MSV: His Music and his times - Part 5 The split

1965 was the year Vishwanathan Ramamurthy split into MSV and T K Ramamurthy. MSV would go on to dominate the Tamil Film Music for decade and half while Ramamurthy would fade away. That is in the future though. We will now check what 1965 held for the music lover.

While 1965 did not reach the height of 1964, the year did produce some great songs and a few iconic ones at that. Songs which are heard even to this day and in all probability will be heard for many more years to come.

This was the year of 'Enga Veetu Pillai' and the most famous and most parodied song of MGR, 'naan aanaiyitaal' The constant and energetic rhythm, TMS's voice, MGR's charisma in the song, the lyrics: everything comes together perfectly to raise the image of MGR and also imprints itself in the listener's heart. The Spanish bull fight type of guitar in the interludes works perfectly for this song.



(The movie's theme, which first appeared as 'Ramudu Beemudu' in Telugu, would be reused multiple times and most of them would be hit movies : Ram Aur Shyam, Seeta Aur Geeta, Chaalbaaz, Kishen Kanhaiya. The theme of twins with different temperaments is supposed to have been inspired by an Alexander Dumas novel, according to Wiki.)

The other iconic song from that year was 'adho andha paravai pola' from 'Ayirathil Oruvan'



This song is quite different from the standard Vishwanathan Ramamurthy songs with the chorus playing a major and effective role. The drumming is also different, a sort of jazz drumming with the piano providing some rhythm as well. The interludes do give us the Vishwanathan Ramamurthy feel as well as the way the song moves in the charanam and yet due to the arrangements it sounds different. A worthy addition to their oeuvre.

The other iconic song which will never be obliterated till Tamil language exists, for obvious reasons, is 'tamizhukku amudenru paer' from 'Pachaivarna Kili'



Here the prelude is typical Vishwanathan Ramamurthy with the violins and the tune establishing the light melancholy, the hallmark of their style. Susheela's honey dripping voice sings Bharathidsan's poem. (How I wish someone had told K R Vijaya that she would get full even if she underacted, this would have a been a song to be watched continuously. Instead it has become a song better heard than seen.When K R Vijaya acts out 'Tamizhukku madhuvendru paer' it is hilarious beyond words )

'Ayiraththil Oruvan' also had the typical Vishwanathan Ramamurthy female solo, 'unnai naan sandhiththen'



It has all the Vishwanathan Ramamurthy trademarks we have been discussing till now.

This was also the year of two popular Kannan songs, both by P.Susheela and both of them typical Vishwanathan Ramamurthy melodies

First, 'kannan varuvan' from 'Panchavarna Kili'



The next one is 'kannan ennum manan paerai solla solla' from 'Vennira Aadai'



I think I have given enough evidence to show that they were going strong in 1965, with their style intact and producing long lasting songs. Yet, they had to separate. I have no idea why that happened and neither of them seem to have said anything about it. Since our focus is on their music, we will not worry too much about the 'why' of the split. We will instead explore how this split affected MSV and how is music changed in the coming years. We will do this in the next part of our series but for now some conjectures.

Which should we take as the year when MSV's new style actually emerged? I have read some articles saying that some songs which were composed by Vishwanathan Ramamurthy came in MSV's name alone. Again I do not know how much of this is speculation and how much of it is true. It is very much possible that the break was a decision which was immediately implemented and hence there could have been films whose music was partially composed by the duo. Again, I am speculating here. So let us look at some other songs of 1965 and 1966 which were credited to MSV and check if they sounded like Vishwanathan Ramamurthy songs.

Here is 'anbulla manvizhiye' from 'Kuzhandaiyum Deivamum'. The love song with a touch of melancholy, the flight of the violins in the interlude, the free flowing charanam. Just everything in this song screams Vishwanathan Ramamurthy. This was a 1965 movie credited to MSV.



Or take 'pazhamudhir solaiyile' from the same film. This Abheri based song is another typical Vishwanathan Ramamurthy melody



This song from 'Kalangarai Vilakkam' also has all the characteristics of a Vishwanathan Ramamurthy melody: the constant rhythm, the simple charanam and the overall orchestration. (1965 film credited to MSV)



This song from 'Anbe Vaa' reminds me so much of some of the songs from 'Kadhalikka Neramillai'



Similarly I find, 'naan parthadhile' very much a Vishwanathan Ramamurthy song. Again the interludes remind me of 'Kadhalika Neramillai'



Finally this song from 'Chandrodhayam'



We can approach this two ways: One, that some of them were indeed Vishwanathan Ramamurthy melodies which came under the name of MSV. Two, they were completely MSV's works but the influence of Ramamurthy still lingered. In either case it will be proper to say that MSV's distinct style was to come late in 1966 or in 1967. We will talk about that in the next part.