MSV : His Music and his times - Part 11: The R D Burman influence
'Aradhana' released in 1969 was important in more ways than one. Rajesh Khanna became a super star. While Rafi and Kishore both sang for Rajesh Khanna in that movie, Kishore was chosen to be the voice of Rajesh Khanna. Kishore Kumar who had till then mostly sung for himself (when he was on screen) or for his friend Dev Anand, decided to become a full fledged singer. The R D Burman - Kishore Kumar - Rajesh Khanna combination would leave a huge impact on Hindi film music, which is felt even to this day.
I am sure those in the know will tell me that 'Aradhana' was not by R D Burman but was by S D Burman. While it is true, many industry insiders are on record saying that S D Burman was not well during that time and R D composed some of the songs. Going by the style of S D Burman and the later style of R D Burman my guess is that 'mere sapno ki rani kab ayegi thu' and 'kora kagaz tha yeh mann mera' were probably R D's creations.
Whatever be the exact credit, it has to be acknowledged that the music of this movie reached the interiors of Indian towns and village, a feat only R D Burman could manage. (While Rahman's music did go out of India, within Indian context I would say that Rahman is mostly an urban phenomenon. Similarly Raja's music reached all the tea shops in all villages down South but his music didn't create much impact beyond the Vindhyas). My friend Aul Selvan and Inabvannan say that even for Mariyamman Thiruvizhas the songs of Aradhana were played. Such was the impact of the music of Aradhana specially the songs, 'roop tera mastana' and 'mere sapnon ki'. 'roop tera mastana' has been parodied both in Tamil and Telugu.
Rajesh Khanna with the mannerism that would capture the heart of all girls, a petite Sharmila, the super picturization of the car following the train and the rhythm reflecting the movement of the train and a great tune made this song the very definition of a super hit song.
The impact of R D Burman was not felt only in the Hindi film music world but also down South in the world of Tamil and Telugu films. When such powerful trends set in, there is no way but to face it one way or the other. MSV also had to take on this trend, a trend which was enabling Hindi film music to penetrate deep into Tamilnadu.
Here is one response from MSV to take on the new trend. 'uttaravindri ulle vaa'. The sax, the guitar and the rhythm and the club danced soaked voice of L R Eswari. You can see how R D Burman's music was pushing everyone to adopt certain musical styles, rhythm and instruments. (The second para has TMS singing in classical style before singing the western style. Outstanding transition.)
The MSV - L R Eswari was Tamil film music's response to the R D Burman - Asha Bhosle combination which produced hits like these.
When you listen to these two songs one after the other I am sure you will see some similarities in orchestration. The main difference is that MSV's orchestration tends to rush a bit while RDB's is more controlled.
Like R D Burman depending on Asha to deliver sensuous songs, MSV called upon L R Eswari for such songs and she delivered perfectly. She was no slouch and she was definitely singing such songs at the same level that Asha was singing. Here is 'naam oruvarai oruvar' from 'Kumarikottam'
What a delight this song is in L R Eswari's voice. The orchestra may not be as trendy as RDB's but the tune is superb with so many subtle changes and a sort of middle eastern feel in the song endings and humming. Both Eswari and TMS hit each curve with superb precision.
Another movie, which was released in 1971, whose music had tremendous effect across India was 'Hare Krishna Hare Ram'. Every single person of that generation, be it in the city or a tiny village, would have heard 'dum maro dum'. Zeenat Aman redefined 'cool' with a lot of help from R D Burman, Asha Bhosle and Usha Uthup.
You can hear similar orchestration in this iconic fun song, 'jambulingame jadathara' from 'Kasedhan Kadavulada'. Amazingly funny song with the unforgettable 'adhe adhe sabapathe'. (Check out the first interlude. You will hear the slight hurrying up of the orchestra and this interlude will appear in extend form later in 'engeyum eppodhum')
If you have heard R D Burman's music, you can find unmistakable signs of it in the orchestration of the pallavi and the first interlude. The charnams become more MSV with a lovely and simple tune but the pallavi and interlude orchestration is closer to R D B in spirit. Super singing by MSV and Janaki and the almost ghazalish charanams adding to the overall charm. This song sort of demonstrates how MSV had to compromise between his own melodic predilections and the orchestral dictates of those times.
Not only was there a need to adopt the RD Burmanish orchestration, in many cases MSV had to provide music to movies which were copies of popular Hindi movies. He mostly wanted to tune newly rather than copying the Hindi songs and that did lead to comparisons, not always in MSV's favor.
Here is 'kora kagaz tha' from 'Aradhana'
And here is its counterpoint from the Tamil film, 'Sivagamiyin Selvan'
Do you hear some traces of 'kora kagaz' in it? The song is a nice melody but the gait and the Pahadi of 'kora kagaz' take it to a different level.
