Classical Illayaraja - 4
Lakshminarayana
Classical Illayaraja - 4
------------------------
Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan is a very popular carnatic violinist. He is one of the
successful rebels in the field. His katcheris are a mixture of classical and
commercial blend. In his classical concert he will play 'kallum mullum kaaluku
methai' (Iyyappa song) and in the end say 'samiyae saranam Iyyappa' in his
violin. If you go to his house he will say 'vaanga saar vaanga, enna sappida-
ringa? Kaapiya, teaya?' in madhyama sthayi in his violin. If you say 'tea' then
he will turn inside and signal his wife in the kitchen 'adiyae... saarukku oru
cup tea konda' in thara sthayi, ofcourse, in his violin! He doesn't talk
much, you know.... Only his violin....!
Kunnakudi produced one family movie. It was a true family movie in the sense
that he produced that movie, his son-in-law Mr. Ramakrishnan directed that
movie (hope it is correct), and maybe, a couple of his other relatives were
employed as the light-boys in the production of that movie. Unfortunately, that
movie became an example of a perfect family movie in another sense too, that
is, only Kunnakudi's family saw that movie! I was one poor soul who got forced
to see that movie 'thodi ragam' by the quirk of wicked fate! The hero was
T.N.Seshagopalan. His lovely heroine was Nalini! Kunnakudi had tried to make
some typical cinema story like, Seshagopalan, a famed musician pledging thodi
ragam to the villain, and finally redeeming it in the last scene etc. I forgot
if there was any heroic stunt sequences in the last scene, when Seshagopalan
redeems his thodi back by befelling a dozen villains in a single punch with his
fist! In this materialistic world who can escape 'sabalam'? Seshagopalan proba-
bly thought that the movie would be a big hit like 'shakunthala' starring
G.N.Balasubramaniam and M.Subulakshmi, and that he could become super hero like
Rajni and make lot of money!
Anyway, coming to the point, there is one good song in that movie in the ragam
kalyani. It is 'vaa vaa thalaiva vaa'. As I vaguely remember, it was a good
kalyani. But, because of the dismal fate of that movie, that song did not bec-
ome a hit. Even if the film had been a success, I doubt whether the song would
have been received favourably by the common rasika. Because, the song is like a
mini-katcheri! It is unlikely that a duet in which the hero and heroine exchan-
ge their love in katcheri format will be liked by the common audience in the
present day cinema world. So, you have no other go other than cinematizing a
raga so that it is appealing. You may have to make a compromise in loosing some
purity of the ragam.
Considering the tight situation that music directors face in handling a ragam
in cinema, I really wonder how Illayaraja could give the same kalyani as in
Kunnakudi's 'vaa vaa thalaiva' without even an iota of compromise in its class,
and yet be very appealing to the common rasika. Oh God! How many kalyani's he
has to his credit! The single most common melakartha ragam that he used was
kalyani. He should have scored atleast 25 songs in kalyani. Kalyani, the 65th
melakartha ragam, is neither too much gamaka oriented nor very light. I guess,
it is this quality of kalyani that made him use it left and right! You need not
have to employ violent shakes of the swaras to show the colour of kalyani!
Simple swara phrases would suffice, to establish the raga identity. Since
not much of gamaka is needed, you wouldn't violate the so called cinema melody.
Probably his first kalyani came in the movie 'uthiri pookal'. It was a fanta-
stic movie, directed by the avant garde director Mahendran. Aswini and Vijayan
are husband and wife. Vijayan is hero cum villain. Aswini's younger sister
(I forgot who it was) is a jolly type teen female. She is the one who sings
that kalyani song in that movie: 'naan paada varuvaayo'. She sits in a small
sand crest in the middle of a river and sings that song. S.Janaki had done a
real good job making all sorts of 'konashtai' in that song! This female is
later raped by Vijayan, and that becomes the key knot in that movie. Uthiri
pookal was a much talked about movie. After that, how many kalyanis followed
like train of programmed events from the recording theatre of Illayaraja!
'Janani Janani' in the movie 'thai mookaambigai' was a terrific hit song.
It was an excellant classical piece sung by Illayaraja, Deepan Chakravarthy &
Co. (He had the arrogance to push better singers to the back row, you know!).
