MSV: His Music and his times - Part 15: The order changeth slowly

Illayaraja's entry was not the only new thing to happen to Tamil film world in the mid 1970s. It was also the time of change. The old order was slowly getting replaced by a new one. Gemini Ganesan, the king of romance, started fading as Kamal Hassan took over that space and was branded as the prince of romance. M G R would become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 1977 and give up on movies. In 'Aboorva Ragangal' Rajnikanth pushed open the gates, literally, and stepped into the Tamil film industry. Sivaji Ganesan was still a leading hero but slowly the newer heroes were replacing him in the box office. It was an era of change and MSV had to straddle two worlds. The world of Sivaji and MGR which demanded a certain standard sound and the world of Kamal and Rajni which wanted a newer sound. So in this period you will hear both sides of MSV, the traditional side and the modern one.

We can take a couple of songs from 1976, the year Illayaraja entered, and see the above mentioned aspect.

From the movie, 'Neethiku Thalai Vanangu', here is S.Varalakshmi singing, 'indha pachai kiliku' representing the traditional MSV.



K.Balachander was a director who is associated with novelty and his combination with MSV produced many a classic. Here is 'Hello My Dear Wrong Number' from the movie 'Manmadha Leelai' which also had the famous, 'manaivi amaivadhellam'



This would be the sound MSV would use more for the newer heroes. Like this song from 'Polladhavan' for Rajnikanth, 'idho varandi varandi'



He had to follow the same path in the coming years. Here is a standard MSV melody for Sivaji. 'malligai mullai' from 'Annan Oru Kovil' from 1977.



In the same year, for the K Balachander directed 'Avargal' starring Kamal and Rajni. 'katrukkena veli'



In 1978, the famous, 'therukovile odivaa' (I don't know how MSV allowed this !!) from 'Andaman Kadhali'. This was more in tune with his new sound.



1978 had another K.Balachander film and that too carried a superb MSV melody in the voice of SPB. 'kamban emandhan' from 'Nizhal Nijamagiradhu'



From 1976 to 1983 MSV did close to 20 films or more each year but unfortunately the number of films that were major hits, the percentage of albums that were major hits and the percentage of songs that would go in MSV's canon were all decreasing. While the songs like the ones I had quoted above did happen a lot of very middling songs also happened. You can check out the movies with MSV's music in those years and you may be surprised that you don't remember many of them. Here is a list for your consideration.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._S._Viswanathan_discography

I think there were two other factors which contributed to MSV's decline in those years. The first one was the entry of newer directors who made village based films. 'Annakili' was the beginning and it picked up speed with the entry of BharathiRaja with 'padinaru vayadhinile'. These directors wanted a more authentic folk sound which they found in Illayaraja. So MSV could not get to work on the movies which were like a new wave as far as Tamil cinema was concerned. So he was saddled with old directors with old ideas, with people like Balachander being the exceptions. It was also the time when the films were becoming more visual than vocal. The likes of K S Gopalakrishnan, with their reams and reams of dialogues had no place here. These movies depended a lot on camera work and the background music to make an impact. Illayaraja was displaying extraordinary felicity in background music composition, an area which most Indian music directors never concentrated. This also pushed the new directors with new ideas of film making towards Illayaraja.

Listen to this song first. Then I will talk about the second factor which also contributed to MSV's decline. Here is 'sippi irukudhu muthum irukkudhu' from 'Varumaiyin Niram Sigappu'



Another K Balachander film. Another interesting idea and scene setting. So why am I listing this as a factor in MSV's decline? It is not the tune I am worried about. It is the lyrics of Kannadasan I am worried about. This song shows the inconsistent form of Kannadasan in those times. I mean, this song is cliched with almost no imagery that leaps at you. Do you need Kannadasan for 'sandhangal neeyanal sangeetham naan aaven' ? On one hand Kannadasan was writing outstanding stuff like 'ezhu swarangalukul' ('kaalai ezhundhavudan naalaiya kelvi adhu kaiyil kidaiththa pinnum thudikkudhu aavi'. Who else but Kannadasan can write such stuff. That whole song is littered with gems.) Or songs like 'deivam thanda veedu'. At the same time he was writing cliched lyrics like the song above or the other famous song, 'raagangal padhinaaru'. The consistency which was the hallmark of Kannadasan in the 60s was surely missing here.

MSV probably realized the threat posed by Illayaraja a couple of years after Raja's entry. In 1979, 'Ninaithale Inikkum' came out. It looked like MSV was trying to take on Raja head on with this movie. While 'engeyum eppodhum' and 'sambho siva sambho' were hits, they were not enough to stop the Raja juggernaut. (Ironically the best song of the movie to me is not one these 'new age' songs but the lovely MSV melody. 'barathi kannama', with its almost ghazalish charanam)



To give you an idea of what sort of soundscape MSV was fighting against, here is an Illayaraja number from 1979. 'aagaya gangai' from 'Dharma Yudhdham'



MSV kept giving hits till 1983 but the percentages were falling. The number of songs which were mediocre were increasing and the sound had a tired feel to it. As I said, once in a while there numbers which resonated with people like this one from 'Simla Special' (1982), 'unakenna mele ninrai' but these were few and far between.



MSV kept on composing but his era had ended by the early 1980s.

In the next part we will have a look at MSV's music for Telugu films and a few of his Malayalam songs before discussing his legacy.