Veg.Melody BGM- Cheenikum.

Just experience it, am getting emotional.No words can summarise this sheer Masterpiece.Typical Ilaiyaraaja’ish.

Note: Thanks a Zillion to the gentleman, who posted this in youtube.

Pazhassi Raja – a Mindblowing Experience.

Making Period Flicks is never an easy thing in India, unlike Hollywood,we dont have Budget-Friendly producers who doesn’t care about the money or time spent in making a movie.There a director can shoot for years till he gets his desired output.But in India only very few producers has the guts and money to take a risk in the period flicks.So the director has lots of constraints,he has to complete the movie in a specified time that too with the given resources.Really its an uphill task for any director, still Hariharan has come up with an indeed Magnum Opus Pazhassi Raja.Though the story is just a one-line i.e how Mammootty(Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja)  faces British through his Guerilla Operations in the Wayanad woods,the screenplay and the way its executed with a grand treatment is something really amazing.Each and every frame reveals the enormous work put behind the scene.Dense forest locations,how Mammootty form a group for Guerilla warfare,how they are getting trained and how they assault the British by Bow and Arrows are shown in a classic style.Also the art director has taken utmost care in each and every thing,as a result the costumes,guns,tanks,wood houses,furnitures,palm leaf depict the 1790’s to us.On coming to performance side though Mammotty does a neat job its the Padmapriya who steals the show in the movie with her brilliant stunts.And finally comes the Maestro, Needless to say, as usual rocks the entire movie with his Scintillating Western Classical Style Background Scores.Esp.Theme Music during War sequences(Goosebumps Guaranteed),the scene where the tribals are learning martial arts &  the song Aadhiushassandhya Poothathivide are of typical Maestro’s stamp.Jus a tip of the iceberg in Maestro’s Magic below:

 

 

Pazhassi Raja – Watch it just for its Making and Ilaiyaraaja.

A Wednesday – Once in a life time such movie comes.

What the hell ? When everyone going gaga over ” Unnai Pol Oruvan “, why am scribbling about ” A Wednesday ” ? To show am different from others ? Never.Exactly a year before, when ” A Wednesday ” was on the theatres, i dint feel like to give it a chance since i was looking forward for ” Tahaan ” @ that time coz of Santhosh Sivan.Then positive reviews came from all the side, but it was out from the theatres when i thot of trying it.So i bought the DVD (Thanks to Moserbaer) only to place in my wardrobe (Infact i dint even open the DVD wrapper) Finally today when my roomates were getting ready for ” Unnai Pol Oruvan ” i decided to try the original first.The movie ended around 12.30.I was almost speechless and the movie completely took my breath away.With no mood to sleep, i was keep on wandering to hall and bedroom with my mind rewinding the scenes.Hardly, i’d experienced such kinda feelings and emotions after watching a movie.

 

The way the movie get into the flashback thru Anupam Kher’s narration is itself a classic attempt of story telling.The lightning-pace screenplay,brilliant execution of the scenes,well matured dialogs (Eg.They have asked the questions on Friday and Saturday.Iam just replying to them on Wednesday.) and amazing performances (in the descending order scale) by Naseeruddin Shah (Simply unbelievable performance.!!!) Anupam Kher,Jimmy Shergill makes the movie one of the best ever in Indian Cinema.Above all, the director’s brilliance was clearly evident in the way he handled the characterisation of two cops(Raj & Arif).Instead of abruptly linking them into the story,first portraying their characters with a scene and joining them into the story is a brilliant idea.

Its  really hard to believe this is a debut movie  for Neeraj Pandey.After Katradhu Thamizh, i would say this is a movie straight from the director’s heart without any compromises for the so-called commercial purposes.It doesn’t matter whether u have watched Unnai Pol Oruvan or not,please grab a Moserbaer DVD(50 INR only) and experience a terrific roller-coaster ride.

a neat write-up on S.A.Rajkumar’s early period compositions.

நல்ல பதிவு,நம்மில் பலருக்குத் தெரியாத சில ஆச்சரியமான தகவல்கள் கூட.

Here’s the Link written by one of my good friend Kanapraba, in Twitter  : S.A.Rajkumar’s early period compositions.

 

Am devoting this post to T.Rajendar.

