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Carnatic
Music & Cinema
By Sudha Jagannathan |
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Carnatic music and the Tamil film industry have
been closely associated with each other for a long
time. We have seen many hit numbers in the past.
You have this lovely number “Konjum Purave”
(Film: Thai Ullam) sung by the nightingale of Carnatic
music late M.L.Vasanthakumari. The song is so beautifully
sung with her honeyed voice, fine intonation and
crystal clear expression of lyrics. It is still
haunting. The indefatigable Dr.M.Balamuralikrishna
has made the film song “Oru Naal Poduma”
in Tiruvilayadal, starred by Chevaliar Sivaji Ganeshan,
a popular piece even today with his clear diction.
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This song was sung several summers
ago by the maestro, who has also been conferred
the Chevaliar title. Queen of Carnatic music late
M.S. Subbulakshmi had sung top-drawer melody songs
in Bhaktha Meera. She may have gone into the pages
of history, but her “Katrinile Varum Geetham”
still lingers in our minds. We have one more of
the popular hits “Vasantha Mullai…”
of T.M.Soundararajan from the cinema "Sarangadhara”
in raga Charukesi. In 1944, there was this super
hit film “Haridas” starred by M.K. Thyagaraja
Bagavathar (MKT) and N.C. Vasantha Kokilam. Often
compared with MS those days, she had sung a few
songs in this film and also donned the role of Haridas’s
wife. MKT had given the big hits such as “Krishna
Mukunda”, “Manmatha Leelaikal”
and a duet song “Kanna vaa manivanna”
in tandem with Vasantha Kokilam. The music was scored
by Papanasam Sivan. In fact, many hit songs of MKT
were composed by Papanasam Sivan. The song “Premayil”
from `Sakunthalai’ was sung by classical singers
GNB and MS.
In recent times, we see many youngsters with Carnatic
music background making a beeline for the film world.
Nityashree Mahadevan’s song in `Jeans’,
“Kannodu Kanbathelam”, has made a good
impression not just on film buffs but also on the
Carnatic music rasikas. Bombay Jayashri and Unnikrishnan’s
“Narumugaye” song from the Tamil film
`Iruvar’ is pleasant to listen, even as it
is peppered with a few nuances from the Carnatic
music.
Carnatic musicians these days don’t feel shy
of making a foray into film music. They now see
the film industry as an opportunity grab with open
arms. They also look at film industry as one way
of drawing fresh fans into the Carnatic music fold.
This appears a sure way to spread Carnatic music
among masses. K.J. Yesudas especially deserves praise
for bringing non-traditional audience to Carnatic
concerts. His success in the film industry has indeed
seen many of his fan flock to his traditional sabha
kutcheries.
One also finds a new-found enthusiasm among the
present day Carnatic musicians to take up some popular
compositions of Papanasam Sivan, Periasami Thooran,
Arunachala Kavi, Muthutandavar and Bharathiyar.
Well, the works of such great Tamil composers seem
to have now spurred Carnatic musicians to sing more
Tamil songs in their concerts. Hailing from an orthodox
school, violin maestro Lalgudi G Jayaraman, has
scored music for the national award winning Tamil
film “Shringaram”. A song in this film
- “Yen Indha Mayamo” - has been sung
by Sowmya and Bombay Jayashri separately in raga
Hamir Kalyani. “Mamara Thopilla” is
sung by O.S.Arun and “Ninival Yennai”
by Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi. Senior violinist Kunnakudy
Vaidyanthan plays exclusive cinema songs such as
“Tirupathi Malai Vazhum” for the audience.
He has composed a song for the film Agathiyar–
“Thalaiva Thavapudhalva”. His music
composition for film “Todi”, where vocal
singer T.N. Seshagopalan plays the lead role, is
based on rich Carnatic music.
Recently, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Dr. Kalaignar
M. Karunanidhi, has released a film named “Uliyin
Osai” in Tamil. The DMK Party supremo, known
for his wizardry in Tamil, has written powerful
dialogues for many films. Parasakti, which was Sivaji
Ganesan’s maiden film as an actor, stood out
outstandingly for Kalaignar’s dialogue-writing.
Uliyin Osai is an adaptation of the famous novel
"Sarapallam Samundi," written by him in
1960’s. He has provided the script also.
The song from the famous Tamil film `Vanjikottai
Valiban’ - “Kannum Kannum Kalandu…”
- is a popular dialogue song. The song features
two beautiful dancers and actresses of the South,
Vaijayanthi Mala and Padmini. The dance has been
well choreographed with a dialogue-like song in
the voices of Jikki and Leela. Perhaps, Illayaraja
had this in mind while composing music for the song
“Abinayam Kaatuginra,” which is sung
by Sudha Raghunathan and Bombay Jayashri in Kalaignar’s
film. The song is very Carnatic in style and presentation,
as it brings the two top Carnatic musicians in a
duet-singing. More often, Illayaraja takes to Carnatic
music route to compose music for film songs.
The foundation laid by stalwarts of yester-year
appears to have strongly influenced the youngsters
of the modern day to combine Carnatic and film music
to bring in a new genre of audience. Further, this
interface between the film and carnatic music is
also helping rasikas to identify the ragas and appreciate
differing styles of Carnatic musicians. Surely,
the courtship with film industry has indeed helped
the Carnatic music world to reach out to newer people
and places.
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