Santhi is a 1965 Indian Tamil movie directed by the famous A. Bhim Singh and starred by Nadigar Thilagam Sivaji Ganesan. It is known for a particular song and the story behind it because the story was told by Maestro M. S. Viswanathan (MSV) himself. Image source: Youtube
If you look at the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s Tamil movie scenes, T. M. Soundararajan (TMS) was the top male singer, singing a reported 10,138 songs from 3,162 films and over 11 different languages. Image source: Wikipedia
However, when Maestro Ilayaraaja came into the limelight, TMS was not keen to sing for him. Apparently, he did not think highly of this “new” music director. If not mistaken, he only sang about 7 songs for the maestro so it is rather rare to find TMS singing for Ilaiyaraaja’s composition.
Continue reading “Nostalgic Tamil Song 101: Mesmerising Nallavarkkellam by Ilaiyaraaja 1978”
Puthiya Paravai (meaning New Bird) was a 1964 Tamil movie that was produced and acted by the Nadigar Thilagam, Sivaji Ganesan. It was his maiden movie that he produced under his own production company, Sivaji Productions. Image source: Smule
It is reported that Puthiya Paravai is a remake of an earlier Bengali film which is itself inspired by the British film Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958).
Kizhakke Pogum Rail (transl. Eastbound Train) is a 1978 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film, directed by Bharathiraja, starring newcomers Sudhakar and Raadhika. The film had a musical score and songs by Ilaiyaraaja and was released on 10 August 1978. Image source: Amazon
Continue reading “Nostalgic Tamil Song 101: Mesmerising Kovil Mani Osai by Ilaiyaraaja 1978”
16 Vayathinile (translated as At Age 16) is a 1977 Tamil movie written and directed by Bharathirajaa in his directorial debut.
The movie included a number of big and new stars namely Kamal Haasan as retarded Chappani, Sridevi as Mayil and Rajinikanth (his famous line – ithu eppendi irruku) who often with his man, the funny Goundamani. K. Bhagyaraj worked in this movie as an assistant director to Bharathirajaa. Image source: Twitter
Continue reading “Nostalgic Tamil Song 101: Mesmerising Aattu Kutti by Ilaiyaraaja 1977”
Kadal Meengal was a 1981 Tamil movie starring Kamal Haasan, Sujatha, Nagesh and Swapna. Kamal Haasan in a dual role as father & son on opposite sides with the younger Kamal Haasan bent on taking revenge. Image source: IMDB.
Unfortunately, this movie was not the highlight of Kamal Haasan in his string of blockbusters but stands out for Ilaiyaraaja’s classic songs.
Continue reading “Nostalgic Tamil Song 101: Mesmerising Thaalattudhe Vaanam by Ilaiyaraaja 1981”
Let’s go back almost 60 years back to 1960 and this particular movie titled Mannathi Mannan which is a 1960 Tamil movie starring M. G. Ramachandran, Anjali Devi and Padmini in the lead roles and with music scored by Maestro MSV. The story for the movie was actually written by the famous poet Kannadasan. Image source: Amazon
Continue reading “Nostalgic Tamil Song 101: Romantic Kaniya Kaniya Mazhalai by MS Viswanathan 1960”
(No matter where you are right now, no matter how old you are, I am sure you always have your favorite old songs by these dynamic duo that you don’t mind humming the whole day long. Image source: Silverscreen India)
Despite “starting off” with the music of Illayaraja and later discovering the new age music of A R Rahman and then Yuvan Shankar Raja, Harris and all the new music directors, I always had soft spot for the music from the 1960s and 1970s in particular songs composed by MS Viswanathan – Ramamoorthy (MSV) and penned by the great poet Kannadasan (I also liked songs composed by KV Mahadevan and AM Raja).
Continue reading “Genius of MSV Part 1: Why Old Songs Will Melt Cold Hearts”