"Yugandhar" - Music which passed me by
It happened accidentally. I came to know of a 2003 Telugu movie called "Shambu" which had music by Illayaraja . I wanted to hear the songs of this movie and so on the Tamil Film Page (yes Tamil Film Page for a Telugu Album) www.tfmpage.com I asked a member called 'Rajasaranam' for the songs of this movie. Now, 'Rajasaranam' is a collector with a difference. He loves sharing his music and he immediately uploaded these songs. When I went to this site I also saw that he had uploaded the songs of an old Telugu film 'Yugandhar' in another folder. I downloaded it as well and when I heard it I was stunned. A bit of background will help in understanding why I was stunned.
'Yugandhar' is a 1979 movie starring N T RamaRao, Jayasudha, Jayamalini and others. It was a remake of the wildly popular Hindi movie 'Don'. This was one of the movie which ensured Amitabh's super stardom. This was remade in both Tamil and Telugu. Tamil movie went by the name of 'Billa' and Telugu movie was 'Yugandhar'. (Interestingly, when "Don' was remade in Hindi with Shahrukh, it was re-remade in Tamil with Ajith and I think plans for a Telugu re-remake are underfoot)
This movie happened in a era when TV has just come into the drawing rooms of selected people and was not as broad based as today. (The whole colony would congregate in a house with TV on a weekend to watch movies.) Going to movie was not an easy affair and was encouraged only during vacations. So when "Don' was released, I was one of the few who didn't see it. (In order to rectify the situation one of my friends narrated the whole movie to me.) 'Don' had become a craze, Amitabh the ultimate hero and the songs were blaring everywhere. Every temple in Hyderabad during 'Mahakali Jatra' time would have played the songs of 'Don'. You heard 'Main Hoon Don', 'Ae Mera Dil', 'Kaike Pan Banaras Wala' all the time and every song was 'by hearted' by everybody.
It was against this backdrop, of a film which had grabbed everyone's attention and songs which mesmerized everyone, that someone decided to remake this in Telugu and they named the movie 'Yugandhar'. N T R was to play the lead. To many of us, this was classic comedy. The contrast could not have been greater. A tall, thin Amitabh against a paunchy Rama Rao. A serious, angy young man against an old hero whose seriousness only induced laughter. You need to see NTR with his bell bottoms and mannerism to understand our skepticism at that time. The music was by, the then upcoming music director, Illayaraja. (Let me digress here a bit and say that NTR in his younger days of 'Kanya Sulkam' and 'Missiamma' (and some of Lord Krihsna roles) was an actor with an amazing sense of comic timing, the likes of which Amitabh could never do, though Amitabh fans may disagree. Unfortunately, in films of late 70s and 80s, NTR's acting was unintentionally humorous)
There was no way that anyone of us would match the movie when 'Yugandhar' came out. The verdict of all of us was clear. This was no patch to the original. (I don't know if 'Yugandhar' went on to be a hit, but amongst our circle, we were sure that it was a waste of time watching it.) The songs were also summarily dismissed by us. In those days, when movies were remade, the music directors were asked to copy most of the songs. In case of 'Yugandhar', Illayaraja was made to copy one of the songs. 'Kaike Pan Banaras wala'. We were surprised that it was the only one song that was copied and though we heard all numbers a decent number of times, we thought that the songs didn't hold a candle to the songs in 'Don'. It would take me almost three decades to realize my mistake.
I will talk about three songs in this movie which impressed me a lot on hearing them now. Let me start with the Janaki, SPB number, 'Daste Dagedha'. The proceedings start with a melancholic violin, a bass guitar in tow. Once Janaki starts, the instrumentation is sparse with only the tabla and bass guitar accompanying the song. The first interlude starts with the synthesizer and the synth plays like a violin. Again, all instruments except tabla and the ever present bass guitar stop playing when Janaki starts singing. The second interlude has some lovely solo violin passages before Balu enters with his best 'NT' voice. (NT is short form for NTR, which is a short form for N T Rama Rao, which in turn is a short form of Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao !!). A very nice song with minimal orchestration.
