The magic of P.B.Srinivas - II

We were talking Sridhar-Viswanathan Ramamoorthy-P.B.Srinivas the other day. Together, these titans of Tamil cinema created a wealth of great cinema and music that are smash hits even today.

1. "Nenjil or aalayam" - A milestone film in Tamil cinema. It was remade into Hindi as "Dil ek mandir" but Viwanathan Ramamoorthy's music was at a different plane altogether. In fact, Sridhar remade quite a few of his films to Hindi. But for all the great composers in Bombay, not one film was able to match the Tamil original's music. Anyway, "nenjil Or aalayam" boasted of a whole host of beautiful songs. But PBS' "ninaipadellaam naDanduviTTaal deivam yEdum illai" is perhaps the most popular. A beautiful melody with trademark Viswanathan Ramamoorthy orchestration and brilliant Kannadasan lyrics.

2. "Nenjam marapadillai" - Sridhar roped in Kalyan Kumar and Devika again for his next film. Inspired by Madhumati, this was a romance across births. Again hugely successful, the film boasted of great music. PBS revels in two evergreen duets - with S.Janaki in "azagukkum malarukkum jaadi illai" and with P.Suseela in the haunting "nenjam marapadillai".

3. "Sumaitaangi" - I have already talked about the two great PBS solos on Gemini Ganesan - "manidan enbavan" and "mayakkamaa kalakkamaa". In addition he also had two popular duets with S.Janaki - "inda paruvattin kELvikku badil yenna" and "maambazattu vaNDu".

4. "Policekaaran magaL" - Easily one of the great soundtracks of Tamil cinema. It deserves to be so cherished if only for that duet-of-duets "inda manDratil ODi varum" with S.Janaki and PBS. Viswanathan Ramamoorthy's orchestration is simply out of this world. The flute pieces keep your heart soaring and you are left wonderstruck at  the creative juices that flowed from this musical duo. PBS sounds breathtaking here. With S.Janaki, he also rendered "aanDonDru pOnaal" and "pon enbEn". Both great songs.. and then finally the solo "nilavukku en mEl ennaDi kObam". This is a true treasure of a soundtrack and it is heartening that the film manages to generate such interest today also.

5. "Kaadalikka nEram illai" - Sridhar's most successful film and a definitive Tamil comedy, one of the best ever of Indian cinema. It boasted of a great set of character artistes. Musically also, the film is worth treasuring. Doesnt if after all boast of one of the greatest PBS-P.Suseela duets of all time - "naaLaam naaLaam tiru naaLaam"? Magnificent orchestration again. Other memorable PBS songs in this film include "maaDi mElE maaDi kaTTi", "onga ponaana kaigaL puN aagalaamaa" and "anubavam pudumai".

These were the best tracks of the combo that I can immediately recall. There were other memorable soundtracks as well like "Kalai kovil" and "Venniraadai" .

We can spend eons going gaga over Viswanathan Ramamoorthy's melodies on PBS but lets round off now with a few final sparklers- "uDalukku uyir kaaval" and "paartu paartu ninDaradilE" from "Mana pandal", "yaar siritaal yenna yaar azudaal yenna" in "Idayatil nee", "kaNgalE kaNgalE " from "Vaazkai kaDagu", "yennai toTTu senDrana kaNgaL" from "Paar magale paar", "iLamai koluvirukkum" and "kaadal nilavE" from "Hello Mr Zamindar", "idaz moTTu virindiDa" from "Banda paasam", kaaTru vandaal talai saayum" from "Kaathirunda kaNgal", "mounamE paarvayaal" from "Kodi malar", "nilavE enniDam nerungaadE" from "Ramu" and "pon onDru kaNDEn peN angu illai" from "Paditaal maTTum pOdumaa". All classics!!

The genius of Viswanathan Ramamoorthy is such that they tend to overshadow the other giants of Tamil cine music. That would be a travesty. There is the legendary K.V.Madevan first. In a recent concert to honor PBS, K.J.Yesudas mentioned "oruti oruvanai ninatu viTTaal" as one his favorite songs. Indeed, this enchanting duet is one of the best ever. Other gems include "yedo manidan pirandu viTTaan" from "Panitirai", "paarten siritEn" from "Veera Abhimanyu", "tOL kaNDEn toLE kaNDEn" from "Idhaya kamalam" and "yEn siritaai yenna paartu" from "Ponniyin thirunaal".

