Khan Saheb Kamal Haasan's Jamaat/Jeba Koottam/Devasthaanam - Part 8

[avavh3]

is it rajesh? (achamillai achamillai)

[hattori_hanzo]

is it rajesh? (achamillai achamillai)

Not possible UV. Rajesh acted as lead actor in many movies, some of them became hits, like 'Kanni Paruvathile', 'Andha Ezhu Naatkal'. Also he is close to Kamal.

Anyways, adha vidunga. Might be just a bluff. As I went through the other pages of this Rajanayahem's blog I found many accusations, kisukisus about TFI stalwarts especially Sivaji Ganesan, which are quite embarrassing. The tone here is condescending and he has not spared anyone. Doesn't look genuine to me.

[Cinemarasigan]

is it rajesh? (achamillai achamillai)

Rajesh is a big fan of KH... During Kalaignan movie time he was about to sell his Bungalow to produce a Kamal movie. Kamal did not accept that and made him act in Mahanadhi...

[avavh3]

(sorry if already shared)
‘He taught me to sing with abandon’

Kamal Haasan recalls his association with Ilaiyaraja.

(This is the third part of a series of articles on Kamal Haasan’s tryst with the classical arts.)

And that’s how Kamal Haasan got to sing ‘Ninaivo oru paravai’ in ‘Sigappu Rojakkal’. Ilayaraja said he liked the way Kamal handled those high notes, and he asked Kamal to sing the song again. Kamal went, ‘One is the loneliest number...’ Ilayaraja was mentally translating this to ‘Pa pa pa pa pa pa pa...’, the humming that oozes through the interstices of the pallavi of the song.

“He used what I could give him,” Kamal Haasan told me, gently altering the sometimes-held image of the Isaignani as an iron-fisted dictator whose only inputs come from inside his head. He narrated how Ilayaraja, during a recording rehearsal, heard a nagaswaram player prepare for playing by blowing on the seevali, the reed mouthpiece at the top of the tube. This was incorporated into a musical stretch in ‘Hey Ram’, as Vasundhara Das character’s rendition of ‘Vaishnava janato’ segues into ‘Vaaranam aayiram’.

“I doubt the sound of the seevali being blown has been heard in cinema music,” Kamal Haasan said. “He’ll take what people can give him and produce these uncanny moments.”

Anyway, back to the recording session of ‘Ninaivo oru paravai.’ Afterwards, Ilayaraja told Kamal, “Hey, nalla irukku ya. Madhyanam paattayum neengale paadidunga.” (Hey, that’s great. Why don’t you sing the song we’re recording in the afternoon too?”) And that song turned out to be ‘Panneer pushpangale’ from ‘Aval Appadithaan’, a revelation that left me slightly weak-kneed. Considering Ilayaraja’s prolificity, logic dictates that this was something that happened all the time where that several songs would be recorded during the course of a day. But to imagine two... (there’s no other word for it) classics like these casually being tossed off without a huge amount of pre-planning... After all, the singer himself seems to have been roped in only after he sang the morning’s song...

I asked Kamal Haasan about the small gamakam, the melisma rather, in the first line of ‘Panneer pushpangale’ at ‘Raagam paadu’. I was curious whether it was the result of his improvising (based on his classical training) or whether it was how Ilayaraja had composed it. He said, “Raja knows how much will work. He’ll say, ‘Avvalavu vendam, konjam koraichukkunga.’ (That’s too much. Tone it down a bit.) And that makes it different from the usual gamakam. ‘Sundari neeyum’, he left it to me.”

Kamal Haasan hummed, perfectly, the downward slide of akaras that leads back to the pallavi. Ilayaraja told Kamal, “Ahn, sari, sari. Jamaai.” (Okay. Have fun.)

Kamal said that he considered Ilayaraja one of his gurus. “As with acting, there can be posturing in singing. He doesn’t like that. He’ll say, ‘Do what suits your voice. Don’t try to sing like others.’ Above all, he taught me how to sing with abandon. ‘Just relax,’ he’ll say. He taught me how to relax over the about 50 recordings I’ve done for him.” Kamal Haasan pointed to Sanyasa mantram in ‘Hey Ram’ where his voice is, as he put it, held back.

“It’s not about performing to an audience,” he said. “It’s a very personal thing.” Because of the camaraderie and the casualness with which these lessons were imparted, he didn’t realise then that they were lessons. “And that was a lesson as well,” he said, “the way it was taught in a very pedestrian manner, without major technical terms, very simply.”

