Music And Movies

(Vieux Parka Toure) How different cultures and countries across the world use various ragams has always fascinated me. I had earlier posted about how Mohanam in available almost throughout the world and also about Azebaijani Todi . Yesterday late at night, my twitter friend Vipin Nair (@MusicAloud) sent me a clip of African music asking me if the ragam played was Madhyamavathi, Sree Ragam or Brindavana Saranga. (Vipin had got that clip from his friend @aiyerravi ) When I heard the clip, I was amazed by the playing of the guitarist (Vieux Parka Toure). The playing was crisp and every note sounded so clear. And very importantly, I heard a lovely Brindavana Saranga. This was a revelation to me. I have heard Madhyamavathi in various settings but Brindavana Saranga, to me, has been confined to Carnatic and Hindustani music.   Following some threads from the youtube clip, I came upon some Algerian music. In this I could hear Madhyamavathi. Ragas like Suddha Saveri, Suddha Dhan...

(M.S.Baburaj) A lot of South Indian Film Music directors were influence by Hindustani Music as well as by Hindi Film Music directors. You can find the Hindustani strains in lot of films songs of Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. 'Karnan' (Tamil) is an excellent example of North Indian influence. The hugely popular 'Sivashankari' ('Jagadekaveeruni Katha') is another example. One of the music directors from Malayalam film industry who was very much influenced by Hindustani music and Hindi film music was M.S.Baburaj.  (I realized quite late that I have not written about this excellent music director. I had written about the other greats of Malayalam film music but somehow missed him. As they say, better late than never.) I first came to know about M.S.Baburaj through a piece on Janaki written by Saravanan in dhool.com. In that article Saravanan compared Baburaj-Janaki combination to Madanmohan-Lata combination. When such a comparison is done, it is bu...

 (Lakshmikanth Pyarelal) The last song on the 'Chitrahaar' program was 'suno sajna'. We had all gathered in the TV room of or gymkhana to watch the program. Once it ended, the discussion started. Those were the times when we were learning to identify the signature of the music directors. Who could be the music director of this song? Was it Madanmohan or Roshan or Salil? Lot of names were proposed by Siva and me and were disposed off. Probably unable to overcome his hunger pangs, a vexed Krishnamohan said, "For all the debate, it may end up being a Lakshmikanth Pyarelal song." All of us laughed out loud. The discussion ended with us proceeding to the canteen for dinner. It was Lakshmikanth Pyarelal who had the last laugh. That song from the movie, 'Aaye Din Bahar Ke', was indeed tuned by them. The incident clearly indicates the image that Lakshmikanth Pyarelal had in our midst. We had grown up with lot of their songs and unfortunately could ...

(Jesudas & Ravindra Jain) Do you recall any movie in which every song invokes a "All izz well" feeling in you? There are many movies in which every song is a gem but they may not necessarily evoke the 'feel good' factor. I can only think of a few movies which have such songs. One of them is 'Chitchor'.  'Chitchor' was a Rajshri Productions film, the production house started by Tarachand Barjatiya. Their philosophy in the 70s was simple. As in 'keep it simple, silly'. (The acronym would never happen in their movies.) Have a simple, idealistic story, which will appeal to the 'family audience'. Cast newcomers. Keep the budget low. Provide lovely music. In short, they depended on their stories and songs. Not on stars and marketing drives. They were successful for a long time. They left behind some superb melodies which the children of 70s can never forget, for all of them were 'feel good' melodies. They made mo...

Our festivals and music are highly interlinked. One cannot miss the festival music, even if you want to. For, the nearby temple will be blaring out the songs from those tinny loudspeakers. Ganesh Chaturthi is one festival where you get to hear songs in most parts of India. In Hyderabad, along with Ganesh Chaturthi, we have the Mahakali jatra time. The Mahakali festival itself stretches over more than a month. During this time every small Mahakali temple will celebrate and you get to hear songs day in and day out. Especially during the weekend, as the festival will be celebrated on Sundays. Added to these loud speakers, you also have the 'potha raju' and the famous live 'teen maar' of Hyderabad. All I have to do is type, 'dha dhanakur dhan' and the rhythm will immediately start playing in any true Hyderabadi's mind. So embedded is this 'teen maar' in our mind. ( I have not analyzed it but I have a feeling that 'teen maar' probably is equ...

(Dandapani Desikar) 'salilam varshaya varshaya' sang Muthuswamy Dikshithar and heaven opened up providing succor to the drought hit Ettayapuram. The lamp wicks in Akbar's court caught fire when Tansen sang Raag Deepak and  the heat generated was offset by cool rain that fell when Tansen's daughters sang Miya-Ki-Malhar. Flowers blossomed when Jeyadeva sang, a dead person got up on hearing Tyagaraja sing 'Naa Jeevadhara'. Such stories abound in India. Whether we believe in the stories or not, we do believe in what these stories want to convey: the power of music. One of the most interesting stories which relates to music and devotion is that of 'Nandhanar'. Those who do not know about Nandanar can read this Wikipedia article . In this story, Nandanar, belonging to the low caste, is not allowed inside a Siva temple. He stands outside and wants to have a glimpse of the Lord, but the Nandi blocks his view. So he sings to Nandi to move a bit so th...