With G.Ramanathan, PBS sang only a few songs but they are memorable ! "kaaTru veLi iDai kaNNammaa" from "Kapal OTiya tamizan", "inbam pongum veNNilaa viisudE" from "Vanji kOTTai vaaliban" and "yen aaruyirE" from "Deivathin deivam".

Time has not diminished PBS' standing. The appeal of his melodies has only increased with time. I think it is fair to say that he is the most well-known singer of the 50s and 60s today. Even the likes of TMS and P.Suseela have weathered with time but not PBS. For, his art was based on pure melody and the magic of pure melody can never diminish. We can only thank the Good Lord for gifting us with the ability to hear so that PBS' magical vocals can soothe us. His magic is destined to be eternal.

The magic of P.B.Srinivas - I

A period of a minor tumult in my personal life wrt my health has formally come to an end today. Through the last week of my bed-rest, I spent a lot of time enjoying my Tamil film music collection, relishing the genius of Viswanathan Ramamoorthy, the brilliance of Kannadasan and the sublime melody of P.B.Srinivas, or PBS as he is fondly called.

I have been a huge fan of PBS since the time I started enjoying music. I still recall how addicted I was to "manidan enbavan deivam aagalaam" in my third standard. My Mama used to have this song on one of his tapes and I used to play it every day repeatedly after returning from school. Poor Mama had to resort to hding the cassette on top of shelves so as to protect it from my hands. As I have grown in age, my fondness for PBS songs has only increased.

Like my other favorite singer Talat Mahmood, what is immediately noticeable is the extremely low percentage of "bad" songs that PBS has sung in Tamil. One possible reason for this could be that he playbacked on the more "urban" stars of time like Muthuraman, Balaji and of course, Gemini Ganesan. The music for these stars were typically more sophisticated - few "mass" or "dabaanguttu" songs unlike the two popular stars MGR and Sivaji, However, it is musch more probable that the likes of Viswanathan-Ramamoporthy and K.V.Mahadevan completely understood the vocals of PBS and gave him songs that appeared to have been created only for him.


PBS' voice is sheer melody. At his peak, he combined the best of Talat and Rafi. Combine the sheer velvety soothing nature of Talat with the versatility and range of Rafi, and you have PBS. He was an original in the Tamil musical scene. A.M.Raja may be the fore-runner of the melody singers in Tamil film music but PBS came to symbolize them. Recall the singing greats of Tamil music before and with PBS - Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, P.U.Chinnappa, Trichy Loganathan, C.S.Jayaraman, Seergazhi Govindarajan and T.M.Sounderrajan - and you realize his unique standing. A.M.Raja started the melody line of Tamil singers, PBS had it established and the next generation, S.P.Balasubramaniam and K.J.Yesudas made it the domainant style.

PBS' first major break came with S.Rajeswara Rao's melodies in "Adutha veetu penn". The songs are delights that dazzle up a quiet evening any day. "kaNNaalE pEsi pEsi kollaadE" and "maalayil malar sOlayil" continue to enchant. But then, the songs were picturized on comedian Thangavelu, and not a romantic star and as Manna Dey would testify, that means a lot. So PBS continued to remain "one in the crowd" and bide his time. It was his union with Gemini Ganesan and Viswanathan Ramamoorthy that shot him to the top leagure. A.M.Raja had beeen the voice of Gemini Ganesan through most of the 50s. Viswanathan Ramamoorthy had never been great fans of A.M.Raja and Raja's own success as a music director might have contributed to this but in any case, one's loss is another's gain. PBS rendered "kaalangaLil avaL vasantam" on Gemini in "Paava manippu" and the rest is history. Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy-Kannadasan-PBS-Gemini was an association that provided us with many many unforgettable melodies, some of them ranking amongst the greatest melodies of Tamil cinema. Here is a sampling from my favorites:

