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How is Deva Surviving ?

Topic started by Srikanth (@ 161.225.48.3) on Wed Jun 24 10:28:53 EDT 1998.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Survival Technique of DEVA

I have been wondering how is he surviving. Agreed he is lifting scores, in spite of all the magazines bashing him for coping - raja's scores etc, still he is the busiest MD in TFM.
People listen to his score more, all the producers and directors approach Deva
he is the top of the order composer .
How is he able to do it ?
Has people's taste come down, or is DEVA really giving better music.... ?
Let us discuss ....

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Veera Akkoor (@ 1cust19.tnt2.det1.da.uu.net) on: Sat Jun 27 01:46:37 EDT 1998
  
  Dear NANBAN,
  Konja naal poru thalaiva is in Ananda Bairavi raagam. It is a beutiful raagam used widely in film music.
  
  Poiva magale poiva from Karnan is anexample.
  
  Karpagavalli yin porpadangal padithe is in anandabairavi raagam.
  
  Veera
  
  
• From: nesan (@ 129.107.27.4) on: Sat Jun 27 12:24:43 EDT 1998
  
  Hi Netters,
  About 'AnNamalai' movie, the song kondaiyil thalampoo.....' is lifted directly from IR's
  'Uthayam'. The original piece goes like, 'Bottany
  garden undu..'
  Another dapanguththu song lifted directly from
  a song in Mudal Mariyathi. The Deva's song goes
  like, ' Kappi thanni pOdadaduma, ...'
  
  thanks,
  Nesan
  Nesan P.
  
  
• From: arul (@ synergy.nus.edu.sg) on: Sun Jun 28 01:13:05 EDT 1998
  
  Hi:
  I came to know music of Deva in 1989 in the casette in MANNU MANAKUTHU by Puspavanam Kuppusamy (tamil village songs). In his movie Vaikasi Poranmthachu he used the tunes from MANNU MANAKUTHU. It became popular. After that I think he is giving three kinds of music according to the requirment of Producers. 1) IR style 2) ARR style, 3) Deva style.( ofcourse this percentage is less).
  Since he satifies the requirement of producers, directors in all respects he is surviving in the TFM world.
  
  Arul
  
  
• From: RAMAN (@ 202.54.43.193) on: Sun Jun 28 13:52:14 EDT 1998
  
  IN A LATEST MOVIE CALLED "PRIYAMUDAN" ALL THE SONGS WERE
  XEROX OF OLDER SONGS BUT COMEDIEST THING IS THE BACKGROUND SCORE WAS FROM THE SENSATIONAL LOVE STORY "TITANIC" ,ATLEAST HE HAS MADE SOME CHANGES SO IT WAS OK FOR FEW SONGS
  
  
• From: buddy (@ panorama.nus.edu.sg) on: Sun Jun 28 21:12:40 EDT 1998
  
  In priyamudan Oru Great Deva has copied
  
  Brown Girl in the ring from Boney-M.
  
  It looks like Deva's has started hearing lot of reggae too, he has started copying so many reggae songs.
  
  
  
• From: Krishnan (@ m50.chn.vsnl.net.in) on: Mon Jun 29 04:41:39 EDT 1998
  
  IMHO, Deva is the greatest copying machine :-)
  Plagiarism has become his USP.
  
  
• From: badri raghavan (@ 206.103.12.125) on: Mon Jun 29 07:09:58 EDT 1998
  
  hey!
  
  i recently heard a song that strongly resembled brown girl in the ring and thought it might be deva. a penny for my thought but no prizes for guessing right.
  
  great show indeed
  
  
• From: Mano (@ eislib2.uwaterloo.ca) on: Mon Jun 29 11:08:50 EDT 1998
  
  I recently listened to Celine dion album. I don't remember the exact title, but it was released in 1992. Namma deva lifted 2 songs from that album and made one song mega hit in TFM. That song is:
  Kaala Mellam Kathal vazha from 'Kathal Kottai.' (Track 5 )
  The other song is:
  Kaalaiyil Pookum Kannipoove from 'Kathaley Nimmadhi' (Track 10).
  
