs the veteran got to sing in this movie! Outgrowing the veneer of a film song effortlessly, these songs have acquired the status of timeless devotional classics. KV sculpts each of these numbers with painstaking care, and TMS, himself an ardent devotee of the Lord, renders them with profound piety- a piety that reveals itself in these songs in a plethora of emotions ranging from blissful serenity to rousing fervour. ‘kaNdukkoNdEn naan vandhadhu yaarendRu kaNdukkoNdEn’ is a sponataneous torrent of thanksgiving to the Lord for having appeared before him; TMS sings the stirring lines in emotion-choked tones. In ‘marudamalaikku neenga vandhu paarunga, eesan maganOdu manam vittu pEsi paarunga’, TMS sings with ebullience of the benign grace of the deity atop the hill. In ‘kandhan kaaladiyai vaNanginaal kadavuLgaL yaavairaiyum vaNanguthal pOlE’ he establishes decisively the glories of Murugan vis-à-vis the other Gods. Even in the short ‘engum thirinduvarum gurusaami vandhu thangum idam yEzhai manam saami’, TMS permeates the rapture of being one with the Almighty. ‘ulagangaL yaavum un arasaangamE, ovvondRum nee seiyyum adhigaaramE’ that begins with a bewitching violin prelude is in a league of its own, with the lines appealing to the Lord to usher in a world where drought and starvation would be eradicated and prosperity would prevail all around.
Listen to ulagangaL yaavum un arasaangamE
P. Suseela sings the delightful ‘maalai vaNNa maalai’ for Valli as she sits stringing flowers into beautiful garlands and sells them outside the temple to the thronging devotees who take them inside to adorn the Lord. Kannadasan lets his pen play on the word ‘maalai’, and the lines gush forth in poetic abundance. KV composes a song that is not less in allure than the beautiful garlands that bedeck the deity.
Listen to maalai vaNNa maalai
Seergazhi Govindarajan appeared on screen performing a cutcheri on the occasion of the marriage of Kumaradevan and Valli. Kunnakkudi Vaidyanathan is seen accompanying him on the violin. The song begins with the soaring virutham ‘muththu thirupugazhai seppi vitta aruNagiri muruganai kaNda idam aNNaamalai, niththam thavam kidanthu bhakthi perukkOdu thEvan muruganai kaNda idam marudamalai’ and the song begins with the declaration ‘malaigaLil siRandha malai marudamalai’.
P. Suseela sings ‘thangam perithendRu ninaindhen murugaa, thangidum thuNaivanai pirindhEn murugaa’ for a penitent Valli. Valli bemoans the separation from her husband; she accepts humbly that her greed had been her undoing. She realizes that all her affluence cannot equal the affection of her husband, and prays to Lord Muruga, seeking pardon, and beseeching Him to bring back her husband to her. Suseela’s rendition is moving, her lines soaked in misery and remorse.
‘thiruvaruL’ is thus a blessed album, blessed with an amazing abundance of profound lyrics, enthralling music and great singing. And blessed are we, to be bequeathed with such priceless treasures.
* * * *
~To be continued ~
- Part 1: http://www.dhool.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7679
Part 2: http://www.dhool.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7696
Part 3: http://www.dhool.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7711
