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The bitter truth about DEVA?

Topic started by Observer (@ spider-wc044.proxy.aol.com) on Mon Sep 28 20:54:53 EDT 1998.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

DEVA has been making quite some waves (as against VS making quiet waves!) in TFM today. I am just back from india where i found how DEVA pulls masses and holds them with his reluctantly acceptable melodies.
When i spoke to my brother-in-law , (who is not so much addicted to TFM) he said DEVA is known copier. Even a kid who services tea to the bench-sitters in a tea shop readily quipped ' Deva-VA, Avar nalla copy adipar sir '. But the same kid goes dancing for 'Kothaval savadi lady nee koyambedu vadi ' from the film ' kannethire thondrinal'. When saw this film in a theater in trichy, the whole auditorium was shaking with people's whistles and dances for the song. Whether the mass support(!) for DEVA exists or not, he certainly makes them enjoy his tunes.
And to add to this truth, me being an objective lover of TFM( or any Music for that matter!), happen to record songs from some recent Tamil Movies on a CD from a recording shop. Believe it or not, 4 out of 5 songs i liked were songs composed by DEVA! The songs were from the following films,
1. Piriyamudan( bharathikku kannamma , poojavaa poojavaa )
2. Natpukkaga(garuda garuda, meesakara nanba)
3. Dharma(iru kangal pothathu)
4. Poonthottam(vanathu tharagayo)
5. kannethire thondrinal( chinna chinna, kanave kalaiyathe, easwara)

I could not be subjective, by ignoring DEVA songs for his so called plagiarism, for that I liked the melodies (Oh NO! , NOT the song 'kothaval savadi..') in the collections. Bharathikku kannamma, garuda garuda, chinna chinna kuyile all may sound like recycled stuff, and poojavaa is a copy from Gupt. But my mind (i.e conscience) readily accepts the melodies and i can not desist from humming the tunes. kanave kalaiyathe(i am not sure if this a recyle or copy) is an excellent tune. Though one may say he lifts tunes , i want to ask him(her) does that fact makes the song less popular, less molodious? Or does it make one feel like listening to the same song over and over? what kind of negative impact does it have on TFM lovers who have a genuine objective taste of songs? What is your school of thought got to say?

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Srinath (@ 174-221-43.ipt.aol.com) on: Mon Nov 23 00:04:11 EST 1998
  
  hari:
  If you dont like his music, it is your personal taste. - I've never claimed otherwise.
  
  Ramki:
  Considering that your request has been put across as politely as polite can be, I have no other option but to accede.
  
  Mano, hari, Observer and Ramki:
  The reason behind opposing Deva and his ilk goes beyond personal likes or dislikes for me. In one of my first postings in this thread I have given a detailed explanation as to why I feel Deva-bashing should be resorted to.
  
  Observer, some of your questions like, "Why should we care about originality ?" can be best answered by creators - people who depend on originality for their living. I don't want to give a 100 line lecture about originality. But I base my life on certain standards and originality is right there at the top of my list. Don't expect me to accept any of Deva's work.
  
  Vevastha kettu copyadikaravangala kanda enakku thuli kooda mariyadha kidayaadhu. Fellow DFersukku irukkura mariyadhainaala iththoda niruthikkaraen.
  
  
• From: ml.s (@ 161.139.118.223) on: Mon Nov 23 03:28:38 EST 1998
  
  I believe Deva has his own reasons and originality. It won't be fair coz even ARR is a copycat too. He takes most of the english theme musics.
  Deva has his talent and I love his music.
  
  
• From: Mano (@ ecarh29c.nortel.ca) on: Mon Nov 23 09:09:47 EST 1998
  
  sarigamaviji:
  I can provide you the same example with MDS who had originality but aren't popular anymore.
  IMO, it's nothing to do with this thread. Why do you drag ARR and IR into this? Further, your examples talk about a MD which is none other than Tamil. So, I don't know the stats really. Have you ever appreciated
  Deva? I'm definitely sure that he had created some original songs? Did you appreciate that or you're still looking to find where he copied from? As Observer raised, what does the orginality got to do with the enjoyment?
  
  
• From: Srinath (@ ss04.nc.us.ibm.com) on: Mon Nov 23 10:15:19 EST 1998
  
  Observer:
  You started this thread with apparently to find out the reactions of people to Deva and his copied music. Why do you then get upset if somebody shows his disgust for Deva ? If it is Deva's originality that people are worried about they ought to participate in the "Original Songs of Deva" thread.
  
  Mano:
  Originality gotta lotsa to doa witha enjoyment man. Read my first posting again (under Old Responses).
  
