Love is an emotion which is happy, painful, sad, lethal, ecstatic, passionate, compassionate, funny, lively but it’s never easy. What if it was easy to fall in love, easy to get together in life, easy to get permission from your parents to get married, easy to go beyond religion, caste and country.. What if love was easy…

1. I would not have got a topic to write a blog post
2. Shakespeare would not have penned Romeo and Juliet
3. Troy would have been safe
4. Ramayana would not have been possible
5. Laila and Majnun would have been just another married couple
6. Mark Antony would have lived to expand the Roman Empire and Cleopatra would have died at an older age
7. Napolean would have had a heir to his throne
8. Dante’s Divine comedy would have been a comedy of errors
9. Prithiviraj would not have kidnapped Samjukta in a horseback
10. The love letters of Eloise and Ablehard would not have been possible
11. Anarkali would not have been entombed alive and we would not have got “Pyar Kiya to Darna Kiya”
12. Queen Victoria would have had remarriage
13. Taj Mahal would be just a tomb
14. Alexandra would not have been executed just because he loved Nicholas of Russia
15. We would not have needed a BBC documentary to know about Jawaharla Nehru and Lady Mountbatten and try to ban a movie saying their love story
16. Princess Diana would be living happily  - still breaking some more hearts
17. The number of over aged singles in this world would be an endangered species
18. Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor would not have got married twice in the span of few years.
19. Mills and Boons would be cheap crap ( its still cheap for a few)
20. A lot of poets would have stayed clueless (including me )- uff what I would have written
    
    photo credit: prakhar
21. We would have trashed Devdas. No Paro. No Chandramukhi. Dilip Kumar would have needed another movie to become a star.
22. Eric Segal would not have written the  “Love Story”
23. Dharmendra and Hema Malini would not have converted to Islam just to get married
24. Silsila???
25. Tamil movies would have been saved from scenes were heroes fight for lovers and advice parents
26. Ilaiyaraja would have made only spiritual  and mother songs
27. Mani Rathnam would have made only patriotic movies while AR Rahman would have settled for patriotic songs ( we would not have got Mouna Ragam and Alaipayuthey..ooo. I can’t imagine)
28. Titanic would be just another disaster movie and James Cameron would have been a just another director
29. Da Vinci Code would have been crap ( Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene..???)
30. Spencer plaza, Sathyam theatre and Citi Centre would be out of business (Ampa Mall is recently added to the list – Chennai’s happening places).
31. Who would sit in the hot sun of Marina and Besant Nagar beaches???
32. Dupattas would be in shoulders
33. No. of suicide attempts would have come down
34. A few debatable topics would have reduced for the news channels
35. Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge would have been a first day flop (it’s running for 15 years on the trot in a theater in Mumbai)
36. There would not be guys standing in front of girl’s college gates
37. There would not be girls fasting in front of police stations
38. Suicide Point in Kodaikanal would not have got that infamous name
39. Religion and Caste would have been dead and buried
40. A few police stations would not have become marriage halls
41. Gay parades would not be there.
42. A lot of lovers would not have eloped
43. A few parent hearts would not have broken
44. There will not be broken marriages.
45. Diaries need not be a secret.
46. Arranged marriages would have been a rare spectacle the world will be waiting for
47. This world would have been a better place to live with lesser problems, lesser fights, lesser murders and love
48. I would have been father of a child
49. You would have been a wife of the love of your life
50. And we would not have met….

P.S : This post is dedicated to you

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I hope you all liked my first post in the series. Thanks to everyone who supported the series, retweeted and also commented on it. Its all for you guys…

The Unknown Gem – 2

Can a song depict a mystery? Can it show some kind of strange eeriness which you don’t like to encounter? Can it make the mysterious beauty of a girl? Yes music can do anything and Ilaiyaraja can do it with master class.

There are a few classics in the famous Mohan- SPB – Ilaiyaraja combo. In fact the actor Mohan was known as “Mic Mohan” because of the consecutive hits as singer in the movies. It was only due to the wonderful combo of SPB and Ilaiyaraja.But for few songs, Ilaiyaraja used some of the very talented singers of that time like Jayachandran and later Mano.

This song is from the super duper combo of Jayachandran and Ilaiyaraja. In fact Jayachandran debuted in Tamil with Ilaiyaraja’s Vaidehi Kathirundhal. The movie is ” Pillai Nila” and the song is ” Raja Magal Roja Magal” .

Pillai Nila is a movie about a girl who has unrequited love on Mohan and commits suicide. She comes back as a spirit inside the body of his child.  So the movie is shrouded with mystery and eeriness. Radhika as the lover and Shalini ( Yes Shalini Ajith as Baby Shalini) as the child were excellent.

