Music And Movies

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...