The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

[groucho070]

Sandhaikku vantha kili, one of those made for Rajini dances that perfectly suited him, plus plays along very well with the percussion. One of later day strongest performances from Rajini.

app, Nerd sonna mathiri antha pAtta miss pannAthengga. As usual, like CT or not, like your write-up and appreciation for it.

[Plum]

Sometimes I wonder how we define hits. For example, it is widely accepted that after Roja, till 1998 and KMari, Raja didn't have an authentic hit. Yet, down south, among the discerning folk(!) of Madurai and suththupattis, Albums like Aranmanai Kili and Nadodi Thendral were huge, monstrous hits. Even in late 2000s, you could hear these songs reverberating in Madurai streets as though were the latest hits. Or indeed timeless classics. Nary a shred of Kaadhalukku Mariyaadhai I heard during these late 2000s. So wherefrom the claim comes that from 92 until 98, Raja didn't have a "genuine" hit? From the MTMDevans and Chennai-is-TN folks for whom until Kaadhalukku Mariyaadhai, there was no cigar.

[San_K]

Plum one example: Veera (1994) was a super hit album. was not KM released in 1997?

[Plum]

Yeah 1997 but the point remains. It is good app is doing this series - even I have been guilty of lazily claiming the "KM is sooper hit after 5 years for Raja" theory. Ippo thirumbi pArthaa dhaanE theriyudhu - namma dhaan sariyaa analyse paNNAma vittirukkOm.

[genesis]

தவறான பார்வை. அது என்ன ராஜாவின் தரம்? ஒரு பாடலை பட்டி தொட்டி, நகரம் என ஒரு இடம் விடாமல் ஒலிக்கச் செய்வதும் அதையும் தமிழ் நாட்டையும் தாண்டி ஆந்திரா, கேரளா என புகழ் பரப்பியதும் சாதாரண வேலை அல்ல. இந்த மெட்டிற்கு இது போதும் என ராஜாவிற்கு தெரிகிறது. ஒரு பாடலின் அமைப்பு ரொம்ப எளிமையா இருந்தா ஓரங்கட்டுவது எப்படி நியாயமாகும்? அப்படியே பார்த்தாலும் போவோமா ஊர்கோலம் - கிளாசிக். ஆரம்ப இசை, இடையிசை எல்லாமே அற்புதம். குயிலப் புடிச்சி பாடல் - பாலுவின் சோகப்பாடல்களில் முக்கியமான ஒன்று. படம் குப்பை எனச் சொல்லுங்கள். அதில் நியாயம் இருக்கிறது. பாடல்கள் இன்றைக்கும் கேட்டு ரசிக்கலாம். ஆனால் படத்தை என்னால் ஒரு நிமிடம் கூட சகித்து பார்க்க முடியாது. நகைச்சுவைக் காட்சிகள் தவிர.

Going by this definition, Maine Pyar Kiya and Hum Aapke Hain Koun are much bigger hits. I have heard HAHK songs in rural areas (like Marriage function etc) in Coimbatore district during that time. But they are "pretty average" and their popularity is more to do with movie's success not the songs themselves. The same logic applies to CT.

Nerd - you have a great point. Who are these people that made CT such a big hit?

[Plum]

Same people who made roja, aasai etc superhit eh? If your defn is "genesisku pidikkala so flop" then maybe it was flop. Ungalukku(enakkum kooda) pidikkalainaa flop aayidumaa? Ennayyaa logic idhu?oru velai enakku edhu pudikkalaiyo naan thoongiduven concept apply panningalo?

[app_engine]

#339 ஆணென்ன பெண்ணென்ன
(தர்மதுரை, 1991)

ANenna peNNenna of dharmadurai

Yet another hit song from Dharmadurai to which more credit should be given to the Rajinikanth factor than the combo effect of the thread-nAyaks . Honestly, I didn't even know which song this movie was from, before attempting this compilation - even though I've heard it many times on buses and otherwise PA systems. Never paid serious attention, however, as the first line of the lyric used to turn me off. (So, didn't pay close attention to the singing / orch etc - it wouldn't have mattered to me if someone said this was another Chandrabose song from that time period for Rajinikanth - like 'manidhan manidhan' or 'vAnaththappAththEn bhoomiyappAththEn').

Never a big fan of 'thaththuva songs' post Kavingar - regardless of who the composer & lead actor pairs were. Some had interesting lines without doubt but IMHO the era for such songs was over with MGR-Sivaji days and the "director-led" KH-RK movies are better off without such numbers (except in some fun situations such as 'rAman ANdAlum'). Well, movies like kAkkichchattai & murattukkALai etc cannot be called "director-led" for obvious reasons, even then such songs were not welcome for me

But, I'm not complaining - IR / SPB combo got one more hit to their count and that should make this thread happy

[app_engine]

#340 காதல் கவிதைகள் படித்திடும் நேரம்
(கோபுர வாசலிலே, 1991 , சித்ராவுடன்)

'kAdhal kavidhaikaL padiththidum nEram' from gOpura vAsalilE

It's an interesting song, despite the irritating 'lovable idiot' start. With delectable string sections and a background arrangement like meenammA meenammA, the song is quite a "running fast" kind. SPB & KSC excel in their singing of a very sweet melody. A rAsA-special melody, that is catchy as well as complex - especially the saraNam part. It gets so good in the middle of the saraNam where IR possibly conformed to the rAgA specs while also innovating within that framework (experts to clarify).

Interestingly, I've never heard about this movie or this song when this was supposedly hot in TN. 1991 being a year when so much was happening on the personal front, I'm not surprised that a remake didn't get my attention. (Don't ask me 'how do you know it was a remake' - I simbly assumed that -seeing Priyadharshan as the director...had it been Lal, I would've told 'dubbed movie' but the hero is Karthik here and hence the 'remake' assumption).

I came across this song only in the new millennium here in amErikkA- when some disk from a relative had it. Since that relative is not a HCIRF, I assumed that the song was a hit in TN Though I like this song very much, my most fav from the album is the SJ special 'thAlAttum poongARRu' - what a sweety!

Looking back, I'm surprised that I missed a Priyadharshan-IR venture of 1991 altogether, while living in Kerala That too with him being a fav director to me during the late-80's - with those sweet movies having Lalettan - Chithram / vandhanam / veLLAnakaLude nAdu & kilukkam. Since we're featuring for the first time a song directed by the h/o Lissy chEchi, I should mention a couple of words about him...

Along with Sathyan AnthikkAd, Priyadharshan should be given credits for bringing smile on the faces of Malayalees when watching movies! I don't think anyone would be outraged by this statement, as most movies prior to the 80's were dead serious, azhuva moonji kinds predominantly. Even the songs - if not sOgam, they were extremely serious mostly.

All those changed with the advent of these two directors in combination with Lal & Srinivasan (along with some sweet & sensitive movies by Fazil).

That didn't mean that Priyan's movies were all slapsticks / comedies. They could turn dead-serious pretty quickly, even leaving one with a lump in the throat on many occasions. Since I encourage everyone to watch the four movies listed above by Priyan, I won't post spoilers here - those are great movies with excellent comical & serious moments and some superb performances by the actors. Not to be missed!

Likewise, please don't post spoilers of gOpura vAsalilE here I plan to watch it someday...unless somebody names the original and I know that I had already watched that one

[app_engine]

I'll try to post 2 songs each day during this week (only) to catch up

[app_engine]

app, Nerd sonna mathiri antha pAtta miss pannAthengga. As usual, like CT or not, like your write-up and appreciation for it.

nanRi Nerd & groucho!