The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

[groucho070]

app, finished reading. Touching, very touching indeed. True lump in throat moment.

Otherwise, great going, and Same feeling about unnaithaan nitham nitham, though I hated it back then (that I was on opposite camp didn't help).

[rajkumarc]

Nice posts App on Rajathi Raja & Mapillai. That was the time I started paying more attention to songs, music in general and also started going to movies alone with friends (10th std). Watched both of these movies with friends. I remember purchasing the original audio cassettes (with lots of convincing to do to get the money) and may still have them lying around back home.

I loved Mappillai songs more than Rajathi Raja maybe because of SPB's singing. Also loved the orchestration in all the duet songs. Unnai Thaan Nitham was quite popular among us kids then mainly because of the song sounding very modern and also for RK's dancing (fast moves, complicated steps etc as per his fans) which is usually not his strong point.

[Plum]

I'll tell the story about my school. It was 1989, and I had this Rajini-fan friend, who was our camp's "leader" (against Ulaganayagans camp). He was a local saNdiyar's son, and used to thrill us with his tales of "sharing a peg" with his father(I mean, in 9th standard, that is.)(This was around the time of Apoorva SagodharargaL hence I was in a transition phase in terms of camps as mentioned several times before, that is a different story).

Around the same time, our bright principal, who didnt believe in the beaten path in terms of education introduced several innovations like open-book exams etc. One of her pet projects was to "encourage exra-curricular talents" in a grand way and she introduced this "talent show" after assembly every week on Fridays. Students were free to give their creativity a free reign - though initially it started with the standard "alaipaayuthae kanna" and "theeradha vilayaattu pillai" group dances, eventually it reached its pinnacle with (what else) a movie songs inspired skit by an enterprising gang, who happened to be the ulaganayagan camp. They were the posh besant nagar gang, and stuck to classic stuff and derived humour from some of the family-friendly popular ads and songs. Kamal songs featured liberally, a classy "Kamal in Salangai Oli reprisal included".

This went well with the principal, who appreciated the aesthetics of this. Seething at the glorificatin of the kafir impostor Kamalahassan, our leader, the sandiyar's son, planned a fitting reply glorifying "our supreme leader, the Superstar". As I was in the transition phase, I kind of drifted out of this plan, just being a mute spectator to their rehearsals. Something told me that while the Principal might have appreciated the cinema-influenced but mild-mannered skit well, a full-on reprisal of "Rajini-Amala" choreographed risquely by our enterprising leader will not go that well. Our gang did inflict on the unsuspecting Principal this abominable, family-unfriendly skit involving a full-on reprisal of "Unnai thaan niththam niththam", coolin glass tricks and all, among other cultural milestones like "nee koduthadhai thiruppi koduppen", "aasai nooru vagai" etc. I was privy to the Principal's emotions first hand as I had been chosen to compere the event - having drifted away from the full-on rehearasals, was emotionally blackmailed into participating atleast in this respect by the "Leader" - and was standing right next to the stunned woman. Too stunned to react initially, she recogered half-way through Unnai thaan niththam and managed to halt the proceedings. A severe reprimanding session in the Principal's room followed, with me turning approver, and thus began my exile from the Superstar camp and the eventual drift to the enemy camp. That was the last we heard of the "Talent Session" on Fridays

[Plum]

Mappillai, thus became a turning point in my "cultural appreciation" career, and remains the one of the movies of Rajini that I haven't seen ever.

[Plum]

App, now that I have given you a story, you might as well feature unnai thaan niththam nittham as a supplementary song for today. A song of such cultural significance cannot be ignored just like that!

[groucho070]

Plum. Did they go after you for your dastardly deeds?

To others, my transition period was around then too. I mean, by not abandoning Kamal, but also embracing Rajini. I can't quite figure out which film but not these ones for sure.

Speaking of talent session, my first stage song (some know this already) was Unna nenechen.

[Divine22]

I've posted twice about this already

So, no need to think / guess It is from "dancer" (with a vessel on head)

Great !

[app_engine]

nanRi makkaLE, for the comments!

Sorry Balaji, Nerd, Plum, groucho & rajkumarc for being ignorant of the "unnaiththAn niththam" song
Going by the vociferous responses here, it should have been a big hit in TN. My miss!

And Plum, on your school episode! Agree it was a historic moment in life

Nerd,
"touch" paNNama nadantha oru kathaiyai ellArum 'touching-touching'nnu solRAnga Please spend a few minutes reading those posts and tell me if you find at least some lines humorous and not senti...I re-read the posts and found it funny and not too much senti, possibly my memory is rich / multidimensional and fills a lot of details that are missed out in the text.

groucho,
nanRi for your comments on the "story"! It's extremely valuable to me coming from a writing professional! (Though I'm a little disappointed that you didn't laugh at the lines I find "funny"...please, didn't you at least smile at the 'paint pOyi on elbows' thingy?) I guess you can understand Malayalam and wouldn't have had problem with phrases such as 'chumbichchu mathiyAkki' -that line was actually not funny but touching - but some of our Thamizh-only friends could've missed that...In any case, it was quite an experience for me to write such a long sariththiram...

[groucho070]

I was lazy to quote, considering I was reading many pages back, sorry app. But I had smile on my face, and giggled on the part where you samalichufied wife with importance on being hospitable . Most of all, this part: "'ngangaLayokke vittuttu pOkAn thannE theermAnichchO?'

There was a brief thoNdai adaikkal for me but exercising great control, I replied :

'ellavarum oru thivasam pOkEndadhallE?' "

I literally heard the sad appu violin in the background

[Plum]

App - ok I missed out on reacting. I was perhaps one of your target audience - in that, you succesfully kept it funny for me till the last. Touching kichinglAm Avalai - as you can surmise from my previous reactions, which were all frivolous and flippant. I was a little apprehensive if you'd take it well if I told you that I found the story lot of frivolous fun hence I cut back on my reactions. I thought you'll be hurt hence didn't say it aloud - looks like by not saying it aloud, I might have missed pleasing you!