The other film which pitted MSV against RDB was 'Nalai Namadhe', the copy of 'Yadon Ki Baraat'. The Hindi film music once again had the 'cool' and 'trendy' component which was sort of missing in the Tamil film. 'Nalai Namadhe' had some very nice melodies but in the overall context of those times, 'Yadon Ki Barath' was cooler.
Here is the title song of 'Yadon Ki Baraah'
Here is 'nalai namadhe'
Here is one more set where the Tamil song closely follows the Hindi original. (The picturization too is similar). 'O mere Raja' was from 'Johny Mera Naam' with music by Kalyanji Anandji but here too you can see the R D Burman influence.
MSV recreates the same song in his own style
Not only Tamil, R D Burman's influenced Telugu and Kananda music directors as well.
Here is a Telugu song by the music director Sathyam, an ardent RDB fan. While Sathyam comes up with a very original tune, the orchestration takes its cue from RDB. From the movie, 'Premalekalu', the song, 'idhi teeyani vennela reyi'
I do see some RDB influence in Rajan Nagendra's music as well . You hear 'endendu ninnanu' from the Kannada movie 'Eradu Kanaasu' and decide
To make it look like a 5 year time period (from 1971 to 1975) had MSV only responding to the Bollywood trend will be an injustice to that man. He did a lot more during those 5 years. In the next part we will see more of the unique MSV melodies and the new singers he introduced into Tamil film music during that timeframe.
Comments
The Boney M and Abba effect also had it in RDB as well as MSV ! Honey honey >>Milgaya >> Vaanile media amaithadhu !
The RDB wave ended I think by the end 70s…
During the early 80s , we came across movies like - Karz, Sanam Teri Kasam, Qurbani ,Lawaris, Muqadhar ka Sikandhar,Hero, Ram Teri Ganga, Silsila , Tezaab and few more..
Some of the AMitabh songs were more popular due to his star status then
But the impact of the above movies was huge ! It will be a status symbol to sing the songs of these movies !
I don’t remember any major hits until Qayamat se Qayamat Tak …
Really baffling that someone of RDB’s class could disappear to obvilion within a decade especially when he had set a trend !
The Milind-Anand, Kalyanji-ANandji, Bappi Lahiri, Nadeem-Shravan….. actually these guys were the ones who dominated no ?
Yes, RDBs meltdown in late 70s is surprising and the films you say all had hit songs. Mostly they didn't that type of patti thotii hits because songs like 'oram po' and 'anne anne' entered the scene. After RDB it was downhill for Hindi films. It was a double whammy because Amitabh never cared about songs in his movies and RD's form went downhill
Also, your point that MSV-Easwari being an answer to RDB-Asha: MSV_easwari combination dates back to even the TKR days with songs in Karuppu Panam and later in the late 60s with songs in Kumari Penn Nee, Kudiyirunda Koil, Nam Naadu etc. You yourself have pointed out that MSV was one of the very few who adopted a more Western sound and only SD Burman in teh Hindi movies had a similar approach. So it is entirely plausible that these songs you have mentioned here are more of an extension of the post-TKR MSV and i do not see any dramatic other influence in the songs you have cited.
No doubt, the craze created by songs in Aradhana and yadon Ki Barat could not be matched by those in the Tamil remakes. In my opinion, Sivkamiyin Selvan is nowhere near MSV's own best. Regarding the title song in yadon Ki Barat vs the corresponding one in Naalai mamathe, the comparison is a bit unfair. the very words "naalai namathe" smacks of a political statement song and MSV's tune (based on nata bhaieavi) fits well. In fact, for this reason, I find the reunion song in tamizh fits the situation better than in teh Hindi version. But it cannot be denied the Hindi songs were more "cool" and "trendy". I feel this has to do less with the orchestration than with the tunes. I do not find much time devoted for interludes either in "yadon Ki" or in "Chura Liya" to make a huge difference. I enjoy "Chura Liya" as much as I do "Neela nayanangalil" though possibly for different reasons. And MSV gave not one but three outstanding melodies in naalai Namathe (Ennai Vittal, Kaathal enbathu being the other two) which remain as fresh in my memory as ever even to this day.
Ravi
The say when a lie is spoken 100 times, unfortunately it becomes a truth. RDB had no hand in Aradhana, as per those who worked with SDB and RDB on Aradhana. Please view the follwoing three videos and decide for yourself.
Regards.