That song was rich in lyrics too. He has taken extra care to pronounce sanskrit
words in that song like 'shakthi peetamum nee, sarva mokshamum nee' as sanskrit
sounding. Good job! Look at the concise version of Adi Sankaracharya's advaita
philosophy in that song. 'Janani janani, Jagam nee agam nee'. He said the same
idea, right? Then came his superb kalyani in Maniratnam's first movie 'pagal
nilavu'. That is 'vaidegi raman kai serum neram'. S.Janaki again. Revathi
dances for this song. The rhythm in this song is wonderful. A blend of guitar
and mridangam. He gave some of his kalyanis in lighter form like those in
the songs 'thevan thandha veenai' (unnai naan sandhithen) and 'vellai pura
onru aengudhu' (some Rajni movie) etc. 'Thevan thandha veenai' has one specia-
lity to it. It was the last song written by kavignar Kannadasan and it was
tuned posthumously by Illayaraja. Look at Kannadasan's opening lines in that
song: thevan thandha veenai, adhil devi seidha ganam, thedum kaigal thedinal
adhil ragam inri pogumo? Yes, anybody could have a veenai, but to get a ragam
out of it only some fingers can do it!
In the movie 'sindubhairavi' he tried to do some technical innovation in
kalyani ragam. That is, in the song 'kalaivaaniyae', it was widely publicised
by K.Balachandar & Co, (who were literally at the mercy of Illayaraja for the
success of the movie), that that song was composed in aarohanam alone. Okay,
what if a song is set in aarohanam alone, does the rasika get a special kind
of melody? It was just an ordinary song. But a good piece of kalyani. The song
in 'uyarnda ullam', vandaal mahalakshmiyae was a fantastic kalyani. The situa-
tion for that song was funny. Kamalhasan, a derilict, who looses all his money
sings that song in praise of Ambika's entry into his house (ofcourse, she sets
him right and stands a great support to him). S.P.Balu had made all sorts of
'konashtai' in that song. This is one good example for how to popularize
classical music. It is pure 24 carat kalyani. In 'soorasamharam' he has given
another form of 24 carat kalyani (naan enbadhu nee allavo). He introduced his
troup's flautist Arunmozhi as singer in that song. In the charanam, when they
sing 'paadinaen pann padinaen', it is beatiful combination of swaras Ni Ri Ga
Ma Pa. It is simply superb. A similar song is 'malayoram mayilae' in the movie
oruvar vazhum aalayam. Almost each of the lines in this song, he renders in
two sangathis, like for example 'vilayatai solli thandhadharu' first in
Pa Pa Pa Pa Ma Ga Ri Sa Sa Ga Ri GA Sa. Then later, the same line is given in
Pa Pa Pa Pa Ma Ga Ri Sa Sa Ri Ga Ma Pa Ma Ga Ri SA. Great kalyani! I think
his latest kalyani is 'ammavai ninaikadha uyirilayae' (Rajni's ?mannan). In
'thalapadhi' also there is one good kalyani: yamunai aatrilae...Some north
indian singer sang that song.
Aamir kalyani is a janyam of kalyani. Though it is amir kalyani, it is 'garib'
in its scope. Not much, you see...! The key phrase in it is Ma2 Pa Da Ma1 using
both the madhyamams. Viswanathan/Ramamurthy made an indelible mark in amir kal-
yani in their 'ennuyir thozhi' in karnan. Then, V.S.Narasimhan established his
classical heritage (I heard his father is some carnatic big shot) in the song
'manasukkul ukkaandhu maniyadithai' in kalyana agadhigal. Atlast came Illaya-
raja's amir kalyani, in 'veenai aendhum vaaniyae' (vietnam colony). I was told
that Bombay Jayashree has sung this song. It is a good amir kalyani. Let us see
if Bombay Jayashree attains eminance like Unnikrishnan in cinema music. More
'dabbu' in cinema, man!
Saranga is another kalyani janyam. A beautiful, vakra ragam, again with double
madhyamam. (Why double madhyama ragams are janyams of kalyani?) MSV has one
excellant number in it 'konjum neram ennai maranthen'. TMS voice is honey in
this song. Illayaraja gave one pure saranga in 'kanniyar parvai thanai' or some
thing, in the movie 'parvathi ennai paradi'. It is the title song. When the
title song was in such pure saranga, I was lead to beleive that the subsequent
songs might be in classical ragas too. But, alas, a big disappointment! You
can never try to speculate what you will get from Illayaraja at all. He has
composed a fantastic song in one of Vijayakanth's latest movies with Kasthuri. 'manjalum kukumamum nalla naal nalla naal'. In this song he has used all other
swaras in kalyani other than daivatam. I don't know whether any such ragam
exist with Sa Ri2 Ga3 Ma2 Pa Ni3 Sa aarohanam and avarohanam. If so, what is its
nomenclature?
-Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan.
