DhooL.com Song Of The Day

Song of the Day # 992

From: bb on:  Wed Feb 04, 2009 11:01 pm

Song of the Day: vaLLuvan kuraLil from kalyaaNa vaLaiyOsai.

http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/992.html

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- Saravanan writes:

vaLLuvan kuraLil from kalyaaNa vaLaiyOsai

Malarndhum Malaraadhavai # 14

While the annals of Tamil Film Music flaunt with pride the glittering works of the great masters and gush with accolades in honour of their richly deserved successes, there are in the same chronicles, certain seldom turned pages- pages that sing a sadder song- a wail of neglect, a whimper of failure, an unshed tear for all the lost opportunities, an unuttered reproach at being consigned to oblivion, a forlorn sigh over a life bereft of hope, a hastily written epitaph for an end that went unsung and unwept …

Hidden among these listless pages is the name of Mariadoss Louis Srikanth. I confess I do not know anything about his antecedents, except that he seemed to have been part of the MSV ensemble for a while. I have heard that he worked as Veda’s assistant as well- his name appears as ‘Louis’ in the credits of many of Veda’s movies. Srikanth had his own troupe and was a popular name in light music concerts. He was a good singer… remember the enticing humming that serenades Suseela in ‘kaathal kaathal endRu pEsa’ (utharavindRi uLLE vaa) and the 4th voice that makes merry with the boisterous SPB, Janaki and Eswari in ‘kuLiradikkudhE kitta vaa’ (thikku theriyaadha kaattil).

M.L. Srikanth made a fetching debut as a music composer in the off-beat and obscure 1969 movie ‘thaalaattu’ (Thaayaar Films). Rajapandiyan and Vijayasri played the lead roles in the stark movie that depicted the blossoming relationship between an unsightly man and a sightless girl. The movie was directed by cinematographer Vipin Das. The caressing lullaby ‘malligai poo pOttu’, written by Mayavanathan and sung by TMS and Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi is adequate testimony to Srikanth’s talents. ‘varum pOthu mEdaiyil vIlaiyaadinOm’ (Seergazhi Govindarajan), ‘yamma yamma summa summa’ (L.R. Eswari), and ‘viLakkillaamal kaNakkezhudhi en vaazhkkai amaiththaaya’ (TMS), all written by Thirupathoor Rasu (Kalidasan of later years) are songs that a debutant composer can be proud of. Srikanth sang a song as well, the haunting ‘puNpatta paRavaikkum, kaNketta paRavaikkum’. The movie was dubbed in Malayalam and released in 1971 as ‘prathi dhwani’.

Despite crafting a set of worthy songs in his debutant album, it was only after a long wait of 7 years that another movie bearing Srikanth’s songs was released, and this was ‘ninaipathu niRaivERum’ (1976/Thirumoothi Arts). Directed by S.T. Dhandapani, the movie had Vijayakumar and Rajkokila essaying the lead roles. The producer of the movie Udumalai A.S. Mani wrote lyrics for the songs set to tune by Srikanth. The Srikanth-Vani duet ‘ninaipathu niRaivERum’ was a runway hit. I recall the song finding frequent airtime even in the 80s. ‘ennendRu solvEnadi,iLamai ezhilOdu piRandhEnadi’ is a gorgeous Vani solo. ‘karumbO karumbu’ and ‘naan oru chinnappoNNu’ have the inimitable L.R. Eswari in her blithe, breezy elements. The movie did sink, but the trace of the title song endures….

The same year, Srikanth made a mark in Malayalam cinema with his compositions for the movie ‘maanasa veeNa’ (Hazina Films) starring Madhu, Vincent and Jayabharathi. The songs such as ‘thuLasivivaaha naaLila’ (S. Janaki), ‘nilavE nintE punchiri’ and ‘mayayam maarichan’ (both by Yesudas), ‘santhaana gOpalam’ (L.R. Eswari), ‘swapnam tharunnathum’ (P. Suseela) and ‘uRakkam mizhikaLil’ (M.L. Srikanth & P. Suseela) found instant appeal.

Besides these 3 movies, Srikanth composed music for some movies that were never released. ‘pEsu manamE pEsu’ is one of them. The movie does not seem to have ever lit the screen, yet the romantic ‘kaNNE undhan idhazhE’ and the ruminative ‘kaNgaL thEduthu oLi engE’ live on as reminders of Srikanth’s legacy, both as composer and singer. ‘than viNai thannai sudum’ is another movie that was begun with great fanfare in 1978, but was given up half-way. Here again, Srikanth’s songs such as his lilting duets with P. Suseela ‘azhagaaga nee aadu’ and ‘aaNum peNNum’ were seeds sown in a parched piece of barren land. In a small recording center tucked away in the labyrinth of alleys adjoining the Seven Wells area of North Madras, I came across a tattered record sleeve of a movie titled ‘geethavin rOja’ with the music credited to M.L. Srikanth. The record itself, however, was damaged beyond repair.

‘kalyaaNa vaLaiyOsai’ (J.B.S. & Jothikumar Fims) is another such unreleased movie laden with Srikanth’s bounty. The sleeve of the EMI record shows the images of Jaiganesh and Kumari Padmini, and gives the date of manufacture as 1977. The movie had 4 songs, all written by Sulur Kalaipiththan. While all the songs- the stirring ‘aaRupadai vElmurugaa’ sung by Pollachi Veluswami, ‘kattiya kOttai’ sung by TMS & P. Suseela and ‘engu paarthaalum iyarkai kaatchi’ rendered by Srikanth himself, doubtless deserve our attention, let us for today pick the most popular song from the album, the popular ‘vaLLuvan kuraLil sol eduththEn’ sung by M.L. Srikanth & S. Janaki. The dreamy opening giving way to a distinct tabla beat, the dexterous handling of guitars and trumpets in the interludes, a gracefully flowing tune, good singing all go to make this song a delight…

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The song was fairly popular in its time, thanks to thamizh sEvai iraNdu. Even today, this song is sure to evoke an exclamation of pleased recognition, a reminder of times gone by when simple, sincere songs such as this ruled the airwaves…

I recall Srikanth appearing in the mellisai programmes of Doordarshan of yore, conducting an orchestra and singing. I believe he has a number of devotional albums to his credit as well. The opportunities that came his way were few and far between, but M.L. Srikanth has earned a place, howsoever humble, in the pantheon of Tamil film composers…

Tags: S.Janaki , Malarndhum malaraadhavai

- ninaippathu niraivErum from ninaippathu niraivErum: http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/370.html

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