Next in my list comes the title song, 'Yugandhar'. (This was the equivalent of 'Main Hoon Don') This song's pallavi ends with 'Naa Peare Yugandhar' and the last time the refrain in sung, it ends with a threat to all his enemies, "My name is Yugandhar, REMEMBER". All of us used to go, "My name is Yugandhar, remember, November, December". (Sing it and try, it rhymes very well.) I heard this song in amazement now. Unlike most Illayaraja songs, the singing starts without any prelude. Balu proclaims the fact that he is 'Yugandhar' and in case the audience didn't understand Telugu, in the end proclaims in English, 'My name is Yugandhar'. The first interlude has guitar, synths and a sax each asking questions and replying to each other. The feel is one of jazz and the rhythm is a bit complex. After a nice bout of charnam the second interlude starts, with a breathless guitar which gives way to a wind instrument and later a small chorus. Wonderfully orchestrated song with good singing by SPB.
The song that totally blew me off 'Na Paruvam'. Infact I am so fascinated by this song that I thought I should see the song picturisation. Only when I remembered that this was filmed probably on Jayamalini, shaking her thunder thighs did I drop this suicidal plan (One more point of contrast. A svelte, suave and sexy Helen trying to lure a slim, serious Amitabh against a well endowed, thunder thighs Jayamalini enticing an old paunchy NTR !!) When this particular song was played we used to make fun of it singing, 'Naa paruvam dink chik dink chik'. As I said earlier the verdict was clear. This song was miles away from 'Ae mera dil', which was the superior song. What a mistake !!!
The whole song, 'Na Paruvam' has the stamp of a genius. There is a breathlessness associated with the whole song and an urgency. We can also see that the master was in fine fettle even in this very early score as he combines elements of jazz with the quintessential popular film song. The drum beats start the song, the synth joins in with an urgency and then comes the sax, which further accentuates the urgency. The whole thing has a jazz feel to it. The prelude ends with a few bars of the pallavi being played. Janaki joins in. When she finishes the pallavi, the instruments, guitar and synth, start again as if they waiting for her to depart. The wonderful speed with which the instruments are played get a further boost with the sax joining in. Throughout the charanam, the synth and guitar join in to heighten the tension, the bass guitar providing a solid backing. The second interlude has the same urgency as the first and this time a lovely guitar plays for a few seconds as if playing for a hard rock song. The sax again joins in to lead to the second charanam. Another thing about the song was the rhythm played during the beginning of each charanam. Deliciously complex. Don't get me wrong. 'Ae Mera Dil' is also a nice song. Very free flowing and jazzy in spirit. While keeping with the jazzy spirit of the original song, Raja changes the structure and enhances the orchestration, thereby giving us a great treat.
To me 'Na Paruvam' showcases the genius of Illayaraja in integrating different genres of music and presenting as a completely fused whole. Only someone who understands and who has internalized each form of music can do this. What an excellent concoction of music this song provides. I was listening to some of the recent stuff, including the recently released A R Rahman's "Main Yuvraaj" and Harris Jayaraj's "Vaaranam Ayiram". All I can say that even after three decades there is still currently no music director who has such a vision of music like Illayaraja nor can any modern music director come up with the sort of orchestration that Illayaraja had come up with and is capable of coming up with.
So I end this post with a thanks to 'Rajasaranam' for these lovely songs.
'Yugandhar' is a 1979 movie starring N T RamaRao, Jayasudha, Jayamalini and others. It was a remake of the wildly popular Hindi movie 'Don'. This was one of the movie which ensured Amitabh's super stardom. This was remade in both Tamil and Telugu. Tamil movie went by the name of 'Billa' and Telugu movie was 'Yugandhar'. (Interestingly, when "Don' was remade in Hindi with Shahrukh, it was re-remade in Tamil with Ajith and I think plans for a Telugu re-remake are underfoot)
This movie happened in a era when TV has just come into the drawing rooms of selected people and was not as broad based as today. (The whole colony would congregate in a house with TV on a weekend to watch movies.) Going to movie was not an easy affair and was encouraged only during vacations. So when "Don' was released, I was one of the few who didn't see it. (In order to rectify the situation one of my friends narrated the whole movie to me.) 'Don' had become a craze, Amitabh the ultimate hero and the songs were blaring everywhere. Every temple in Hyderabad during 'Mahakali Jatra' time would have played the songs of 'Don'. You heard 'Main Hoon Don', 'Ae Mera Dil', 'Kaike Pan Banaras Wala' all the time and every song was 'by hearted' by everybody.
