This Tamil movie came out in 1979 starring Rajinikanth – Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai means From Six to Sixty which summarises the journey of the main character in this movie. Other than Rajinikanth who plays the main character, the other lovable character in this movie is one that is played by Cho Ramasamy. Poster source: Awesome Machi
Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai actually is a really good Tamil movie and is a must-watch Rajinikanth movie despite it coming in the 1970s. This probably is one of his finest Tamil movies without the superstar’s “style” overwhelming his true acting skills.
Rajinikanth plays the eldest son and the eldest brother to his 3 younger siblings in a poor family who had to start work when he was just 6 years old after his father had died in an accident. Despite the hard work and sacrifices that he had done throughout his life, his selfish siblings who now living in a better condition does not appreciate his sacrifices and does not help him when he needs their help the most.
The music for this Tamil movie is done by the maestro Ilaiyaraaja with the lyrics all done by Panchu Arunachalam who also the producer of the movie. Panchu Arunachalam was also the producer who gave the break to maestro Ilaiyaraaja in the Tamil movie industry.
Right from the start, this first composition from him in this movie titled “Kanmaniye Kadhal Enbathu” actually shows how brilliant Ilaiyaraaja is in arranging the orchestration and the seamless blend of new and traditional music and rhythm.
The guitar and piano start off the song and the violin takes over with a series of high & low pitch before SP Balasubramaniam and S Janaki’s voice comes over. And watch out for the flute before the first chorus and then for the second chorus, we have the traditional drum making a pause with a loud but confident tune.
This simply enforces what I have been said all the long, that some of the greatest works from the maestro is from the 1970s.
This is another of the same song from Ilaiyaraaja’s Live In Concert in Singapore which now shows how the music sounds like when one hears it digitally.
Unfortunately for this version, the female singer, however, did not do proper justice to this song – she was struggling with the delivery although Mano tried his best to salvage it.