Though listening to this song for years, i haven’t got so emotional as in the last few days,hence of late it become an habit not going to bed without listening feeling Vaigai Karai Kaatre…..Agreed Jesudas or Yesudas (as u prefer) has done a remarkable job in evoking the poignancy, but  wat’s the most beautiful thing is,T.Rajender’s soulful Orchestration,which took the song to Himalayan levels.Eg.a Solo pathos violin piece in both interludes is jus more than a classic which kindles all our emotions, thus we end up in crying literally.(Also you can hear a mild guitar piece in the background when the violin is playing in both interludes.) Wat’s more surprising is, as in Raja’s style,T.R. has used Guitar in a pathos number which is very unconventional in those days.

Actually i thot of writing only abt the Vaigai Karai Kaatre, but accidentally chanced upon another gem in youtube (when searching for Vaigai Karai Kaatre…) which proved sternly, TR is not a Kaama Soma composer, instead he loves to use pretty lively instruments in orchestration which is so pleasant to ears unlike TR’s today compositions.Wats so special abt this song ? Sheer Sitar Magic!!! Song starts off with a violin orchestration followed by Sitar,there after you can hear only Sitar thru out the song in all the three interludes drenched in Hindustani Classical Flavour.Needless to say, SPB has done an excellent job as usual.

Ironically, TR has become a joker today in our minds, Thanks to his clown-like appearances in the movies + nonsensical approach in interviews.Still i feel he carved a space in the Tamil Music with his evergreen melodies.(But sadly the current genre folks unable to realise those ones.)

Missing Good Old Days TR.

Malare Malare Ullasam….

With just two days to go for Maestro’s Birthday i would like to revive some of his rare classics with visuals.Lets start with an amazing solo number sung by Janaki from the movie Un Kaneel Neer Vazhinthaal.Though the movie was a disaster,it had an interesting combo for the first (and ofcourse last time too) Rajini + Balumahendra.Probably many might have seen this movie in Raj Tv.The song is a typical Balu’s duet shot in his favt ooty locations with the mesmerizing janaki’s voice @ the backdrop.How come ooty looks so refreshing only under the lens of Balu ?

Thalapathy… a Maniratnam Masterpiece.

Though i have seen Thalapathy n number of times i failed to realise its amazing Technical Brilliance hidden under its shell.All these years jus i have enjoyed the movie as an entertainer without much stressing on technical details.But i was totally blown away when i watched it in a DVD few months back.In technical aspects i wud say Thalapathy is Mani’s Masterstroke.Agreed all his movies has technical brilliance,but Thalapathy is something special, Thanks to Santhosh Sivan’s breathtaking Fotography,Maestro’s scintillating BGM+Songs and above all Mani’s execution of Scenes & Characterisations makes one of the best in the industry.Since Thalapathy has its adaptation from the epic Mahabharatha,both the scenes and characters has shades of Mahabharatha.To Start off with

 

Titles : Mani movies never had Titles in Maroon color(usually come in White fonts in Black Background) but in Thalapathy Titles come in Maroon color or Brick red color since Rajini’s character is ditto Karna in Mahabharatha who is a Son of Sun,which is maroon or brick red color.Needless to say Rajni’s name in Thalapathy is Surya.This is the reason, Rajni’s Costume wud be Maroon Colored Shirt in most of the scenes.

• In many Scenes u can see the Sun Rays joining with Rajni.
• When Srividya and Rajni unites u can see the Sun Rising.
• Also the whole movie wud have a Maroonish color tone (as like Sethu’s Paandi Madam Green tone in the second half) since the story demands it.

Characterisation: See how beautifully Mani portrays the Shobana’s Characterisation.Please do watch the portion before the song starts.

Here Shobana cries but when Rajini asks the reason for crying, she has no answer to say.Mani has made this jus to show Shobana is too soft in nature so that she can’t even bear a shouting @ her.

• The Backdrop location wud be a Kovil – Theppakulam when both Rajini – Shobana were in Love.But the backdrop wud be a ruined fort with no trees or shrubs, the scene where Shobana comes to Rajini to say that she gonna get married with Arvindswamy.
• Also during the break-up scene of Shobana – Rajini u can see the sun trying to set.