This particular song is the one where the Hero Mohan describes the girl (Radhika), her characterization, beauty and the uniqueness. Radhika is kind of complex, irresistible and stubborn kind of a girl and the lyric depicts every aspect of the girl. The song starts with the male voice and a piano rendering, joined by Flute and violin in a wonderful harmony. The best part of the song is the female hum from S.Janaki in both the interludes. It supplies the strangeness and eeriness to the song. When you see the song in the movie, you are bound to the think that, there is some mystery to the girl in question.

The whole two saranams is made with minimalistic orchestrations and simple repetitive beats. Its the voice of Jayachandran that mesmerizes you in the whole song and of course the richness of poetic lyric ( I think Vairmuthu.Am not sure).

“Panneerayum Veneerayum Unnodu Naan parkiren
Poovenbentha Pen Enbatha Nenjoduthan Kerkiren
Mulloduthan Kalloduthan Rojakkalum Pookkalam
Ammadi Naan athoduthan un perayum serkalam”

I am told by the Ilayaragam Page that the song is made in Rishivani Raaga. A very rarely used one by the Film Music directors but extensively used by Maestro. Thanks to some people in Internet. You get these gems in YouTube. Hear it and savour it…

Maestro has this fantastic habit of changing few swaras and give a different rendition of the same tune. The girl comes as a small child and sings the same song in the later part of the movie. S.Janaki, the eternal baby voice of those times adds up the sadness to the already eerie tune. The other version for you to find the subtle differences between two tunes and maestro’s brilliance.

Why I love this Song?

This is a song you like to sing to your girl friend. And if you really meet some one like that, wohoah you are in for a ride man.  Apart from that, the song is a very simplistic musical rendition,with wonderful lyrics and fabulous singing. How many songs you see in such a calibre – a rarity in the current Tamil film music. Only once i have heard this in a FM Radio, that too in the mid-night and I can see this in TV only when Raj Digital shows the movie.

So did I sang this to my Girl Friend???

P.S: Nice Trivia for you. The movie was directed by Manobala ( Yes the same guy who comes in “yeppadi iruntha naan, ippadi aayiten” joke with Vivek.

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It irks me when I see so many music composers claim that they are the best in music when their total number of movies doesn’t even cross the number of movies made by Ilaiyaraja in a year

Whenever some one speaks about Ilaiyaraja’s music, they start up their discussion with Mouna Raagam, Payanangal Mudivathillai, Agni Natchathiram or about his Thiruvasagam. Most of his famous songs are often repeated in FM stations and it has become so stereotypical. The genius of that man cannot be curtailed in to few famous albums. This series from me is to unearth some musical gems from not so famous albums of Ilaiyaraja but those which keeps running over and over in my iPhone.

Disclaimers:

1. I am not a music person. I dunno how the ragas are made, how western notes play, I am clueless about C sharps… So don’t expect me to diagnose the music in to raagas and notes. I would write what I love in that song. I always believe that the success of the song relies on the feeling it gives you when you hear it. If you like to know more about the musical genius of the man, visit his official fans group in Yahoo – I bet you are in for a treat if you understand music.

2. All the songs chosen here are my personal favorites. So it’s absolutely biased and i hope you feel the same.

The Unknown Gem – 1

Parthiban is one of the most intelligent film makers I have ever seen. But he sometimes wades of his usual ways to make movies like Ullae Veliye etc. Only he knows why. He is a ardent fan ( fan is a understatement, devotee is a better word) of Ilaiyaraja. He once famously put in a title card like this “Music Alias Ilaiyaraja”.

Incidentally his first movie’s (Pudhiya Paadhai) music was not by Maestro but he joined hands for the second movie “Pondatti Thevai”. One of the most beautiful songs from that movie is going to be our first song.

To understand the beauty of the song, you should understand the situation. The hero (Parthiban) is a bus conductor , an orphan falls in love with a Brahmin girl who travels regularly in his ladies special bus. He loves his mother but he doesn’t have a picture of her to see. He even tries to take a picture of his mother in her death-bed but she dies. So he always yearns for a motherly love and he expects his wife to be his second mother ( most of us do) . Once his lady love comes to his house, tries to cook non-veg for him etc. He gives her the saree his mother had bought for her daughter in law. She sings this song as he asks for it.

The song starts with a female hum and a simple piano rendering. And it moves on to the flute and the Pallavi follows. The song continues with a usual Tabla base entwined with piano and violin intersperses. Both the interludes are made of delightful interactions between violin, piano and flute. The whole song has a lullaby effect attached to it. Ilayaragam, the geocities page of Ilaiyaraja says that song was made in Natabhairavi Raaga. It is said to be a raaga of grandeur and pomp. A lullaby in that raaga – only Raaja can do it.