  Since you people are unable to appreciate the importance of originality, there is no point in my banging my head on and on and on about it. Yenna poruththa varaikkum Deva oru padu mattamaana MD. Ungala poruthavaraikkum avar oru nalla MD. Let's leave it at that.
  
  
• From: e hari (@ carefree.proxy.lucent.com) on: Mon Nov 23 10:29:30 EST 1998
  
  srinath,
  thank you for pointing out, yes I agree.
  balaji,
  I can understand what you are saying.
  Let me ask this question?. Did not you enjoy films like nayagan, or anjali. Did you dump MR for making this films, inspired from other sources?. Yes, I agree copying is not the great thing, but my feeling is, treat deva as he is. Why we have to evaluate him in the same scale, we are using for IR, MSV and others. He is giving a different perspective to TFM, and thats all, it ends there. If you ask me whether he is a great musician, the answer may be no, but he is good, for what he is, and only that matters to me.
  :-)
  e.hari
  
  
• From: shankar (@ webgate0.mot.com) on: Mon Nov 23 10:49:26 EST 1998
  
  ml.s ,
  What u 've said is to some extent true.
  If u have to bash Deva then EVERY md in TFM shud be bashed (of course leave the only "composer"
  from the list).
  There r some guys whose original work goes unnoticed by public. One good instance is BAlabarathi .His songs in amaravathi and
  thalaivAsal were original, good stuff. What happened to him???
  He was jobless for a long time and the result of that has reflected in the quality of songs
  he's given us in golmaal (compare the songs of amaravathi with this).
  He's trying to play another ARR, why ??? bcos his originality is not being given the
  due respect and the pressure from the directors and producers.
  U can't blame ONLY deva/ARR/sirpi for their copying ,the movie makers are to be blamed
  , the public which accepts it has to be blamed .
  
  Again don't quote IR for not being carried away by such pressures. U can't expect everybody to be ascreative as the maestro.can U???
  
  I personally don't like Deva/ARR/sirpi/SAR as originality is a prime criterion for me to like a work which I can't findin anybody's other than Raja's (at present).
  
  All I want to say is that,be fair. don't thulp only one guy for a crime which ALMOST everybody is doing.
  I can't argue with people who refute my statement by saying ,it gives them pleasure to bash DevA.
  
  
• From: mahalaxmi (@ 203.197.131.37) on: Mon Nov 23 11:00:21 EST 1998
  
  deva is committing a major error by copying famous songs from hit films like bg score of priyamudan
  (titanic),pooja vaa(gupt)etc whereas arr copies from unfamous,old english pop example telophone mani pol(courtesy:kumudham).almost everybody copy
  it's just that some are caught while others go
  unnoticed.so why get tense over this perpetual problem instead we can be cool & enjoy the songs.
  
  
• From: fan_of_composer (@ columbus.rr.com) on: Mon Nov 23 11:24:24 EST 1998
  
  Well said Mahalakshmi, shankar..
  
  Everybody in the current crop copies, ( they may not name it as copying )recycles. ARR, sirpy, SAR etc., Only Deva gets all the bangings.
  
  But once you know that MD's doesnt compose but cuts and pastes, eventhough it sounds good, cant accept them as Composers. They are just musicians. They cannot call them composers.
  
  I think in this thread we can go ahead and discuss all the other MD's. Why Deva only ? Others too have share in it. Deva atleast accepts what he is doing. Others are reluctant to at least accept even though they are caught.
  
  
• From: P. ANIRUTHRAN. (@ 32.0.98.9) on: Mon Nov 23 13:16:25 EST 1998
  
  DEVA is copyed some fomus songs.
  But DEVA is good musicians and very nice Composer. I thing "AVAL VARUVALA" songs is good Idia,and good song. spesaly "VANNA NILAVE VANNA NILAVE, is very good song.
  
  I LIKE ILAIYARAJAH and DEVA.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• From: mahalaxmi (@ m10.chn.vsnl.net.in) on: Fri Nov 27 10:16:18 EST 1998
  
  to aniruthran
  deva is ofcourse a good musician ,he has his own masterpieces like aval varuvaala,
  nalam nalam arriya aaval etc .
  
  But don't u think it's very unfair to use another person's hardwork and effot to make money.
  Deva stands first in plagarising songs & even makes it a hit,this eventually sets a bad example to others.
  
  
• From: Srinath (@ mail.startec.net) on: Tue Oct 12 11:22:36 EDT 1999
  
  Revived for Devadhi Deva...
  
