Khayyam saab's magic

As I browsed through Youtube today (a daily search that I make to discover any rare songs that I missed earlier), I found this lovely piece of Lata singing a portion of her wonderful "jiit hii le.nge baazii" duet with Rafi in "Sholaa aur shabnam". I daresay I have heard it earlier but it made a resounding impact on me as I heard it today. No instruments, just pure Lata. The effect is simply magical !!



See the full duet in all its glory:

Seergazhi at his best - "Padikaada mEdai"

I am back after a while- and surprisingly enough, it is Seergazhi Govindarajan who forces me out of this lull. Seergazhi is not one of my favorite singers- not by a long way. I mock him a lot saying he has this "constipated" way of singing.

But of course, he had a great range and one of those true Tamil singers. This song is a triumph. Bharathiyar's poetry is taken to great heights by the magnificent music of K.V.Mahadevan and rendition of Seergazhi. A melody forever.

But what elevates the song further is the performance of S.V.Ranga Rao during the song. Tamil cinema was blessed with a whole host of brilliant character actors during that time. The likes of Balayya, M.R.Radha, Thangavelu are all unforgettable even today. Ranga Rao belongs to that league. A natural actor with a booming, unforgettable voice, he loomed large in the world of Tamil cinema as well (in addition to Telugu films) through the 50s and 60s. Sivaji Ganesan and Ranga Rao's exchanges in this film "Padikaada mEdai" is the stuff of legends.