Songs: Now we shall look into Mani’s Magic in the songs.Picturising songs is an art which not comes to all directors, even the biggies Bharathiraja,Balachandar limps when coming to Song Picturisation.(Who can forget the hilarious White angels,Clapping of hands,Sunflowers of Bharathiraja) But for Mani Jus a room is enuf, he will do things in a brilliant manner.(Eg.Ninnukori Varnam).Since Rajini’s Characterisation is similiar to a warrior who goes for frequent fights, Mani had picturised the song in such a way.What’s more beauty in this song is  many wud have heard in olden days, War won’t happen after 6 jus to nurse the injured soldiers. The same here too once shobana lit the lamps, Mani won’t show the war instead rajini wud be there with horses resting aside him.

Ilaiyaraaja aka BGM: Can’t even imagine anyother music director for this classic,Thank God!!! Mani - Raja parted their ways away after this movie else Thalapathy wud have been turned into a damp squib.Lets See Raja’s Magic.

• Whenever Srividya thinks of Rajini, BGM wud be Train’s Siren.Amazing  isnt’it?
• In Sundari kannal oru Sethi When Rajni goes for war u can hear the Police March Fast BGM.

Some amazing BGM portions in Thalapathy.

• Rajini – Shobana Break up scene.
• Rajini – Mammootty first Meeting & Uniting scene.

• When Rajini stands in a small hill i.e exactly before Amrish puri enters into the scene.
• See Maestro’s Magic,u can hear the Temple – Bell Ringing sound in the BGM when Shobana lies her head in Rajini’s lap & When Mammootty hugs Rajini in the staircases of Rajini’s House.(This is jus to show,as people say good things gonna happen when anyone heard the Temple-bell ringing sound.)

Ayan.

Ayan proves 2 points clearly:

• Even a small piece of news can be crafted in celluloid, only the director should have the guts and caliber in presenting it with a style.
• There are hell  lot of fresh themes are running around us,but only few find the plot in it.

Kudos to  KV.Anand for his fresh treatment and a racy Screenplay,as a result movie jus flying from the first scene till Interval.(Eg.Brilliant Stunt Sequences in Congo with an awesome BGM(Harris) & Fotography.(M.S.Prabhu)).But in the Post-Interval Ayan tests our patience with its length and unwanted songs.If the movie have been trimmed  by 30 mts, it wud have become  an action extravaganza.Still i wud say it’s a Terrific Entertainer. Go for it with minimal expectations.

Ayan – Hitech Ghillie.

Recession.

எந்த நேரத்துல இந்த படம் வந்துச்சோ now the total IT is in shatters,Thanks to the Recession.

P.S : Remembering a dialog in Puthupettai,Dhanush says ” காலைல எந்த‌ரிச்சு களுத்த தொட்டு பாத்தாதான் தெரியும்…உசுர் இருக்கா இல்லையான்னு ” . Same for Techies too : Company poi ID Card Swipe panna thaaan theriyum Velai irukaaa,Illayannu…

Situation Matters.

Lets deal with a classic song from one of the Best combo in Tamil Cinema K.Balachandar – Ilaiyaraaja – Vaalee – SPB.What’s so special abt this song to write off ? Its the situation matters.A duet or a peppy or even a pathos won’t do justice for this kinda situation.First lets see the situation b4 going to the song.

Situation:

With total frustration,Rahman goes on a journey without knowing the destination.On the way he gets introduced to Sithara,a nice relationship blossoms between them which makes Rahman on top of the world Esp.when he is yearning for a person with whom he could share his past life burdens.

At this type  of scenario the song has to reflect Rahman’s state of mind i.e.a blend of his present happiness and past bitterness instead of usual duet or pathos.That’s what done by the amazing trio KB – Raja – Vaalee in an amazing style.See the Raja’s Magic here,the song wud have poignancy but @ the same time it won’t have complete pathos feel like Oorai Therinchukitten Or Raaja Enbaar Manithiri Enbaar and here we also need to mention Vaalee’s Lyrics which captures the Rahman’s Life in jus two lines

நான் போட்ட பூமாலை மணம் சேர்க்கவில்லை

நீ தானே எனக்காக மடல் பூத்த முல்லை!!!

And here comes the classic and my most favt lines

நீங்காத பாரம் என் நெஞ்சோடு தான்

நான் தேடும் சுமைதாங்கி நீ அல்லவா!!

நான் வாடும் நேரம் உன் மார்போடுதான்

நீ என்னை தாலாட்டும் தாய்யல்லவா!!!