The Golden Era of Dr.IR and Dr.SPB

[Divine22]

Great going App Sir, so fast you've covered 2 albums within a few days,

Maunaraagam ~ One of my all time fav movie & album, Kaalathai vendra paadalgal & pinnani isai.... A cute movie !! love every scene and bit of the movie. Simply outstanding, MR, Ir, SPB, Sj, KSc....

Punnagai Mannnan ~ ''Aggini Mannan'' still remember Revathy quoting KH like this in the movie Superb songs,, I prefer Singalathu chinna kuyile, esp the Nilave neethanaa...(part) & the amusing "Maamavukku kudumma '' by MS.V ..
Always brings back such refreshing happiness, when ever I listen to these albums.

Interestingly, both movies had Mazhai song, both for Revathi, slightly different situations. Sung by two of the greatest song birds, Sj & KSc. such sweeties. Gives the pleasure of dancing in the rain for me.

Thank you again App sir. You carry so much fond memories about your college days and friends, Do you still have contacts with them ? I'm sure you would think about all those friends every time you write abt a song and your memories... College days,,, vasantha kaala naatkal...

[V_S]

watched the Vikram trailer for the first time and got totally bowled! What a tremendously different one from anything seen in TF before, we wondered! The mechanical vikrEm sound in that song plus some more synthesised sounds, elegant drum work and the prose-order-like saraNam structure - all were novel and increased a lot more curiosity for the movie. Ofcourse, rAsA delivered goods as usual - a combination of futuristic stuff as well as signature stuff, melody and mastery all combined!

+1 Well said App I too vaguely remember watching the trailer either in Devi or Devi Paradise and was totally floored. The sounds you mentioned haunts me till date. Somehow I keep remembering only school days with this film. May be this one released at the beginning of 1986. I second grouch, loved this film very much. Watching Amjad Khan that time in a Tamizh film was like dream come true for us.

Doc, spot on the Kamal-SPB transition part

[groucho070]

More on Vikram.

The film actually accomplished what the Bond films didn't. In1969, world saw the second actor playing Bond, George Lazenby. The tone of the movie was a lot more serious (than the 1967 Tokyo toor, You Only Live Twice). On Her Majesties Secret Service is still hailed as one of the best entry. At the end, Bond gets married and wife is killed. Movie ends. Then, the followup saw Lazenby leaving the franchise, and Connery returning. Filmakers wanted to go back to fun, so what could have been a film about Bond hunting down wife's killer turned into gayfest with the murderous horrible bad guy Blofeld (who ordered the death of Bond's wife) turning up in drag.

Vikram, on the other hand, had the wife killed part, and had him actually going after the killer under the pretext of handling an assignment. The gadgets are laughable now (that toy watch as explosive was awesome for us poor kids then), the size of the missile changing (happens to Bond all the time), and the whole notion of a fictional country (Salamiah, and this precedes 1989 Bond film which has Ithmus City, a fictional south American country). They are not cool if you look at it now, but goddam they were cool then.

Then, of course the music. Title song did not deviate from Kamal the dancer image, an the man himself gets his vocal robotised. Then, the rest of the song. My favourite being the erotic one that app is going to cover soon. En Jodi Manja kuruvi sequence itself was one of the best. Kamal's fantastic dance is one, and in the middle when the song stops as he accidentally flicks the princess' veil. The guilty look in his face, the anger in Amjad which dissipates and song continues. Just wonderful. More later...

[V_S]

grouch,
thank you for bringing in some great analogies between the bond movies and vikram. I have not concentrated much on bond movies, but your post is triggering me to watch these movies. Please write more on vikram. Would love to read. My memory is almost faded except few scenes. Need to watch again.

[groucho070]

Thanks V_S, unfortunately I too haven't seen the film for a very long time. Also working from memory. Alas, I don't want to take the thunder away from the thread Nayagan. But will followup his posts.

[Plum]

My cousin used to sing as 'kaala kaalamaaga kaadhalukku arpaNam, kalidasan kamban kooda seiyavillayE darpanam"

[app_engine]

nanRi skr, groucho, Divine22 & V_Sji!

Alas, I don't want to take the thunder away from the thread Nayagan. But will followup his posts.

Thread nAyaks are SPB & IR!

groucho sEvai threaddukku mikaththEvai! Please pour in bond info (& Kamal info)!

Interestingly, though I didn't think about it when I started Vikram yesterday, there's a "friday song" ...post to follow shortly

[app_engine]

You carry so much fond memories about your college days and friends, Do you still have contacts with them ?

Not regular contact with everyone but they're all part of a yahoo group and I keep getting update mails

There are phone-call-level contacts with some of them as well...

Yes, like you mentioned, spring is the exact term for he college days that are incomparable!

[radiochandra]

# KH gave good company to his buddy RK's own production Maaveeran by registering this costly flop under the Rajkamal banner.