It was against this backdrop, of a film which had grabbed everyone's attention and songs which mesmerized everyone, that someone decided to remake this in Telugu and they named the movie 'Yugandhar'. N T R was to play the lead. To many of us, this was classic comedy. The contrast could not have been greater. A tall, thin Amitabh against a paunchy Rama Rao. A serious, angy young man against an old hero whose seriousness only induced laughter. You need to see NTR with his bell bottoms and mannerism to understand our skepticism at that time. The music was by, the then upcoming music director, Illayaraja. (Let me digress here a bit and say that NTR in his younger days of 'Kanya Sulkam' and 'Missiamma' (and some of Lord Krihsna roles) was an actor with an amazing sense of comic timing, the likes of which Amitabh could never do, though Amitabh fans may disagree. Unfortunately, in films of late 70s and 80s, NTR's acting was unintentionally humorous)
There was no way that anyone of us would match the movie when 'Yugandhar' came out. The verdict of all of us was clear. This was no patch to the original. (I don't know if 'Yugandhar' went on to be a hit, but amongst our circle, we were sure that it was a waste of time watching it.) The songs were also summarily dismissed by us. In those days, when movies were remade, the music directors were asked to copy most of the songs. In case of 'Yugandhar', Illayaraja was made to copy one of the songs. 'Kaike Pan Banaras wala'. We were surprised that it was the only one song that was copied and though we heard all numbers a decent number of times, we thought that the songs didn't hold a candle to the songs in 'Don'. It would take me almost three decades to realize my mistake.
I will talk about three songs in this movie which impressed me a lot on hearing them now. Let me start with the Janaki, SPB number, 'Daste Dagedha'. The proceedings start with a melancholic violin, a bass guitar in tow. Once Janaki starts, the instrumentation is sparse with only the tabla and bass guitar accompanying the song. The first interlude starts with the synthesizer and the synth plays like a violin. Again, all instruments except tabla and the ever present bass guitar stop playing when Janaki starts singing. The second interlude has some lovely solo violin passages before Balu enters with his best 'NT' voice. (NT is short form for NTR, which is a short form for N T Rama Rao, which in turn is a short form of Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao !!). A very nice song with minimal orchestration.
Next in my list comes the title song, 'Yugandhar'. (This was the equivalent of 'Main Hoon Don') This song's pallavi ends with 'Naa Peare Yugandhar' and the last time the refrain in sung, it ends with a threat to all his enemies, "My name is Yugandhar, REMEMBER". All of us used to go, "My name is Yugandhar, remember, November, December". (Sing it and try, it rhymes very well.) I heard this song in amazement now. Unlike most Illayaraja songs, the singing starts without any prelude. Balu proclaims the fact that he is 'Yugandhar' and in case the audience didn't understand Telugu, in the end proclaims in English, 'My name is Yugandhar'. The first interlude has guitar, synths and a sax each asking questions and replying to each other. The feel is one of jazz and the rhythm is a bit complex. After a nice bout of charnam the second interlude starts, with a breathless guitar which gives way to a wind instrument and later a small chorus. Wonderfully orchestrated song with good singing by SPB.
The song that totally blew me off 'Na Paruvam'. Infact I am so fascinated by this song that I thought I should see the song picturisation. Only when I remembered that this was filmed probably on Jayamalini, shaking her thunder thighs did I drop this suicidal plan (One more point of contrast. A svelte, suave and sexy Helen trying to lure a slim, serious Amitabh against a well endowed, thunder thighs Jayamalini enticing an old paunchy NTR !!) When this particular song was played we used to make fun of it singing, 'Naa paruvam dink chik dink chik'. As I said earlier the verdict was clear. This song was miles away from 'Ae mera dil', which was the superior song. What a mistake !!!
The whole song, 'Na Paruvam' has the stamp of a genius. There is a breathlessness associated with the whole song and an urgency. We can also see that the master was in fine fettle even in this very early score as he combines elements of jazz with the quintessential popular film song. The drum beats start the song, the synth joins in with an urgency and then comes the sax, which further accentuates the urgency. The whole thing has a jazz feel to it. The prelude ends with a few bars of the pallavi being played. Janaki joins in. When she finishes the pallavi, the instruments, guitar and synth, start again as if they waiting for her to depart. The wonderful speed with which the instruments are played get a further boost with the sax joining in. Throughout the charanam, the synth and guitar join in to heighten the tension, the bass guitar providing a solid backing. The second interlude has the same urgency as the first and this time a lovely guitar plays for a few seconds as if playing for a hard rock song. The sax again joins in to lead to the second charanam. Another thing about the song was the rhythm played during the beginning of each charanam. Deliciously complex. Don't get me wrong. 'Ae Mera Dil' is also a nice song. Very free flowing and jazzy in spirit. While keeping with the jazzy spirit of the original song, Raja changes the structure and enhances the orchestration, thereby giving us a great treat.
