Music And Movies

Our festivals and music are highly interlinked. One cannot miss the festival music, even if you want to. For, the nearby temple will be blaring out the songs from those tinny loudspeakers. Ganesh Chaturthi is one festival where you get to hear songs in most parts of India. In Hyderabad, along with Ganesh Chaturthi, we have the Mahakali jatra time. The Mahakali festival itself stretches over more than a month. During this time every small Mahakali temple will celebrate and you get to hear songs day in and day out. Especially during the weekend, as the festival will be celebrated on Sundays. Added to these loud speakers, you also have the 'potha raju' and the famous live 'teen maar' of Hyderabad. All I have to do is type, 'dha dhanakur dhan' and the rhythm will immediately start playing in any true Hyderabadi's mind. So embedded is this 'teen maar' in our mind. ( I have not analyzed it but I have a feeling that 'teen maar' probably is equ...

(Dandapani Desikar) 'salilam varshaya varshaya' sang Muthuswamy Dikshithar and heaven opened up providing succor to the drought hit Ettayapuram. The lamp wicks in Akbar's court caught fire when Tansen sang Raag Deepak and  the heat generated was offset by cool rain that fell when Tansen's daughters sang Miya-Ki-Malhar. Flowers blossomed when Jeyadeva sang, a dead person got up on hearing Tyagaraja sing 'Naa Jeevadhara'. Such stories abound in India. Whether we believe in the stories or not, we do believe in what these stories want to convey: the power of music. One of the most interesting stories which relates to music and devotion is that of 'Nandhanar'. Those who do not know about Nandanar can read this Wikipedia article . In this story, Nandanar, belonging to the low caste, is not allowed inside a Siva temple. He stands outside and wants to have a glimpse of the Lord, but the Nandi blocks his view. So he sings to Nandi to move a bit so th...

'hiranmayena paatrena satyasa apihitam mukham' says the Isavasya Upanishad. "A golden screen hides the face of the truth". As with all Vedic and Upanishad sayings, a pithy one which gives rise to multiple interpretations. I am reminded of this saying once in a while, especially when I see a Black and White photo of yesteryear actresses. You seem to realize their true beauty in these Black and White photographs. As if the golden screen were pushed away revealing the truth. Ofcourse that is a mushy romantic notion, because lot of people look very good in color photos as well but for some reason the Black and White photo holds our attention a bit longer.  Though I have seen many movies of her in color, it was when I first saw her in Black and White that I appreciated the beauty that was Sharmila Tagore. In our college auditorium, our Film Society had screened 'Apur Sansar', the last of the Apu Trilogy by the great Satyajit Ray. (The trilogy was based on...

There were two ways to get to my school, St.Mary's, from Secunderabad Railway Station. One was the straightforward way crossing SPG school, taking right at Manohar theatre, crossing St.Francis School and taking left to reach my school. The other was a short cut. Who in his youth can resist a short cut? This was through a very very narrow lane behind SPG school, in the Regimental Bazar area.  The lane had enough width for a couple of scooters to pass each other, or maybe not. The house on both sides had the traditional raised platform and very low roofs. The door size was such that any adult, whatever his height, had to enter respectfully. The houses were a two room affair and each house was joined to its neighbors at the hip. There was no gap between the house and after around 15 to 20 houses, the perpendicular road would provide the break, after which the house again stretched holding each other. There was no space for a compound wall and if an house did not have the platform ou...

(Johnson) Malayalam Music Director Johnson passed away recently. I knew about Johnson, had watched him on TV where he was judging a singing talent hunt show. Also knew that he had got two National awards and he was well known in Kerala for both his songs and his background scores (for which he had received the National Award.) Unfortunately I had heard very less of the songs he had composed. Once I happened chance upon a HMV collection of 15 of his songs titled, 'Nostalgia' and bought it. I was impressed with  all the songs in that CD. Added to it I had heard a few more on youtube but overall my exposure to his music has been limited. I  anyway had  'moham kondu njan' listed in my internal database as a song which I should feature in this series. So I thought I will put it up today in honor of Johnson. As I said earlier, I had not heard enough of him to get an idea of his individuality. All I could observe is that his best songs were melodies, based on diff...

When I first saw the young Shammi Kapoor on Chitrahaar, I refused to believe it was Shammi Kapoor!! For the Shammi Kapoor we knew growing up was a huge man with a beard, who acted in elderly roles. This person dancing and prancing around was hyperactive and did not look anywhere like the Shammi Kapoor we knew. It took some time for me to realize that they were both one and the same. So drastically had Shammi Kapoor changed over the years. (I had this same confusion when I saw a young Prithviraj Kapoor. I thought he was Sashi Kapoor!! The resemblance is very strong.) During that dark era, where there was only one TV channel, all of us used to crowd into either my aunt's place or at my cousin, Padmini's place, to watch Chitrahaar on a weekday (was it Wed or Fri?) and Rangoli on Sunday morning. While each one had his or her own preference of actors and songs, everyone felt happy when a Shammi Kapoor song was screened. It didn't matter if you thought he wasn't a great act...

(O.P.Nayyar) Trend-setters in any field disrupt the prevailing order, bring in new ideas and keep the field vibrant. Hindi film music has had many trend-setters starting from C.Ramachandra. One such well known trend-setter was O.P.Nayyar. Nayyar brought in lilting rhythm into Hindi film music. He clashed with the established order of those days, also known as Lata Mangeshkar. He never did a single song with Lata and yet succeeded. He was responsible for the growth of Asha as an artist. A very outspoken person, he gave many hits which are now part of Hindi film music's folk lore. To a certain extent, Rahman reminds me of O.P.Nayyar. Not from the personal characteristic front, in which he is the opposite of Nayyar, but from a musical sense. The initial Rahman rode of foot tapping rhythm, the judicious choice of ragas for his melodies, new recording techniques and new voices, providing a new attractive sound. He took on the established order and paved a new path. Both Nayyar and Ra...