The lyrics forms a very integral part of the song. The first half the lover says why she will not equal his mother and explains her love with a sweet tinge of desire.

In the second half, the guy says what he wants from her and shows his love with the usual metaphorical words attached with poetry.

The song was sung by Chitra and Arun Mozhi (who is also flautist in Ilaiyaraja’s orchestra). The lyric was written by Vaali.

Why I love this song?

Have you ever spent a day with your love in your home alone, with none around, distancing yourself from the outside world? Just cook together, eat together even though you are not hungry, with sweet kisses… Have you ever slept in her bosom like you sleep in your mother’s? You will understand the real beauty of this song when you experience it…

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I did my engineering in one of those engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu (Currently it has crossed 300), by the name Anjalai Ammal. We used to travel by train daily. Its a 25 KM distance and we used to go in a passenger train. If you need a better understanding of that train and stations, you should either watch Oru Thalai Raagam or Sethu.

Train obviously gives you a lot of room for adventure, happiness, fun and frolic. In the first year,it was the place for ragging and as i am a decent singer i had to sing a lot of songs to please my seniors. One day i had even sung one song each for all the 5 compartments in between 4 stations (excluding ladies compartment). I used to sing all sad, melancholic love songs in order to impress my seniors and every time they used to think about their love, they left me alone.

I think it was a in third year, we had almost lost steam, interest in studying and we used to sleep in the trains (both onwards and backwards). Sometimes we used to sing songs, while coming back just to enjoy our evening. Most of the times, the trains used to be empty and very less of occasional commuters. 

That day, we had a couple in our compartment. They both had a rural look, like from a village and the lady was so afraid of us that she was holding the shirt of her husband. The age difference was also pretty high and it was evident. He had a big moustache and they were speaking Telegu to each other.

We kept on singing on some songs. I used to sing mostly maestro songs as i love his compositions. Suddenly the guy asked in broken tamil “yenaku oru pattu padalama”. What he meant was whether i will be able to sing a song for him. I asked “yenna pattu” (‘What song?’). He said “ Yenaku per thellinthi. Tune theriyum” ( “I dunno the name of the song but i know the tune”). I said “Solunga Parpom” ( ‘tell me, i will try’). “Na Nana Na, Na nana Na, Nanana Na”, he started singing the tune.

It was a song by Maestro Ilaiyaraja from the movie ‘Vaithehi Kathirunthal’. It had Vijayakanth (in a very different role) and Revathi in the lead. The song was rendered by Jayachandran. It was his first song and it fetched him a National Award. The song goes like this “rasathi unnai kanatha nenju”. Its sung by a lover after losing his lady love to his mistake. I think the lyrics is by Vaali ( I am not sure)

When i was singing, the guy started enjoying it as if he was singing. He was shaking his head to the tune, eyes closed and taking the music in to him. He would not have understood most of the words but he could enjoy the tune to the fullest extent. After i finished the song, he said he was very happy  to hear the song and i could see a sense of completeness in his face, a sense of satisfaction. It was one of the happiest moment in his life and his wife was smiling at her husband’s happiness. I dunno where they came from nor their names but that piece of music made us came together at that wonderful moment. A sense of achievement came in to my heart. How precious is to make a man smile…

That moment i realised why people say there is no language for music. 

I have not got a single prize in my life time for my singing abilities ( as i was just ok and not so great), but his thanks is one of the biggest awards i could ever get in my life.

Enjoy the song and Ilaiyaraja’s beauty…

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The BGM of Idhayam

How many of you have fallen in love? How many of you have expressed it to the person you love?

Tell me honestly, how many days it took to express it to the person? Was it easy? Was it hard? Was it nervous? Were you tense? Was it painful? 

I think the biggest pain for those who fall in love will be the fear of rejection. It haunts everybody who fall in love. The big threat after falling in to a realtionship is the fear of losing. And we end up not loving but just live in fear for ever.

Why such a relationship gyaan in a music related post? When i hear this particular music, i get all these emotions in my heart and it just haunts you. It takes me to that stage when i felt those painful moments in my life.  The piece is so haunting that you forget everything in this world and then take you that moment where happiness and sadness come together. Where you can smile and cry at the same time. Where you feel glee and the pain at the same moment.

This has become a regular piece of music in my I-Tunes and I dunno why i continue to hear it although it makes me sad sometimes…Am i so happy to be sad?

P.S: ‘I don’t see her daily. But i yearn to see her daily. May be a small glimpse, a little cute smile or just a wave of hand. Am i getting attracted to her?’

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