• manidan enbavan deivam aagalaam (Sumaitaangi) - It was my favorite when I was in my 3rd standard and it continues to be my favorite song 25 years later. A perfect song. Great music and singing, profound but simple lyrics and wonderful picturization. Cinema at its best.
• mayakkamaa kalakkamaa (Sumaitaangi) - A cult song that has become the song of inspiration for successive generations. The song has reportedly inspired people out of ddepression and moroseness to grow in life. A modern day torch bearer.
• tuLLi tirinda peN onDru (Kaatirunda kaNgaL) - The definitive Gemini romantic number. This composition is a testimony to the genius of Viswanathan and Ramamoorthy. It is a very complex compoisition, exquisitely orchestrated and how superbly PBS has rendered thins. No wonder it is one of PBS' personal favorites.
• chinna chinna kaNNanukku (Vazhkai padagu)- A love-lorn man playing with a child. Smiles and tears mingle beautifully in this evergreen gem
  

The Viswanathan Ramamoorthy and PBS combo were not restricted to just Gemini Ganesan films. One has to only think of that ace director Sridhar and a whole multitude of this combo's songs spring to mind. Sridhar's initial films were all A.M.Raja. It all started with his first mega-success "KalyaaNa parisu". A.M.Raja composed and sung the male songs in the film, all of them superhits. Then came "Then nilavu", a film which really established Gemini Ganesan as "kaadal mannan". Here again, A.M.Raja scored the music and sang the unforgettable songs. It was in "" that Sridhar and A.M.Raja had a fall-out. While A.M.Raja sang the songs, the composer was S.Rajeswara Rao. A.M.Raja was bitter that Sridhar had not retained him as the MD and made his displeasure known to the director. Not pleased with this, Sridhar promptly turned to Viswanathan Ramamoorthy for his next film and A.M.Raja's career came to a pre-mature close thereafter. Anyway, Perhaps the very best of Viswanathan Ramamoorthy and PBS comes through in Sridhar's films.

.. To be continued..

"Paava manippu" - A timeless soundtrack

Director Bhimsingh had established a nice team around making simple, family themed melodramas usually starring Sivaji Ganesan in the lead with Savitri, Gemini Ganesan, Devika, Balayya, Ranga Rao, Thangavelu and Chandrababu making regular appearences as well. "Paava manippu" came after "Pathi bhakthi" which was the director's first big success. But this was the film which really established the Bhimsingh theme of "small family stories". And of course, it boasted of sensational music.

Viswanathan Ramamoorthy had delivered brilliantly for Bhimsing in "Pathi bhakthi" but even by their own exalted standards, "Paava manippu" was a stunner. Every song in the track is worth treasuring for centuries and milleniums.. TMS, P.Suseela and P.B.Srinivas all at the peak of their powers. My favorites from this track :

vandha naaL mudhal : TMS is awesome. Kannadasan pens a critical take on humans and even a Tamil illiterate like me is wondered by these words :

paravaiai kaNdaan vimaanam padaiththaan
paayum meengalil padaginaikkandaan
edhiroli kaettaan vaanoli padaiththaan
edhanaikkandaan panamdhanaip padaiththan

A poor translation :

<i>he saw the birds and invented planes
the leaping fishes gave him the idea of boats
echoes he heard and created the radio
what did he see to create money</i>

I have always felt that the last line in the stanza we hear is an edited or a resung version - a badly done one at that. If you hear the stanza, the sound of the last line stands out obviously. What did Kannadasan actually pen in there ? I recall having heard somewhere "madhangaLai padaiththaan" instead of "panamdhanaip padaiththan" (meaning religions or castes). I wonder...

paal irukkum [Youtube] : A superlative Suseela solo going on Devika. The prelude music to the melody is a representative of the composers duo's orchestral finesse and the reason why they were such a revolution in Tamil cinema. So breezy, yet it hits you where it should.

aththaan ennaththaan : Perhaps the most famous Tamil song ever. Lata Mangeshkar's statement at the time to this song being one of her favorites raised this song's popularity all over the country and it has acquired a cult status, a song synonmous with the romance of a shy girl. Wonderful lyrics . superlative composition and subdued orchestration and beautiful singing.. perfection.