Moti Lalwani
Sachin Dev Burman and his Aradhana (Part I)
https://youtu.be/9XX7PHRDqEo
Sachin Dev Burman and his Aradhana (Part II)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_9I0raMckw
Sachin Dev Burman and his 'Aradhana' - Part III
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9zBf5847VE&t=17s
I respectfully disagree your views on comparing "Yaadon Ki Baaraat" and "Naalai Namadhe". MSV's take on the song "Yaadon Ki Baarat" has much more depth than the original. He would have taken a completely different approach if it's done by any other actor than MGR. Whenever a Hindi film is remade in Tamil especially if it’s done by MGR. You must consider MGR's fan following and his political messages while adapting the movie in Tamil. The same applies to its songs as well. We can just compare the two songs individually. I’ll just summarize my observations:
In this situation, three main characters are finding each other through a "Family Song". Let's see how it is being revealed to characters in both songs. For sake of identification, we call three brothers as “The singer”, “The Eldest” and “The Middle brother”. In "Yaadon Ki Baarat", brothers recognize the song at the end of the first line (at least that’s how it was picturised), the line is “Yaadon ki baaraat nikli hai aaj dil ke dwaare…Dil ke dwaare”. The tune for this line is a continuous one without any pauses in between…it was followed by strings to express the reaction of brothers. Again, the singer continues with the Pallavi (They show both brothers’ reactions). (Also, I feel the line “Ho chhedo tarane milan ke pyare pyare” is left incomplete. Not sure why!) Once the pallavi ends, we are not seeing much music or drama. With a minimal music, song proceeds to Charanam part. So, till the Pallavi what has been established here? The eldest brother and the middle brother have recognized the song and their younger brother (the singer). The eldest brother is happy but also concerned about the bad guys present in the place and the middle brother is purely joyful and emotional. So now the singer is yet to identify his brothers and the eldest is yet to identify the middle brother too. Let’s continue...the charanam starts. First the singer sings the first two lines of the song and then the middle brother sings the same lines revealing the truth to the singer and the eldest brother. The middle brother completes the charanam then both the singer and middle brother sings the Pallavi together. Now comes the second interlude. Again, it’s a short and simple one showing the state of mind of the eldest brother. Excellent piece of saxophone expresses the emotion of the eldest brother that he is unable to reveal at that moment that he is the eldest brother and join with them. In the second charanam, both the singer and middle brothers sings each line of the charanam and again ends with both singing the Pallavi together for the final time. At the end of the Pallavi, both runs to each other and hugs…it was backed by strings playing the tune of the line “Dil Ke Dwaare” repeatedly. Song ends with the eldest brother tearfully looking at his brother hugging and being emotional.
Okay now, let’s see how the same is handled in the song “Naalai Namadhe”. In “Naalai Namadhe”, MSV opens with simple straightforward tune and see how he pauses between each line naturally and backing it with guitar which gives the director enough time to show the reaction of each brother well. Put yourself in the position of those brothers, you are hearing your family song after a long time, your reaction will be mixture of various emotions. In fact, it will take a moment for you to realise what you are hearing right?! In Hindi, the tune is a continuous one, so you cannot show this slow transition of recognizing a familiar song and realising it is indeed your family song then sudden realisation hitting you that this could be your brother and plethora of emotions flooding you. In tamil song, it starts with simple words “Anbu Malargale” backed by guitar showing the reaction of the middle brother slowly turning his head which shows that he thinks that this is something familiar. The second line “Nambi Irungale” again followed by Guitar shows the reaction of the elder brother. If you notice, both brothers upon hearing these familiar lines, just turning their heads towards the singer who is singing. Then the line “Naalai Namadhe indha naalum namadhe”. Then they show both brothers reaction which is pure surprise. The next line is “Dharmam ulagile irukum varaiyile naalai namadhe indha naalum namadhe” see how MSV replaced strings in the place of guitar to show the intensity of the situation and emotions in brothers. At the end of this line, it is clearly established that both brothers have recognized their youngest brother. Now comes the interesting part, the actual Pallavi just starts from here. “Anbu Malargale” lines are just a call to the Pallavi is not the actual Pallavi itself because it won’t get repeated in the song again like how usually Pallavi gets repeated throughout the songs.
The Pallavi starts with the lines “Thaai vazhi vandha sondhangal ellam oor vazhi nindru neer vazhi sendraal…naalai namadhe”. It is backed by guitar beautifully. See, how MSV predominantly uses guitar in this song (not just playing chords throughout the song) to emphasize that this person is the singer and guitarist. In the second line “Kaalangal ennum solaigal malarndhu Kaai kaniyaagum namakkena valarndhu Naalai namadhae”, notice how MSV stresses the word “Naalai Namadhe” at the end. This is not just for the situation of the movie; it is also statement for the MGR fans and followers that tomorrow is ours. The Pallavi ends here. How he is actuatlly ending the Pallavi is the point to be noted here. Pallavi is followed by a beautiful flute bit to convey that the brothers are reminiscing their past memory with their family. When we think that Pallavi has ended, here comes the middle brother singing the line “Naalai Namadhe” with such force. Both the singer and the eldest brother recognizes their brother. Now officially the Pallavi has ended. So far, what we have established here. The eldest brother has found both of his brothers. The middle brother and the singer have recognized each other’s. This is well established along with the stages of their emotions and their complete reactions. Now read what we had established at the end of the Pallavi in the hindi song before proceeding further.
