Music And Movies

Then 1964 happened. It is not often that music directors get such wide range of films in one year. Films which allow them to display their complete range. 1964 was one such year for Vishwanathan Ramamurthy. I am not going to look at all the films they did that year but give you a sample from some of the best films which will showcase their versatility. Let us first start with a movie they produced, 'Kalai Kovil'. Directed by Sreedhar, this movie was a major flop and Wikipedia mentions that this movie could have been the starting point of their problems with each other. Anyway, we will leave that aside and talk about the music. (The music too didn't resonate much with the audience) Here they take the raga Abhogi and give us an outstanding song in the voices of Balamurali and Susheela. 'thanga ratham vandhadhu' is a cult classic now. I don't think it was as famous in those days. This shows that even if a song is ignored initially, quality will always come to

If 1961 was the breakthrough year, the next two years were the years of consolidation. These were the years that their dominance was established beyond doubt leading to a terrific and a varied 1964. In the last part we spoke about the 'sound' of Vishwanathan Ramamurthy's music and I had mentioned that their sound had a slight tinge of melancholy attached to it. To a large extent we can say that the kind of films that they did in 1961 needed that sound. Most of them were melodramatic films: 'Paalum Pazhamum', 'Paava Manippu', 'Paasamalar', 'Bhagyalakshmi'. Bhim Singh who directed three of these four films was known for making highly sentimental films. Hence the music was in keeping with the requirements of these films. While Bhim Singh - Vishwanath Ramamurthy collaboration would continue to give some outstanding albums, 1962 marked the entry of director Sridhar into the career of Vishwanathan Ramamurthy. Sridhar's collaboration w

1961 was the definite breakthrough year for Vishwanathan-Ramamurthy wherein they established themselves as the numero uno music directors of Tamil films. This was also the year when their 'sound' was firmly established and this 'sound' would continue to enthrall listeners for the next half a decade. Just tell the names of the these films to a person from the earlier generation and watch them jump with joy. Not unsurprisingly you will also hear how such good films are not made anymore and how the whole value system has collapsed. The film names you must mention are: 'Pasamalar', 'Paalum Pazhamum', 'Paava Mannippu'. Each of them became a classic. This was the 'Pa' series films which were directed by Bhim Singh. It is astonishing that a director could release three such films in one single year which would have a long lasting impact on future Tamil films. ('Pasamala' for example defined the brother sister relationship and this

The legendary music director M S Vishwanathan, fondly called as MSV, passed away recently. There were a spate of tributes in the newspapers and soc-med which gave an idea on the impact he had on a  generation of listeners. Each of them had a story to tell, a song to recall and more importantly a memory hidden in the recess of their heart. While this definitely gives us an idea of the emotional impact his tunes had on his listener's heart, it doesn't tell us the full story of his achievements. This is an attempt to  trace MSV's career through his songs and talk about his contribution to film music and the legacy that he left behind. Before starting such an ambitious project, it is good to put some disclaimers in place. The 60s was not an era that I know personally so whatever I am concluding is purely based on the songs I listened to later. I do not know the impact of the songs on the general public. Second, there may be sweeping generalization in the article based o