MSV : His Music and his times - Part 16: Beyond Tamil films

MSV was so busy in Tamil films that he could rarely venture out of Tamil film industry. That was the conventional thinking. So I was surprised when I saw the list of Malayalam films for which MSV has provided music to. He seems to have done quite a bit in Malayalam. Here is a list :  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M._S._Viswanathan_discography

His Telugu output, which I heard often on radio, was less. The direct Telugu film output was even lesser. K V Mahadevan and Chakravarthy ruled the 70s. A lot K Balachander films got remade in Telugu and the songs were carried forward from Tamil. Yet in some cases, the songs became more popular in Telugu than Tamil.

Vishwanathan Ramamurthy gave music for 'Tenali Ramakrishna'. I think this was made both in Tamil and Telugu. Their tuning of 'chandana charchita' is one of the most melodious ones that I have heard for this astapadhi. A Mohanam base with Susheela's sugary voice makes this an all time classic



This song from 'Leta Manasulu' was a remake of 'kuzhandaiyum deivamum' song. It was as big a hit in Telugu as well



I am not sure if 'Sepoy Chinnaiah' had a Tamil counterpart but this song is embedded deep in Telugu consciousness. This talks about 'janmabhoomi' and it will not be forgotten in a hurry. A typical MSV melody.



Another typical MSV melody featuring the current TamilNadu CM and Nageshwar Rao. Not sure if there was a Tamil counterpart of this song:



'Aval Oru Thodarkadhai' was made as 'Anthuleni Katha' and the counterpart of 'deivam thanda veedu' was a major hit in Telugu. Since you know the song I will not put it up here. You can check out youtube for 'devude ichchadu veedhi okkati'.

Generally K Balachandar movies used to be made in Tamil or used to be bilingual. For a change there was one movie which got made first in Telugu and later came to Tamil. 'Chilakamma Cheppindhi' was made first in Telugu and it later became 'Nizhal Nijamagiradhu' in Tamil. The song which I will feature here later became 'kamban emandhan' in Tamil. Ofcourse the two songs are totally different songs though their soul remains the same. MSV does some changes for Tamil and we get a fresh melody in Tamil. 'koradanukoni' from 'Chilakkama Cheppindhi' featuring a handsome Rajnikanth.



A movie which K Balachandar made in Telugu, with lot of Tamil mixed in, but didn't remake in Tamil was 'Maro Charitra'. We can confidently say that it was one of MSV's best and the most successful albums of those times. Each song was a hit and the movie was a blockbuster hit.

If you were in Hyderabad during those times you would have heard this song atleast once every day. I am not exaggerating. 'ae theega poovuku'.



'kalisi unte kaladhu sukamu' and 'bale bale mogadivoi' were also big hits but according to me the best song of the movie was a fight between Janaki's 'padhaharellaku' and Vani Jeyaram's 'vidhi seyu vinthalanni' and Vani wins by a whisker. This is a typical MSV melody. I would say it is almost like a Vishwanathan Ramamurthy melody with its aching melancholy.



MSV did his share of 'item' numbers. Here is one such 'item number' featuring Jayamlini and NTR. This was a major hit during those times. As with many NTR dance songs of those times there is lot of unintentional comedy. As usual L R Eswari nails it to perfection while SPB tries a tad too hard to sound like NTR



'Avargal' was a bilingual. It got made as 'Idhi Katha Kadhu' in Telugu. 'Junior' was a major hit. One song in Telugu though doesn't have a counterpart in Tamil. This happens to be the best melodic song in the movie. (I hear shades of 'poo malayail' in this. Do you?)



'Noolveli' was another bi-lingual and I can say confidently that the songs were great hits in Telugu than in Tamil. 'nuvena' and the Balamurali classical 'mouname ne basha' were heard often on Vivdh Bharathi.

The delicate 'nuvena' in the voice of SPB. A song in the mold of 'barathi kannama' and 'vidhi cheyu vinthalenno'



Here is 'mouname nee basha' based on Sama ragam in the voice of Balamuralikrishna



Songs from 'Akali Rajyam' ('Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu') were also major hits. I will finish the Telugu roundup from the movie 'Tholi Kodi Koosindu' from which this song was a big radio hit. In the voice of Janaki, 'andamaina lokamani'



If you observe the Telugu songs the spirit of MSV remains the same as the Tamil one. Just that you are hearing his standard tunes in a different language. In Malayalam though you do see some change to suit the aesthetics of Malayalam film music. I have not heard all his Malayalam songs but whatever little I have heard give me this feeling.

Here is a Malayalam song which I know for a fact was a hit and I heard it being sung in recent singing competitions as well. 'veena poove' sung by Jesudas from the film 'Jeevika Marannu Poyi Stree'.



You can hear a Malayalam melody more than a MSV melody, isn't it?

The movie 'Chandrakantham' had some lovely songs. Here is MSV singing his own melody. 'hridaya vahini'. This sounds more MSVish.



This Kalyani based melody from the same film is one of my favorite MSV songs in Malayalam. This has a Jesudas version and a Janaki version. I chose the Janaki version here:



I will skip his Kannada output since I have absolutely no clue on it.

MSV gave private albums as well. I think most of them were bakthi albums. He had one collaboration with Maharajapuram Santhanam. MSV had composed songs on Ramana Maharishi which Illayaraja had sung. Inspite of all these, the most popular non-film album of MSV is 'Krishna Ganam'. In those days whoever owned a tape recorder in Tamil Nadu probably owned this tape. 'pullankuzhal koduththa moongilgale' and 'ayapadi maaligaiyil' were well known to everyone and even now I think many singing MSV songs on stage keep singing these melodies.

Here is TMS singing 'pullankuzhal koduththa moongilgale'



Another aspect of MSV which I did not touch much upon was MSV the singer. We all know how popular 'allah allah' was in his voice. We also saw 'sollathan ninaikiren' in his voice as well as the Malayalam song 'hridaya vahini'. I personally feel the best song he had sung was not for himself but for Raja. Here is MSV with 'erikanalkatril' from that outstanding album, 'Oru Yathra Mozhi'. If you haven't heard this do listen. Suits MSV's voice very well.



Next week we will complete the series by having a look at the legacy MSV left behind.