MSV : His music and his times - Part 2: The Breakthrough Year

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 aspect has been mined by many a later director.) All the three had Sivaji Ganesan in the lead.

As I had stated in the earlier part, the first movie which had the Vishwanath Ramamurthy sound was 'Bhagapirivinai', a 1959 movie (a Bhim Singh movie by the way).  Let me take a song from this movie and analyze their sound. The song we will hear is 'thangathile oru kurai irundhaalum'



The first aspect we note is that this definitely sounds much more modern when compared to 1950s Tamil songs. The way it is tuned contributes towards this feeling. The singing by Susheela is restrained and not very open throated.

Other than this, the song demonstrates what would be the key aspects of their style. The first one we immediately observe is the way the song flows. It doesn't have that 'let me reach high pitch in the charanam' malady. Rather the tune goes very soft in the ending of charanam and blends in naturally with the pallavi. Secondly, the rhythm contributes so much to this free flowing feel. The rhythm has also now been modernized. Earlier, whenever mridangam was used in a song most probably it would be a song based on carnatic music and the way the mridangam used to be played would be very carnatic in nature. In this song, surprisingly, it is the mridangam which adds modernity to the song. It was the genius of Vishwanathan Ramamurthy that they could think of employing mridangam sound in this unique way. This free flowing tune aided with a constant rhythm provided either by mridangam or tabla would be a regular feature of many a female solo under the baton of Vishwanath Ramamurthy.

Here is another song which underlines this aspect, from 'Bhagyalakshmi' (1961):



I don't need to point out the free flowing nature of this song and the superb rhythm. The mridangam adding modernity and majesty to the song.

Let me take up a couple of songs from 1961 and point out to another important aspect of their music.

Here is 'alayamaniyin osai' from 'Paalum Pazhamum'.



The flight of violins and the guitar strum in the prelude quickly establish the modernity and tell us how far Vishwanathan and Ramamurthy have moved away from the G Ramanathan era. You would have no doubt observed the way the tabla is used here to provide the constant rhythm. You would also have observed that the song flows freely like a river in the plains. Not the gushing river of the mountain. Now I ask you this question: what ragam is this song based on? This would stump most people. That was a rhetoric question and I am not expecting an answer. What I wanted to point out that though the song undoubtedly has a classical base, the raga is not exposed. What comes through is a tune which enters your heart, touches you and leaves a lasting impact. This was one of the major feature of Vishwanathan Ramamurthy (and later MSV)'s music. This ability of setting a tune without losing our roots and yet giving a new color to classicism.  In many cases it is difficult to tell the ragam in their songs and truthfully it doesn't matter.

As another example, I give you this song from 'Pasamalar' which unanimously would be rated as the greatest song composed by Vishwanathan Ramamurthy in terms of its impact on multiple generation of listeners, 'malarndhum malaradha'. Nominally you can map the song to 'Anandha Bhairavi' but who cares what ragam it is when the song hits you so hard. (Not only in Tamil, this song was a hit in Telugu as well. Malayalam music director Raveendran Master had said how he was inspired by this song)



I will now give you another couple of songs from 1961. I am sure you would observe the characteristics I had noted till now. Once you have done that, I will bring to your notice another characteristic of their music.

Here is 'naan paesa ninaipadhellam' from 'Paalum Pazhamum'



The constant rhythm, flowing tune and a nominal Sivaranjani ragam

Now on to 'kalangalil aval vasantham' from 'Paava Mannippu'



Again, the signature rhythm, signature tune and the classical base which doesn't manifest itself.

Other than these aspects what I wanted to point out to you, which you would have subconsciously observed, is the thin veil of melancholy in these songs. Infact this is present in all the songs I have listed till now. A light sadness even in the love songs like the two above, This is not the melancholy of the Malayalam film music, where the melancholy brings down the energy a bit. Here the energy is kept at decently high level and yet this tinge of sadness is induced expertly. This would be the predominant sound of Vishwanathan Ramamurthy. Please note, I said the predominant and not the 'only' sound. (We will examine other sounds later). This sound made sure the songs stayed with you. This melancholy along with nostalgia can make the children of 60s think that those times were one great colorful feel good movie.

Since they were masters in melancholy it didn't take them much to tune sad songs and those songs are their signature songs even today.

First, the most philosophical of all film songs, 'ponaal pogattum poda' from 'Paalum Pazhamum':



Then there is this song, 'silar sirippar silar azhuvaar' from 'Paava Mannippu'



This song encapsulates all the aspects I captured till now. (As an aside, the song title would be how directors would make Sivaji act in almost every film in the 80s)

I cannot finish this part without talking about Kannadasan. He was such an inspired lyricist and that era belonged to MD and Lyricist jointly. I cant do justice to Kannadasan's contribution in one paragraph. He needs a series on him. Maybe some day someone will write it.

We will see how Vishwanathan Ramamurthy consolidated their position after 1961 and the songs they gave in the subsequent years in the coming part. For time being I will leave a few songs from 1961 here for you to enjoy and dissect.

'yaar yaar yaar' from 'Pasamalar'



'paalirukkum' from 'Pavamannippu'



'ennai yaar enru' from 'Palum Pazhamum'