'hiranmayena paatrena satyasa apihitam mukham' says the Isavasya Upanishad. "A golden screen hides the face of the truth". As with all Vedic and Upanishad sayings, a pithy one which gives rise to multiple interpretations. I am reminded of this saying once in a while, especially when I see a Black and White photo of yesteryear actresses. You seem to realize their true beauty in these Black and White photographs. As if the golden screen were pushed away revealing the truth. Ofcourse that is a mushy romantic notion, because lot of people look very good in color photos as well but for some reason the Black and White photo holds our attention a bit longer.  Though I have seen many movies of her in color, it was when I first saw her in Black and White that I appreciated the beauty that was Sharmila Tagore. In our college auditorium, our Film Society had screened 'Apur Sansar', the last of the Apu Trilogy by the great Satyajit Ray. (The trilogy was based on...

There were two ways to get to my school, St.Mary's, from Secunderabad Railway Station. One was the straightforward way crossing SPG school, taking right at Manohar theatre, crossing St.Francis School and taking left to reach my school. The other was a short cut. Who in his youth can resist a short cut? This was through a very very narrow lane behind SPG school, in the Regimental Bazar area.  The lane had enough width for a couple of scooters to pass each other, or maybe not. The house on both sides had the traditional raised platform and very low roofs. The door size was such that any adult, whatever his height, had to enter respectfully. The houses were a two room affair and each house was joined to its neighbors at the hip. There was no gap between the house and after around 15 to 20 houses, the perpendicular road would provide the break, after which the house again stretched holding each other. There was no space for a compound wall and if an house did not have the platform ou...

(Johnson) Malayalam Music Director Johnson passed away recently. I knew about Johnson, had watched him on TV where he was judging a singing talent hunt show. Also knew that he had got two National awards and he was well known in Kerala for both his songs and his background scores (for which he had received the National Award.) Unfortunately I had heard very less of the songs he had composed. Once I happened chance upon a HMV collection of 15 of his songs titled, 'Nostalgia' and bought it. I was impressed with  all the songs in that CD. Added to it I had heard a few more on youtube but overall my exposure to his music has been limited. I  anyway had  'moham kondu njan' listed in my internal database as a song which I should feature in this series. So I thought I will put it up today in honor of Johnson. As I said earlier, I had not heard enough of him to get an idea of his individuality. All I could observe is that his best songs were melodies, based on diff...

When I first saw the young Shammi Kapoor on Chitrahaar, I refused to believe it was Shammi Kapoor!! For the Shammi Kapoor we knew growing up was a huge man with a beard, who acted in elderly roles. This person dancing and prancing around was hyperactive and did not look anywhere like the Shammi Kapoor we knew. It took some time for me to realize that they were both one and the same. So drastically had Shammi Kapoor changed over the years. (I had this same confusion when I saw a young Prithviraj Kapoor. I thought he was Sashi Kapoor!! The resemblance is very strong.) During that dark era, where there was only one TV channel, all of us used to crowd into either my aunt's place or at my cousin, Padmini's place, to watch Chitrahaar on a weekday (was it Wed or Fri?) and Rangoli on Sunday morning. While each one had his or her own preference of actors and songs, everyone felt happy when a Shammi Kapoor song was screened. It didn't matter if you thought he wasn't a great act...

(O.P.Nayyar) Trend-setters in any field disrupt the prevailing order, bring in new ideas and keep the field vibrant. Hindi film music has had many trend-setters starting from C.Ramachandra. One such well known trend-setter was O.P.Nayyar. Nayyar brought in lilting rhythm into Hindi film music. He clashed with the established order of those days, also known as Lata Mangeshkar. He never did a single song with Lata and yet succeeded. He was responsible for the growth of Asha as an artist. A very outspoken person, he gave many hits which are now part of Hindi film music's folk lore. To a certain extent, Rahman reminds me of O.P.Nayyar. Not from the personal characteristic front, in which he is the opposite of Nayyar, but from a musical sense. The initial Rahman rode of foot tapping rhythm, the judicious choice of ragas for his melodies, new recording techniques and new voices, providing a new attractive sound. He took on the established order and paved a new path. Both Nayyar and Ra...