  
• From: Diwakar (@ 206.175.177.168) on: Tue Oct 12 20:29:36 EDT 1999
  
  Someone once said "Honesty is the fear of getting caught". Some are worried about it and others are not. Says a lot for the person's ethics, does it not?
  
  
• From: Sriram Lakshman (@ spider-tr064.proxy.aol.com) on: Wed Oct 13 00:18:58 EDT 1999
  
  Srinath, I know it you now :-) Reviving threads for yourself ? :-))))
  
  
• From: Vasanth (@ ) on: Thu Feb 3 21:30:20 EST 2000
  
  ILLIYARAJA CREATIVITY IS 99.9999 PERCENT DEPRECIATED AND CONDEMNATED. BETTER TO BE WITH DEVA MUSIC.
  
  
• From: Jehan (@ inh1ts06-qfe0.ims.bt.net) on: Mon Jun 12 15:57:59 EDT 2000
  
  Dear Music Lovers,
  
  Why do you love music? Is it for music or to be good critic? Do you have the guts or talent or knowledge of music to comment someone's tune? Then do it. Otherwise, please do not do it to hurt someone wh tries some tunes.
  
  Of course there are duplications. Who does not do it? All music makers mixes them to give birth to new one. If it pleases our ears, take it.
  
  Be fan of music, not of music directors if you behave so. I like, I will like, I will ever like same music (in duplications or remixes who ever does it) whoever does it. I recently enjoyed AAR's remakes (carnatic in western style) and I like ARR. Theva has mixed some very nice tunes as well; I have enjoyed many of his pieces. IRs songs (if he does not sing and use UDUKKU and some harsh noise ) are good as well. There are lot of excellent newcomers as well. I like or leave. You can do the same.
  
  Try, you will hear good music in your ears in future ...
  
  Enjoying
  
  Jehan
  
  
• From: jaycee (@ 202.54.66.101) on: Tue Jun 20 14:25:43 EDT 2000
  
  good work mr.x
  
  
• From: THORAI (@ 161.142.78.82) on: Wed Aug 30 11:49:05 EDT 2000
  
  I LIKE DEVA. HIS SONGS IS VERY GOOD.
  I LIKE DEVA`S GHANA SONG.
  DEVA IS A GOOD MUSIC DIRECTOR.
  
  
• From: vj (@ 161.142.78.82) on: Sat Oct 14 02:13:07 EDT 2000
  
  Of course we enjoy Deva's songs, altho most of it is lifted. For deva's own sake I think he shud be creative and i believe he can. we in Malaysia for instance hav high regards for everything Indian. Then when u hear a copied song, not withstanding it is enjoyable (that is why it is copied in the first place)it does b come a little irritating. It is time 2 move forward. Otherwise even I cud quite easily be a MD and perhaps be equally successful as Deva!
  
  
• From: ajoy kumar (@ 24.188.66.211) on: Sun Dec 3 00:14:15 EST 2000
  
  I live in NJ, when i feel depressed or when i feel that i am not happy i listen deva songs. He is living legend for tamil people. He touches the heart of rickshaw man to a rich man. He is a bridge for all tamil communities. He is good in songs type like Ganaa,Melodious,romance and village songs. He is great!!! His words in the most of the songs are very simple but it gives lot of sense to the society. He makes people to dance when someone listens to his songs. HE IS REALLY GREAT!!!
  
  
• From: cosmician (@ 194.170.127.53) on: Sat Jan 6 09:48:40 EST 2001
  
  Wow ! I didnt think I'd find so many people who'd think like me or have such diverse and strong opinions about TMF.
  Iniitially being a strong IR fan, I got fooled in 1990-91 when I was in boarding school when I heard the song "Enakannu Perandhava, Rekkakatti Parandhava Ivadhan" (name of the film I am not sure but it featured Prabhu and Khushboo). I prided myself on being able to distinguish IR's songs from any other tamil song. But this song had me stumped. It was only 2 years later that I found out that it was Deva who had composed that song. All the instrumentation, patterns, structure etc. were all exactly like IR !!! I had completely believed it to be IRs. To copy beautifully also needs hardwork and talent. I remember in middle school when I was so taken by the style of football tackling and footwork of a class mate who was also an expert player and considered the best tackler in school. I copied his moves and practiced it every day at home and pretty soon I could tackle him too and soon gained a reputation for being a good player !
  
  
• From: cosmician (@ 194.170.127.53) on: Sat Jan 6 09:55:06 EST 2001
  
  (contd.)
  Well, we got to accept it...Deva is the Ekalavya of TFM....he is more like the Black Rap Artists...Street Music which though not exactly refined art is still temporarily enjoyable art !
  
  

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