(To be continued)

[avavh3]

And more on the Ilaiyaraaja connection

The best part of these interviews were Kamal's impromptu launches into song – and he sounds exactly like how he does in the recordings, exactly.

(This is the fourth part in a series of articles on Kamal Haasan’s tryst with the classical arts.)

“After 1977 or so, I cannot recall going to another music director,” Kamal Haasan told me. The “I” threw me off, because he wasn’t exactly making movies then, merely acting in them – and the task of “going to a music director,” one assumes, falls on the person making the movie: the director. But Kamal was probably talking of a time when one could get as involved with the filmmaking process as one wished, when even an actor who’s only required to show up on the sets would show up at music sittings, with the director and the composer.

Kamal was present at a lot of music sittings with K. Balachander, in whose films he’d come to resemble a stock company actor. These sessions, Kamal said, helped him when he began directing films and began to tell the music director that this wasn’t quite what he was looking for, or that he wanted a tweak there. “My sessions with KB and Raja gave me that confidence.” So when he’s talking about not going to another music director after 1977 or so, he’s probably referring to ‘16 Vayadhinile’, which was the first film that had Kamal as the leading man and Ilaiyaraaja as the composer. It’s an association that lasted up to the mid-1990s, roughly, till which point the non-Ilaiyaraaja films were relatively rare. The high points are too numerous to recount. ‘Aattu Kutti Muttayittu’ in 1977, ‘Orey Naal Unai Naan’ in 1978, ‘Ninaithaal Inikkum’ in 1979, ‘Azhagu Aayiram’ in 1980, ‘Andhi Mazhai Pozhigiradhu’ in 1981...

Kamal Haasan spoke about the composing session for the latter, from ‘Rajapaarvai’, which he produced and which Singeetham Srinivasa Rao directed. “Singeetham kept asking Raja for more tunes. Those days, Raja would come up with many options. He made nine tunes, but I knew that the first one was the best and we eventually came back to it.”

Then he began talking about what seems to have become his favourite anecdote to illustrate his working relationship with Ilaiyaraaja. “The way the song ‘Inji Iduppazhaga’ came about is itself an exercise in knowing how an artist’s mind works,” he said. Ilaiyaraaja kept asking Kamal what he wanted... exactly. Kamal said he couldn’t say... exactly. “I said, ‘You have to be the paediatrician. The child does not know how to say what’s happening. You have to find out’.”

Kamal explained that it had to be a monotonous tune, a simple melody that kept looping back, like something that would air on Pappa Malar, the All India Radio show conducted by “Vanoli Anna” where children sang, often breathlessly. Ilaiyaraaja said, “That’s a good idea, but how do you make a populist song out of it? It will be a funny song, but how do you make a populist song?” And Kamal began to sing ‘Yeh Dil Deewana Hai’, the S.D. Burman number from ‘Ishq Par Zor Nahin.’

And, in front of me, Kamal Haasan launched into the Hindi song. This, I’m beginning to realise, was the best part of these interviews, his impromptu launches into song – and he sounds exactly like how he does in the recordings. After he finished, he said, “If it had been any other music director, Raja might not have listened. But he has a special respect for SD.” Ilaiyaraaja began to tap out a talam on the harmonium, and within 10 minutes, he had a variation on the S.D. Burman tune. The composing was done. Kamal Haasan told me, “It’s not like he was taking from the tune. He was taking from my need.”

For ‘Michael Madana Kamarajan’, Kamal wanted a song like ‘Margazhi Thingal’, a verse from Tirupaavai. “He came up with ‘Sundari Neeyum’. Again, it became his own composition because of the changes he made.” Yesudas was supposed to sing the song. Kamal used to “sing track” a lot those days, the equivalent of a temp track which would then be dubbed over by a Yesudas or an SPB. Because Kamal couldn’t always wait for their dates in order to have the finished song available during the shooting, he’d sing track and take the song along. Kamal told Ilaiyaraaja that he’d sing track for ‘Sundari Neeyum’, but Ilaiyaraaja insisted that he sing the final song.