(Devarajan) An important aspect for which music is used in films is to create a 'mood'. While most of the time, the mood is an emotional one, sometimes a temporal mood is sought to be created. Our classical music has mapping of ragas to both emotional moods and temporal moods. By temporal mood, I mean the ragas ability to evoke images of a particular time of day. For me, this mapping has been problematic. I believe lot of this mapping is culture specific and in many cases your mapping may not agree with the traditional mapping. For example, no one would have a problem if Subhapanthuvarali is mapped to sadness. But to what mood would you map Kalyani or Thodi? Many say Bhairavi is a raga of sadness but I find it one of joy. S.R.Janakiraman, after singing a Mukhari song asks, "Where is the sadness in this?" He was referring to the oft repeated assertion that Mukhari is only fit for crying!! If emotional mapping can be so problematic, you can be sure the temporal mappi...

Having covered some of the gems that R.D.Burman provided for Lata in his earlier guest post , my friend Ravi Natarajan now explores the synergistic relationship between R.D.Burma and Asha. I would also urge you to check out Ravi's blog, Raja, The Genius , wherein he has started a very nice series on the usage of chorus by Illayaraja. I am sure you will enjoy it as well. Needless to say, I am very much obliged to Ravi for this post. R.D.Burman and Asha The 60s were defined by a bunch of composers from India – SJ, SD Burman, Madan Mohan in the North and MSV in the South. The 70s was defined by just one man – Pancham. It is very easy to list the top three songs of the 70s – no prizes for guessing – all were by RD. ‘Dum Maro Dum’ from Hare Rama Hare Krishna (1972), ‘Churaliya Hai’ from Yadon Ki Baaraat (1974) and ‘Mehboobha’ from Sholay (1975). These three tracks had a worldwide impact. Unfortunately, TIME magazine/BBC was not including any world music in their lists and the ...

(Sahir Ludhianvi) I don't think there could have been better locality than Boiguda in Secunderabad to grow up in , for it was the most cosmopolitan of all localities. A locality which was populated by Tamilians, Telugus, Anglo Indians, Marwadis and Hindi speaking folks. Populated by the rich marwadis, the middle class government servants and slum dwellers. Populated by Hindus, Jains, Muslims and Christians. Everyone was a friend. And festival ours. As kids we loved festivals for they brought with them things to eat. Thus at an early age I had tasted multiple cuisines. Of all the cuisines, I have a special affection for the Muslim cuisine. (And Telangana cuisine,especially the Bagar Annam) We used to attend Muslim weddings especially to eat. Most of us were pure vegetarians and special care was taken by our friends to ensure we got only the vegetarian stuff. The biriyani, the double-ka-meeta and what not. I still remember the wedding in the family of our local 'Dada', Jah...

One day while driving my car to office I tuned into a Kannada FM channel heard this song. Right from the first flight of violins I knew that this was definitely an Illayaraja song. As the song progressed, I would have wagered my salary on it. I wanted to know which movie this song was from. Unfortunately by the time I reached office I had forgotten the lyrics. Given my inability to sing even the simplest of the tunes, all I could tell my colleague was, "It was a wonderful song and it went like..lalala lalala". She smiled, probably thinking that this was one mystery which even Sherlock Holmes would be hard pressed to solve. Then I saw this song on TV but as is their wont, they did not put up the film name!! One day I saw a cassette of the movie 'Pallavi Anupallavi'. Knowing it was a Raja - Maniratnam combination movie I immediately picked it up. And I was pleasantly surprised when this song played. We will listen to this song today. If you observe Maniratnam's mo...

It is always interesting to compare and contrast two versions of the same song sung in different languages by different singers. I am not talking about dubbed movies but where the songs were made in each of the language with the same intensity and was a hit in each of these languages. Rafi's "chal ud jaa re panchi' from Bhabi can be contrasted with Ghantasala's rendition of the same song in Telugu, "payaninche o chiluka". (If fans of respective singers are involved in this comparison business it can lead to bloodshed. Just check out the youtube comments for this Telugu song!!)  A movie which moved everyone to tears and made Rajesh Khanna almost a legend was 'Anand'. Other than Rajesh Khanna's acting, Hrishikesh Mukherjee's direction, the film is also known for its superb music. How many films can boast of songs like, 'maine tere liye hi saat rang ke sapne chuni', 'naa jiya laage na', 'zindagi kaisi hai paheli' and the...

(Ghantasala) While the classical music purist frown when ragas are mixed, especially down south, we need to accept that sometimes this mixture does produce great music!! The mix happens in two ways. One by the introduction of alien notes. Second by mixing two ragas. Carnatic music is familiar with the introduction of alien notes into a raga, while mixing of two ragas is not looked at favourably. In Hindustani mixing two ragas is quite common.  Basant Bahar and Bageshree Kaanada come to mind. In Hindustani music they call it jod-ragas. The song that we will hear today is one such mixture.  I am not sure if this raga exists in Hindustani music or it was creation of the music director, Pendyala. The raga takes Kaanada in its upward movement and Chakravaham in its descent.  It sounds lovely and this is a very popular song in Telugu. Music, as noted earlier, is by Pendyala, lyrics of Malladi and sung wonderfully by Ghantasala.  This is one song in which yo...