The first interlude lead by the powerful guitar solo and followed by a grand string section. The singer brother is a singer and guitarist, so MSV has shown his way of expressing his happiness of finding his brother. Charanam starts with the middle brother singing the lines “Paasam ennum our vazhi vandha”…we see on screen that brothers embracing each other during these lines. (One thing I noticed which I loved personally is that while the singer brother kisses his guitar before he puts down and goes to hug his brother…this is nice touch by the director. Its his way of saying thanks to the music which united them) Coming back to the song!
The line “moodru thamizhum or idam nindru paada vendum kaaviya sindhu” is sung by the middle brother first and the gets repeated by the singer brother. Just listen to these lines again. Notice the difference between the way two brother sings it. It’s a wonderful detail put in by MSV. When the singer brother repeats the line…he doesn’t just sing as it is like how his brother has sung, instead he adds a little sangathi to the line “Kaaviya Sindhu” which nicely capture how a real singer keeps improvising it. It’s a very minute detail by MSV which many wouldn’t noticed usually but I heard from SPB that even a minor detail matters the most to MSV. The charanam ends with the line “Andha naal nenaivugal endha naalum maaraadhu”, the song is set in Natabhairavi/Minor scale but how he touches the swaram Ni3 for the line “Endha naalum maaradhu” to give the flavour nostalgia and melancholy. That’s beauty of MSV! At the end of the charanam, we see both brothers are happily singing and enjoying the moment but the eldest brother in mixture of feelings. One side it is happines and the other side it is pain that he couldn’t join them and more. See how this emotion is beautifully captured in the second interlude through strings. And finally comes the last charanam which shows the extension of what we had seen during the second interlude. At the end we see the eldest brother with tearful eyes decided to depart from the place without gaining attention of goons present nearby…he kisses the goodbye and leaves without anyone notices. It’s a bittersweet moment, isn’t it? It’s conveyed through beautiful brass and strings at the end. That’s it!
We can clearly see how the film making style of both songs are so different. You can call Hindi being subtle and Tamil being more dramatic. Its not wrong being either of those. It’s all depending on your target audiences. MSV has clearly understood his assignment and shown his mastery beautifully throughout the album. It’s not just another remake movie you are composing for…it’s a movie which so popular all over India. It’s not easy to give a hit album like “Naalai Namadhe” when it’s a remake of such popular film.
There are so many other factors to be considered here.
1. Age of the actors and singers. In Hindi, two brothers who are singing the song. The actors Mr. Tariq Ali Khan and Mr. Vijay Arora were 22 and 29 respectively at that time. The singers Mr. Kishore Kumar and Mr. Mohammed Rafi were 44 and 49 respectively at that time.
In Tamil, Mr. Chandramohan who played the singer was 29yrs old and MGR was 58yrs old. Also, SPB was 29yrs old and TMS was 53yrs old. Look at the age gap between the singers. We don’t find this difference anywhere in the song. This may look like not relevant for a composer, but it is relevant when the tune song and scale should cater to both singers and the situation. And has to bring out their best from them. He has to cater to the needs of fans of MGR who had a demi god status in Tamil nadu.
2. MSV has given attention to minute details like, In the song "Yaadon Ki Baaraat", except for the prelude guitar is not used much throughout the song at all though the character who sings the song is a stage singer and literally holding a Guitar throughout the song. Check "Naalai Namadhe", how MSV has used Guitar throughout the songs not only in interludes but also as embellishments in between lines of the song.
The way of expressions and emotions were captured not only through his tune but also through his orchestration. MSV may not be technical mastered western music to write a complex layer of musical arrangements, but I challenge no other composer who is not well versed with Music music concept can compose and arranges orchestration like how MSV has done in his career. Ultimately, the commoner doesn’t care about what scale it is or how complex it is or how it is structured. All that matters to him is whether it touches his heart or not. He has won that effortlessly for decades. It’s a wonder how he had come up some complex arrangements and rhythms without having any proper learning of western music. If he had trained in western like how some other composers have done. He would have done much more that what he did, but it doesn’t matter. He has done more than what anyone in his place could ever imagine.
There are more things to analyze and comment on this song and album. I have huge regard for R. D. Burman and other composers. I found the comparison made by Mr. Suresh is unfair with due respects to him. I apologize for any grammatical errors or mistakes in this because I wrote it as it comes to my mind.