Mohan Govi
>
>
> Classical Illayaraja - 4
> ------------------------
>Then came his superb kalyani in Maniratnam's first movie 'pagal
>nilavu'. That is 'vaidegi raman kai serum neram'. S.Janaki again.Revathi
>dances for this song. The rhythm in this song is wonderful. A blend of
It is Radhika, I think. Believe me, I did'nt mean to find fault ;)
Thanks for your compilation.
>-Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan.
>
Mohan Govi
Ramesh Vaidhyanathan
>
>Anyway, coming to the point, there is one good song in that movie in the ragam
>kalyani. It is 'vaa vaa thalaiva vaa'. As I vaguely remember, it was a good
>kalyani. But, because of the dismal fate of that movie, that song did not bec-
>ome a hit.
[Lots of good Ilaiyaraja & Raga stuff deleted ...]
>
>-Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan.
>
The movie "Thodi Ragam" also had a song "Thodiyil padi vanthEn Odi nee
varuvAi" sung by TNS. The irony of this movie is that though it had
Sheshagopalan as the hero singing carnatic based songs and Kunnakkudi
as the MD, the one song from this movie which became a *mega hit* was the
`dappanguththu' song "kottampatti rottile... kutti pora shokkile...".
This song by kunnakkudi was popular all over the "patti thotti" of Tamil Nadu!
-Ramesh, V.
venkataraman_chander
Since the article was about Kalyani, I cannot help pointing out the
omission of a Kalyani masterpiece in Indian music. I used to use that
song as a reference to authentic Kalyani - If you still have not guessed
it, it is "Mannavan Vandaanadi" sung by P.Susheela. I guess the music
director is K.V.Mahadevan. Susheela is simply superb in that!
Another good Kalyani worth mentioning is Sirgazhi Govindarajan's "Amuthum
thaenum etharku?".
-Chander.
Ganesh Jayadevan (xPHONE)
Lakshminarayana <rlak...@menudo.uh.edu> wrote:
>
> Classical Illayaraja - 4
> ------------------------
>
The article was highly informative and interesting. But could you shorten
it? May be post it in smaller parts. Given my short attention span....
Thanks,
Ganesh
Sankaran, Sam
thEnum ethaRku' is in mOhanakalyANi, rather than kalyANi.
In <40bakj$5...@newshost.loc3.tandem.com> chan...@gs.tandem.com writes:
Swaminathan SANKARAN
Telephone: (306) 585-4988
FAX: (306) 585-4805
Lakshminarayana
Let me introduce myself. I'm a research scholar at IISc, Bangalore.
I saw ur very good postings on "Classical Ilayaraja" over Usenet.
Unfortunately, I was very late to see only the 4th part...
U people r doing a wonderful job over there! Alas, we dont have
usenet access here. I have to login to someplace in US and read...
Anyway, the purpose of this mail is to add some my findings
to ur articles...
Some of other good songs of kunnakudi are
"Malaro nilavo malaimagalo" sung by Jayachandran in one vague Ragangal
maruvathillai (i think!) movie - in the ragam Hindolam. The short
swarakalapna is really good...
"Sa ri ga ma pa tha ni enum..." by Vani Jayaram & co in another vague
movie - in the ragam Mayamalava gowla.
I agree that Ilayaraja has done too many kalyani songs. But I think
some are more of "yaman" than "kalyani". For e.g.
"Janani janani", "Amma enrazhaikkatha". Another beautiful song is
"Nathyiladum poovanam" in Kaadal oviam. It's missing in ur list!
I understand the miss, there r just too many such gems!
One good Hamir kalyani in Ilayaraja era is, (i think!) "Devi vantha
neram" in vandichakkaram sung by SPB and VaniJ. There is a song
be Janaki in Katrinile varum geetham, it goes like "kanden engum..".
I think that's saranga based, no?
Some Lalita based songs other than "Ithazhil kathai ezhuthum.." I liked
very much are,
"vanakkuile kuil thrum" by SPB in priyanka. It's a superb one!
"Thirumagal un mugam kana vendum" by Arunmozhi in Veera. Another beauty in
Arunmozhi's deep voice.
I would love to engage in such raag-based movie songs talk but there is
no direct way... If u find worthy, u can post this over rmic...
Bye
-Rajaram
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Vidya Lakshmi
R2...@vm1.cc.uakron.edu
Would be thankful if any kind nettor could post the lyrics of the following
krithis.
1. SwaminathenA - Brindavana Saranga
2. Devi Neeye Thunai - Keeravani - Papanasam Sivam.
Thanks in advance
Ram