Then, there was this time they were watching the Oscars, and a group (or maybe an individual; Kamal didn’t seem too sure about this) gave this performance where they beat their chests and sang. Kamal said he wanted something like that for ‘Aboorva Sagotharargal’. He got it. ‘Bababa... Bababari... Pudhu Mapillaikku...’ I asked him if he could single out a song he had to sing that was tough, more challenging than the others. But he refused to bite. He simply said, “The truth is that they all gave me easy songs. All my music directors have been kind to me. Raja especially saw to it that his songs were crafted around my capability.”

(To be continued)

[avavh3]

Kamal and the art of screenplay writing

When I asked Kamal Haasan what kind of music he listened to, outside of work, he said, “Pretty much anything that comes my way – even dubstep, which (Gautami’s daughter) Subbulakshmi introduced me to.” He said he was most fond of neoclassical music, and he named the composer Alex North, who veered away from the traditional orchestral approach prevalent in Hollywood and incorporated other elements – jazz, for instance, in his score for ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’. (North went on to compose for well-regarded films such as ‘Spartacus’ and ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’).

“You can see those influences in my films,” Kamal Haasan said, “right from ‘Rajapaarvai’.” He then spoke about an “extraordinary neoclassical score,” a Hiranya Vadham kind of piece, which Ghibran has composed for the soon-to-be-released ‘Uthama Villain’.

“I am not a great fan of songs being part of the film, unless it’s a musical,” he said. “I think it’s high time for a bifurcation between music and cinema. It’s such a nuisance when we bring in songs. We have trained the audience like that. It takes a long time to make the audience understand that too much fried food is bad for you. They listen only if the doctor tells them. But now that the portion sizes have become small, they’ve begun to understand.”

***

We then spoke about his writing, and Kamal Haasan went into a flashback to when he must have been around 16. He and his brothers were waiting for their mother to serve them dosais and Charuhasan, on the spot, composed and sang this pastiche based on the tune of ‘Vettri meedhu vettri vandhu ennai saerum’, the popular MGR song from the 1970 film ‘Thedi Vandha Maappillai’.

“Dosai meedhu dosai vandhu ennai saerum,

Adhai vaarthu thandha perumai ellam unnai saerum,

Idli-oda chutney thandha annai allavo,

Idhu oosugindra dosai enbadhu unmai allavo.”

This is impossible to translate with its flavour intact, but the point Kamal Haasan was making was that, as with music, writing too was all around him in that household. “Charu anna would be composing these funny lines and singing them to the tunes of the latest Tamil film songs. Much later, RC Sakthi made me write. My friend Puviarasu made me write. Great poets such as Gnanakoothan encouraged me to write.” Even Raghu Rai could be added to that list, for Kamal Haasan said that poetry and photography are very important hobbies that a screenwriter should have, because they make you think of succinct ways of saying what you have to say. “I’m a great fan of Raghu Rai. Each photograph of his tells you a whole story. A little higher up, a different angle, and it’s a whole new story.”

RC Sakthi, who would go on to direct films such as ‘Dharma Yudhdham’ and ‘Sirai’, told Kamal very early in their association, “You are a screenwriter.” He thrust a 40-page notebook in Kamal’s hand and told his friend to start writing his screenplay. This was around 1970-71. Kamal started writing something called ‘Ninaivugal’ for a short film. Sakthi liked it and asked Kamal to join him as co-writer on ‘Unarchigal’, a film he was planning about the sexual misadventures of a teenager. Kamal, who would play this protagonist, came up with the title. The film was supposed to be a quickie, released in 1972.

But it got embroiled with the Censor Board over its content, which was fairly explicit for the time. The 1972 roster of the Tamil film industry included ‘Agathiyar’, ‘Dheivam’, ‘Annai Abirami’ and ‘Sakthi Leelai’. The story of a teenager who contracts a sexually transmitted disease must have been a bit of a stretch. ‘Unarchigal’, finally, made it to the screens in 1976.

(To be continued)

[oyivukac]

கமலுடன் ட்ரிபிள் ட்ரீட்!! இசையமைப்பாளர் ஜிப்ரான்!!



இளையராஜாவுக்கு அப்புறம் கமல் உங்க மீதுதான் அபார நம்பிக்கை வெச்சிருக்கார்போல..?''
நெஞ்சில் கைவைத்து பணிவாகச் சிரிக்கிறார்... ''அந்த மேஜிக் எப்படி நடந்ததுனு எனக்கே ஆச்சர்யம்தான். அவர்கூட வேலை பார்க்கிற ஒவ்வொரு நாளும் பெர்சனலா நிறையக் கத்துக்கிட்டே இருக்கேன்.