To me 'Na Paruvam' showcases the genius of Illayaraja in integrating different genres of music and presenting as a completely fused whole. Only someone who understands and who has internalized each form of music can do this. What an excellent concoction of music this song provides. I was listening to some of the recent stuff, including the recently released A R Rahman's "Main Yuvraaj" and Harris Jayaraj's "Vaaranam Ayiram". All I can say that even after three decades there is still currently no music director who has such a vision of music like Illayaraja nor can any modern music director come up with the sort of orchestration that Illayaraja had come up with and is capable of coming up with.
So I end this post with a thanks to 'Rajasaranam' for these lovely songs.
Comments
Excellent analysis
btw, i am curious to know abt ur take on Yuvvraaj.
My point is this and I have a theory now based on various incidents I have heard about and your first-hand growing-up-in-hyderabad experience as you narrated in respect of Yugandhar helped me sub-consciously connect these dots and come up with this theory.
Now, I havent seen Yugandhar. though I am familiar with Don.
I know enough about Yeh Mera Dil, the situation. This is I suppose where a wronged-wife of a ruthlessly-killed-associate of a DON tries to take revenge by posing as an object of his desire. The question is does the song in Hindi bring out that element of intrigue, the suspense, the things-are-not-what-they-seem sleight-of-hand? IMO, no. I must add that though I have seen DON, for long, I had no remembrance of he song itself. I have heard Yeh Mera Dil independently several times in the past 25 years+. Never could I remember it as the song that is placed in a not-so-straight-forwad situation in this movie which I have seen quite a few times when young.
Then, DON was remade, I heard the remix of this song, found the song vaguely familiar and then realised that this song which I had in my audio hearings have always thought of just another generic-ballad-of-love is composed for a very intriguing situation. It didnt fit the pieces. The lyrics in the Hindi song however suitably indicate the intrigue if you know the situation. However, even after the revision of knowledge, I couldnt feel that intrigue in the audio version.
Part 2 of this comment will follow
But reading your blog and listening to the actual songs - and atlast I come to the point now - I have a theory:
Basically, I think IR has brought out that intrigue and suspense much better than the original. Now comes the twist. No, I am not thinking of Naa Paruvam. I dont think Naa Paruvam brings out the intrigue - it is in the same spirit as Ye Mera Dil. So why am I saying what I am saying?
I believe the reason for IR's disillusion goes beyond just copying an hindi song. I believe Daaste Daagedha must be the song composed for this situation. Proof: look at the lyrics. Daaste Daagadha(very cagey), nee pai ,pause,naakkuna moham. I think there is a lot of intrigue there which fits in with the situation and also it fits in with a straight forward interpretation of mera dil tera diwana types.
Go further "Visha Kanyanu ra, choopulu thone kaatesthan" is a give-away. After this there is no doubt that this is the sequence where the dancer is expressing her revenge-motif disguised as lust-love.
Go further , the DON character as we realise at the end of the song has been in the know all along and is aware of her intentions. This actually comes out in this song as"Puttamu kanukka thapadhu chavaka..etc" where the DON hints that he knows what is in her mind and he is too smart for her.
Now, if it were only he lyrics, then there is no role for me to acknowledge IR's genius. The genius lies in the sad Violin start to the song, which might be his way of indicating that the widow is in sorrow for her husband's deatha nd plotting revenge through seduction. The prelude explores these motifs and then moves on to the cagey Daa Daa Daa...
Considering all this, my theory is that IR composed this song with his customary intelligence incorporating both the characters' motives into this song. I believe he must be disgusted with the way Naa paruvam was chosen for this situation.
Continuing my theory, why was Naa Paruvam chosen for this situation? My theory is that it must be for commercial considerations. Having chosen Jayamalini, the makers needed a fast song in this situation to help her gyrate in seduction and pure commercial motives made them choose this - and I think that must have irritated IR no ends that his hard work to compose a beautiful song(which as you described incorporates beautiful musical moments, while at the same time, capturing characterisation of the two principal characters amazingly to the dot - even one of which is beyond his peers and successors) was carelessly thrown away.
You are right. Another friend of mine also pointed out to this Tamil song. I haven't heard it in detail to know if Illayaraja had made any changes to the song or interludes. My guess is Yugandhar would have come first, being very close to when Illayaraja started his career as a music director.