Other superb songs in the track include TMS' "silar siripaar silar azuvaar" and P.B.Srinivas' "kaalangalil aval vasantham". It is interesting that though this film has Gemini Ganesan in just a supporting role, the PBS song has become the definitive Gemini Ganesan song. No retrospect of PBS or Gemini Ganesan can ever be complete without a mention of this hugely popular melody.

A stellar soundtrack.. one of my all-time favorites !!

Viswanathan Ramamoorthy classics : Paarthaa pasi theerum

I have generally been talking mostly about Hindi film music on this page. While Hindi film music does dominate my listening spectrum, I do spend a lot of time with music from films made in other languages of the country. I am particularly fond of Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada music. Starting today, I will be spending some time with a few magnificent soundtracks from one of the finest composing duos of Indian cinema history - Viswanathan Ramamoorthy. The duo came together in 1951 and started as assistants to Subbiah Naidu. They got their first breaks as independent composers with "Panam" and that as they was it. They revolutionized Tamil film music and attained peaks of excellence that compare favourably with anything created at Bombay. They catered to all sections of the society. Their music was based on melody and lightness of execution. The hallmark of their compositions was their orchestration which a sheer delight. They used the flute and violin in particular to great effect in their music. In fact, to me, they fall in same bracket as C.Ramchandra when it comes to orchestration. Fresh and dazzling always. The duo split in 1965 after a wealth of unforgettable creations and plenty of outstanding soundtracks. I shall spend some time looking at some of their wonderful tracks from today.

We start with Bhim Singh's Paarthaal pasi theerum, another film in the "pa" series of the director which usually had Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan and Savitri as leading stars with a mix from Chandrababu, Thangavelu, Ranga Rao and Ballaya playing the supports. It was one success after another and almost all of these films were orchestrated by the composing duo. This film I choose because the songs have been haunting me all day today..

1) paartaal pasi tiirum : A typically soft, P.Suseela melody which just wafts through the air.

2) yaarukku maapiLLai yaarO : A delightful song. The "o..o.." fillers in the song sound ever so charming in Suseela's voice.

3) koDi asaindadum kaaTru vandadaa : This song is a delight to hear. A romantic song around the "chicken-or-egg" question. The lyrics are superbly imaginaive, typically Kannadasan. A sample :


paaDal vandadum taaLam vandadaa
taaLam vandadum paaDal vandadaa
baavam vandadum raagam vandadaa
raagam vandadum baavam vandadaa
kaN tirandadum kaaTchi vandadaa
kaaTchi tirandadum kaN vandadaa
paruvam vandadum aasai vandadaa
aasai vandadum paruvam vandadaa


It never ceases to enchant. TMS and P.Suseela are also in top form here. The orchestration is magnificent. The interlude music is beautifully done. One of the all-time great duets..

4) uLLam enbadu aamai : This song has grown on me over the years to become one of those songs which I can keep hearing again and again all the time. What a magnificent creation this is ! TMS is brilliant, the composition wonderful, lyrics soulful and the orchestration outstanding. And to top it all is Sivaji on the screen. Confessedly rather bloated in the film, what remains etched in memory is the way Sivaji lives the song. Every movement, every look he gives in the song captures the meaning of the song superbly. Its Sivaji the actor you see in your mind as this song plays. The sardonic smile he gives as he sings, "adu naaTpaDa naaTpaDa puriyum" is somethign I always remember. One of my all-time favourite songs and one that can be held out as a representative philopsophical song of pathos.

5) piLLaikku tandai oruvan : Again, a song beyond adjectives. A lullaby that stands out as one of the finest of all times. There arent too many male-sung lullabies and this rannks as perhaps the greatest of em all. The violin interludes are out of this world. This I think where Ramamoorthy came into the picture. The primary difference between the music of Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy and MSV on his own are the orchestral touches. MSV's brilliant compositions found a perfect match in TKR's orchestration. Once they seperated, MSV's music lost tier orchestral brilliance while TKR wasnt a great music creator. In any case, This song is definitely amongst TMS' very bests. A song forever...

All in all, this track is a veritable feast for TMS-P.Suseela lovers. Both are in top form and the compositions exploit their abundant talents to the hilt. A superlative soundtrack worth treasuring forever...