The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

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mikka nanRi, Murali sir!

Getting praises from a great writer like you is definitely very special, feels like I got some big award!

Post-91

(Plum )

So far onnum illai - ini Arambikka mudiyAthu, paiyyan romance paNRa vayasula irukkAn

(actually nAn rombakkarnAtakam, "one-man-one-woman-called-wife-for-life" type )

BTW, nice remembrance of your veRRi vizhA days!

Kamal -Amal

Nice coinage!

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#293 மாமா உன் பொண்ணக்கொடு
(ராஜாதி ராஜா, 1989)

'mAmA un poNNakkodu' of rAjAthi rAjA

Though R Sundarrajan's movies have generally been of 'janaranjaga' variety, only this can be called a "pure masAlA", as far as I know. It's quite possible that he did such a "double-act-adi-dhadi-masAlA" because of rAsA (it was a Pavalar creations' production, a company owned by IR's elder bro R D Bhaskar and generally considered to be funded by IR) or for the thrill of directing the super natchaththiram.

Going by the gossip in magazines those days, the song 'En gitta mOdhAdhE nAn rAjAthi rAjanadA' was IR's answer to some irritating aRaikooval in some Chandrabose song ( rAjAthi rAjanaiyum thORkadippEn). It was possible that IR wanted to show AVM & the likes that the SPM-ism isn't a big deal (for someone like RS) to do in a very short time and produce a super-hit. Whatever was the driver, the movie was a clear indicator that IR was fiercely competitive those days. The film was a commercial hit and even though it was a saRukkal to RS as a director, there was some enjoyable comedy in the movie which was his stronghold.

More importantly, the movie had thoroughly enjoyable songs! Unfortunately, we get to feature only one song from the movie in this thread as all others went to Mano (there are a couple of 'less than a minute' short songs by SPB as well -olaga vAzhkkaiyE & AththukkuLLa - but 'mAmA un poNNa' is the only full-size song by him).

'malaiyALakkaraiyOram', 'en kitta mOdhAdhE', 'vA vA manjaL malarE' all had Mano and the other hit 'un nenjaththottu sollu' (not on screen I think) is a female-female duet.

SPB freaks out in this song with his terrific mAmA / mAmOi calls and singing with lot of energy through out the song. rAsA hits out the country drums in 'kEttELE ingE' style that makes one want to jump and dance at once! With some nice variations in the melody in saraNam, one can enjoy singing this themmAngu aloud as well!

When the song arrived, however, the most interesting feature to me was the second interlude! One rarely gets "old-song-tunes" (or even the same song's tune) as interlude in rAsA songs. This had the 'kalyANa band' version of 'rAjA rAjAthi rAjan indha rAjA' of agni* in the second interlude (as BGM to the wedding dream scene on the screen).

It had many significant things :

-plays the movie title in the minds
-indirect pugazh pAdal of Ilayaraja
-flexes the rAsA muscle against any competition that was being attempted, with the mighty Rajinikanth endorsing his friend on screen
-demonstrates rAsA's understanding of the TN culture of playing movie songs during auspicious occasions. It used to be nAdhaswara vidhwAns playing ever-green or current sensation movie songs during kalyANams. Then there were cases when affluent people showcased their 'paNapperumai' by employing both mELam group as well as "band vAththiyakkArarkaL" for their marriages. Even those bands -that typically played during march-pasts, police drills, political functions etc - played movie songs in marriages! Such was the thAkkam of TFM on everyday lives of the public in TN. This "band" interlude beautifully showcases that!

This movie took us to that paridhAbamAna "new-devi durga" theater of Palakkad. Songs and sirippoos (plus the usual Rajini-Radha pair and the unusual Rajini-Nadhiya pair) made it watchable without much irritation...

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mARugO mARugO youtube...

fun song

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poongARRu un pEr solla youtube...

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mAmA un poNNakkodu youtube (full of "typical" movements of Rajini, there's some NT-ism at the 'rAjAthi rAjA' band music scene)...

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#294 மானின் இரு கண்கள் கொண்ட மானே மானே
(மாப்பிள்ளை, 1989 , ஜானகியுடன்)

Sweet song by the terrific SPB-SJ pair! rAsA's composition almost sounds like semi-classical to me (though there are no swara prayOgams and such stuff...may be the song is based on some strong rAgA and thus sounding highly 'flavoured'). Rajini & Amala dance around (with tons of other women) in a typical masAlA style picturization for a masAlA movie. I remember posting earlier in the hub about how boring this movie was (one of those few rare ones where I've slept for a good part inside the theater). It was very amusing to me that they chose to remake this movie with Mr Villu of kolaveRi fame.

Interestingly there was this gossip that Sridevi was asked to do the Srividya role & she escaped telling that unless Rajini plays the mAmanAr role she won't play the mAmiyAr role What a nice imagination by the gossip writing media

Coming back to this terrific composition that has some excellent violin work, custom-made-rhythm and energetic singing, my mind often gets back to school days when the Thamizh teacher explained why the 'mAn vizhi' comparison to women's eyes. (Though the song is quite engaging, it's not a compulsive one and the mind can easily wander). If one looks at the images of deer (or the variety of similar species), there's nothing spectacularly special in those eyes that makes one conclude them as "more beautiful than those of other animals". So, after initially disagreeing (mentally only not orally) with that +2 Thamizh teacher, I've come to agree with her over a period of time.

That, the comparison is because of the 'marutchi' in the eyes of the deer that resemble those of the women...

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mAnin iru kaNkaL koNda (pinna enna orE oru kaNNA koLLa mudiyum? ) youtube :

[Divine22]

Thank You for the detailed clarification app sir,

What a riot of song, Maama un ponne kodu... SPB in full swing...brilliant !! ♥♥♥♥

Kayal Vizhi also means maan vizhi ? right ?

Eagerly waiting for the 'grande número trescientos ~ , Which one will it be ? :thinking:

Good Day

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nanRi, Divine22!

Kayal Vizhi also means maan vizhi ? right ?

kayal = fish

kayal vizhi = eye that looks like fish in shape (and also swirls around like one)

[Divine22]

Offoh.... Kayal means fish, All this while I was thinking it's deer , haha, silly me... Thanks again