Music And Movies

(Music Director Satyam and SPB) It was Sampath teacher who first 'discovered' my singing talent. We were in 7th standard and Vatsala teacher came to our Tamil class to call my friend Kumar to participate in a group song. She spotted me and promptly asked me to come as well. The group song was for the school annual day and the song chosen, unsurprisingly, was the national anthem for schools, 'ham ko man ki shakthi dena', the Vasant Desai tuned song which literally put Jaya Bhaduri on stage. We were taken to an empty classroom in order to practise. As is my wont, I was putting in my best effort. After we sang the song a couple of times, Sampath teacher arrived to check out the rehearsal. We sang for her. "Someone is not singing in pitch. Sing again." So we sang again and she frowned. "All of you stop." We stopped. "Suresh, you now sing alone." So I started, "hum ko man ki.." "That's enough. You can get back to the class.&

One of the important reasons our movies succeed is because they create an ideal world for the viewers. And in creating this ideal world, music plays a very major role. There have been many songs which talk about an ideal world, a world where everything is in place, good things happen to you and you look forward to living a life filled with happiness. I can probably call this as a separate genre of songs and we have had many such songs in Indian Film Music. "puthiya vaanam puthiya bhoomi", "putham pudhu bhoomi vendum", "suhana safar aur ye mausam hasin", "muthyamantha pasupu", the song I featured earlier, "moodala manaya" and many many more. No wonder these songs become very dear to us because of their message that life is good. If one music director has been called repeatedly to create such an utopian landscape through his music, it has been Ilaiyaraja. There are countless creations of his which do this magic. We will examine some of

Sometimes in the most unexpected of places you hear an unexpected melody. Cruising at around 30,000 feet or more above sea level, I was listening to the Hindi Channel on British Airways flight, as I was returning from an official trip to Japan. I did not expect much from that channel since I though they would be playing some popular songs. They proved me wrong as someone with good taste seems to have been at the helm for choosing songs. After a couple of nice songs, came this song which I had not heard earlier. Or maybe I had heard it earlier but it never registered with me. Now it is completely fixed in my mind. The song was 'Nuktacheen hai gham-e-dil', a ghazal of Mirza Ghalib for the movie, well, 'Mirza Ghalib'. I still clearly recall the mesmerizing Kalyani tinged notes floating through the ear plugs and providing me immense joy. The joy of discovering a classic. I had heard 'Dil-e-Naadan tuje hua kya hai' from this movie quite a few times since that song

After post on songs based on Bageshree, I received some good comments, both in the comment section as well as through mail. Everyone had their favourite Bageshree and told me that I missed it in my post. There were some songs that I didn't know and some I had deliberately not put in keeping the length of the post in mind. Now that I have clear proof that people can't get enough of this raga, I will do an additional post now to cover the other songs. Ofcourse, even after this there will be many Bageshrees left behind. Don't blame. Blame the composers, who had a soft corner for this raga. Before we proceed further, I am sure many of the carnatic music aficionados  know that the carnatic raga considered closest to Bageshree is Sriranjani. This is as per the swaras but it is clear that the emotions they invoke are quite different. But don't be surprised if you hear a bit of Sriranjani in Bageshree. It is very much possible and is not a problem in your hearing!!! One son

(Da.Ra.Bendre) Nothing seems to inspire poets more than the dawn. One, for everything in the world is aglow with the slanting rays of the sun. Two, for dawn symbolizes a new beginning. Poets have written both about the natural beauty that dawn reveals and about the new beginning. Most of us city dwellers don't have much of a dawn to speak of. We do not get to see the trees, the flowers, mountains or the water bodies. Nor do we get to hear the sounds of dawn. Even if all these were present, in our own rush to meet some unknown deadlines we miss all of them. You will realize how much you miss this aspect of nature if you take a vacation to a place which is in the lap of nature. I had once been to Masinagudi, near Mudumalai, for a vacation. I woke up early and wanted to go for a walk. Our resort was surrounded by the forest. Deer and peacocks were roaming around. I started my walk, like any good 'cityzen' by wearing my headphones and switching on the mp3 player.