கமல் சார்கூட டெல்லியில் முதன்முதலா 'விஸ்வரூபம்-2’ படத்துக்காக டிஸ்கஷன் போனப்போ, ரொம்ப நெர்வஸா இருந்தேன். 'உட்காருங்க ஜிப்ரான்’னு கையைப் பிடிச்சுப் பக்கத்துல உட்காரவெச்சுக்கிட்டார். 'உங்க மியூசிக் எனக்குப் பிடிச்சிருந்தது. உங்களைப் பத்தி தெரிஞ்சுக்க ஆசைப்படுறேன். ஒரு மியூசிக் டைரக்டரா இல்லாம, சாதாரண ஜிப்ரானா பேசுங்க’னு சொன்னார்.

குடும்பம், படிப்பு, இசைக்கு எப்படி வந்தேன்னு நான் சொல்லச் சொல்ல, எல்லாத்தையும் கேட்டார். பார்த்தா... முழுசா ரெண்டு மணி நேரம் ஆச்சு. அப்புறம்தான் என் கூச்சத்தை, தயக்கத்தைப் போக்கி கொஞ்சம் நான் சகஜமான பிறகுதான், 'விஸ்வரூபம்-2’ படத்தை எனக்கு ப்ளே பண்ணார்.

படம்... செம மிரட்டல். இந்தியா முழுக்க பல மாநிலங்களில் நடக்கிற கதைங்கிறதால, எந்த இடத்துல என்ன மாதிரியான பேக்ரவுண்ட் வெச்சுக்கலாம்னு கேட்டார். என் பதிலில் அவருக்கு ரொம்பவே திருப்தி. 'இப்பவே ஒரு பாட்டுக்கு கம்போஸிங் உட்கார்ந்தா என்ன?’னு கேட்டார். 'தாராளமா சார்’னு நம்பிக்கையா சொன்னேன்.
கடகடனு கால் மணி நேரத்துல பாட்டு எழுதிட்டார். ஒரு கிளாசிக்கல் கர்னாட்டிக் பாடலை அவர் பாட, உடனே கம்போஸ் பண்ணோம். அப்படியே அடுத்தடுத்த பாடல்களுக்கும் வேலை நடந்துட்டு இருந்தப்ப, ஒரு நாள் ரமேஷ் அரவிந்த் சாரை எனக்கு அறிமுகப்படுத்தினார். 'உத்தம வில்லன் புராஜெக்ட்ல ஜிப்ரான்தான் மியூசிக் டைரக்டர்’னு அவர்கிட்ட சொன்னார் கமல் சார். டபுள் சந்தோஷத்துல ஷாக் ஆகிட்டேன்.

'உத்தம வில்லன்’ வேலை பார்த்துட்டு இருக்கிறப்பவே, ' 'பாபநாசம்’ படமும் நீங்கதான் பண்றீங்க’னு சொன்னார். இந்தத் தடவை எனக்குப் பேச்சே வரலை. இப்பவும் எல்லாமே ஏதோ மேஜிக் மாதிரி இருக்கு. கமல் சார் ஆபீஸில் சிலர், 'உங்க மியூசிக்கை சார் ரொம்ப ரசிச்சுப் பாராட்டினார்’னு சொன்னப்போ இன்னும் சந்தோஷமா இருந்தது. கமல் சார்கூட ஹாட்ரிக் எனக்கு. இந்த மூணு படங்களிலும் ஒவ்வொரு கோர்ஸ் படிச்ச அனுபவம் கிடைச்சது!''

[Russellbpw]

திரி நண்பர்களுக்கு....முக்கிய தகவலாக இருப்பதால் திரும்பி வரும் சூழ்நிலை....இந்த செய்தியை முடிந்தவரையில் உங்கள் சுற்றம், நண்பர்கள் அனைவரிடமும் பகிர்ந்துகொள்ளுங்கள் !

காவல் துறை முக்கிய அறிவிப்பு ! நூதன கடத்தல் !



RKS

[avavh3]

HH in continuation to 'maharaja' news, can it be Rajeev (kaadhal kottai) or Ramki (inainda kaigal)
mandaiye vedichidum pola irukke!

[ajaybaskar]

Ramki doesn't have curly hair and IIRC didn't act with Sivaji