# The movie starts promisingly. First half sends goosebumps to the 8 year old kid ( that was me watching the movie with my dad for company in balaji theater , pondicherry )

# Opening court scene in the rain .... criminals led into the police van ..... kalakkal

# Rocket kadathall ..... Satyaraj intro ...... nakkal dialogues ..... nasthy

# VK Ramasamy entry into the high tension meeting ..... "Enna kappal .... sowkkiyamaa ? .....Rockettaa .... adhu sivakasi samaacharam ....... " Amburla en thottathula karumbu potturukken .... indha rocket adhu varaikkum vedikkumaa ? "

# Arun Kumar Vikram's passport photograph transiting into the monocular rifle lens view of Dharma ( Vikram Dharma after this ) .... and KH kissing Ambica's hand and starting off "Kanne .... Ottikkavaa " ..... marvellous

# IR using the chuk chuk train background in the Vanithamani charanam when SPB pours out " tha dheem tha dheem tha dheem podhaatho "..... priceless

# " naan poo thottikku thaan kuri vechen ..... satthiyama " Lollu by Satyaraj

# Title song ..... IR the great ...... thalaivar Kamal voice ...... typical dance .... including the famous lateral tilted, both legs meet on air step ......

# Kamal saying "thevudiyaa magan" and elder bro Charuhasan, "ketta vaarthai ellaam pesadhappa "

# KH and Satyaraj watching each other's profiles on a juxta interposed slide projector show, with Kamal's kalathoor kannamma still starting his profile

# Kamal exhibiting unnecessary male chaunism when he challenges the IIT Madras educated Lissy Priyadarshan to roam topless in summer, as he would do

# Janakaraj enrty post interval and the movie becomes a mess .... janakaraj has the same effect 3 years later in Vetri Vizhaa

# Rajasthan eli koyilur becomes Salamia country

# Indiana Jones dinner and bedroom attack sequences get superimposed on the Bond theme

# Amjad Khan does a fine job ...... did you know Kamal had amjad khan's son in HEY RAAM playing Altaf , the tailor, who splashes the tomato behind kamal's back in the Calcutta taxi, and also splashes the tomato out of Rani Mukherjee a few hours later.

# Kamal reciprocating the magic by the "mottai" magician in the royal palace ...... " Vadakari kari kari kari kari" ----- kamal has a liking for Vadakari ( Also refer to the song "kaamanukku Kaaman" from "Uruvangal Maaralaam" and " idly Vadakari ..... naakkula jalam oorudhu ....." from GUNA

# Sujatha recounts that the second half was made in a half hearted hurried fashion by director Rajashekhar who got busy with RK's manithan.

[app_engine]

#223 மீண்டும் மீண்டும் வா
(விக்ரம், 1986 , ஜானகியுடன்)

Baahar Se Koi Andar Na Aa Sake
Andar Se Koi Baahar Na Jaa Sake
Socho Kabhi Aisa Ho To Kya Ho...
Socho Kabhi Aisa Ho To Kya Ho...

Hum Tum Ek Kamre Mein Band Ho, Aur Chaabi Kho Jaaye...

Those were school days when I didn't even know the correct words of these lines but was so mad after the song, including the instrumentals that accompany these lines - singing aloud and running around! Bobby was such a craze even in such a small hamlet as mine and I knew from the weekly mags that the movie had a beautiful girl called Dimple Kapadia. At that age, never cared about who she was or how she looked like. Later, my cousin who saw that movie talked highly about her and there was some curiosity. Still didn't know much about her except that she was beevi of the merE sapnE ki rANi kA hero, Rajesh Khanna.

Well, when Bobby was screened in the college audi, I was in total that a girl could be so beautiful! Well, by then she was divorced and was acting in a Hindi movie with Kamal (sAgar). Perfect combo, I thought, though I never had a chance to watch that samudram. Finally, it was like a dream to have the handsome Kamal with the beautiful Dimple on a Thamizh movie, that too in a song with the great IR/SPB/SJ combo! That was many times ROI for the money invested in the movie ticket and who cared about anything else in Vikram? okkE bOnassu! (BTW, when I first watched the movie in theater, thoroughly neLinjified -as the scene was very much 'A' - but recent watches on youtube didn't shock me so much...age & anubavam factor possibly...still, cannot watch with kids around).

As educated by Sureshji, this song is set to misra chApu thALam (tha-ki-ta-tha-ka-dhi-mi, 7 beat cycle) and the percussion combo is as delicious as AnnapoornA idly sAmbAr! SPB and SJ, experts in this special genre of songs excel with appropriate emotions and feelings. The interludes are exotic and transport one to some dreamland! What a song!

True to Bond movie traditions, this had 2 other girls besides Dimple (Ambika as Kamal's wife, vanithA maNi) and Lizzy (now w/o director Priyadharshan) and other such gimmicks as girl either getting bond into trouble or coming to his rescue. kambLeet package and Kamal thoroughly enjoyed it! (I'm sure they opened fan clubs in Madurai for Dimple & Lizzy...for I have seen posters in Madurai by even "Ursula Andress fan club" ). BTW, I have another reason to like dimple (nAn sirichchA kannaththil kuzhi vizhum )