  
• From: Prakash Balakrishnan (@ gate4.ca.us.ibm.com) on: Mon Jun 29 13:08:27 EDT 1998
  
  Please listen oldies of Western... it may be copied by the super star of this page :):):):)...!!!
  
  yappa kallu, kattai ellam vENdaam.
  
  Deva may be a "Music"copier. But he is good. He is mixing Raja, ARR, Western & Indian Classic and gives good hits and good music.
  
  As Ramki mentioned he scored his own better tunes also.
  
  
  
• From: bull (@ wizard.mch.sni.de) on: Tue Jun 30 02:18:39 EDT 1998
  
  Hi,
  Apart from the blatant lift of "Buffalo Soldier" as "akilaa akilaa" in nErukku nEr (some hindi MD has now copied THIS ONE as "hello hello bOlkE! Talk of multiple reuse!!) there is one very melodius song in that movie sung by Asha Bhonsle which sounds extremely familiar but I cant place it at all. Any clues anyone?
  
  
• From: Geetha (@ gatekeeper.oracle.co.uk) on: Tue Jun 30 09:01:47 EDT 1998
  
  Bull: The Asha Bonsle/Hariharan song is Engenge Engenge in the Ragam Charukesi....I guess you say it's familiar as IR has used this Ragam for lots of songs.
  
  
• From: Geetha (@ gatekeeper.oracle.co.uk) on: Tue Jun 30 11:19:55 EDT 1998
  
  What did you guys think of 'Ninaithen Vanthai'? I felt that Deva really excelled himself in terms of recording. The balance of voice and music was near perfect. The songs were also very listenable, as this film was a copy of 'Mere Sapron ki Rani', the one fully lifted song was "Unnai Ninaithen". The song "Maligaye" has the beat and bassline exactly from 'Ek Ladki Ko Dheka Tho' from 1942 A Love Story. Again, one had to know the song well to spot this and the tune of the song was excellent. He also took the Pallavi of 'Saamajavaragamana - Thyagaraja Kriti - Hindholam, also appeared in Sankarabarnam for the song 'Un Maarbil' which starts off with the words "Asai Naayagane" in Hindholam and then changes to "Un Marbil" in Dharbari Kanada....again, an excellent piece....The piece de resistance was the Hariharan Number "Vanna Nilave", Sivaranjani Like, but excellent.....Ennavale was also very listenable and the Kumthalakadi Manisha was also quite well done.
  
  Sorry for this full review, but I couldn't help myself....Even though he copies, he is doing a great job and I for one am very impressed....after Nerukku Nerr, this one's great....
  
  
• From: Srikanth (@ 161.225.48.3) on: Tue Jun 30 11:38:15 EDT 1998
  
  Hi,
  The pallavi of Ek ladhki in 1947LS is nothing but Amma endru AZaikatha - by Raja,
  the first notes sound perfectly the same..
  Geetha :
  Thats what I am wondering, how is he able to stand ?
  Srikanth
  
  
• From: Kitcha (@ dhcp232-173.eel.ufl.edu) on: Tue Jun 30 11:49:25 EDT 1998
  
  I thought the entire album "Ninainthen Vandhai" was a blatant copy of the super-hit Telugu movie "Pelli sandadi"....music:Maragathamani or Keeravani.
  
  Sorry if this has already been brought up....!! I've been away for a long time. :-)
  
  
• From: Geetha (@ gatekeeper.oracle.co.uk) on: Tue Jun 30 12:44:31 EDT 1998
  
  Kitcha: Thanks for that, I was wondering, could you please also contribute to the Admitting about copies thread....
  
  Srikanth: I guess we don't hear Telugu songs, so Ninaithen Vanthai sounds great, mixed with good picturisation and review, Deva stands....I still feels that he does a good Cut and Paste job, it's listenable and enjoyable, for me, that's what music is all about.....
  
  
• From: Lankathas Pathmanathan (@ dialin1045.toronto.globalserve.net) on: Tue Jun 30 16:52:17 EDT 1998
  
  well deva is always coping ( and we all know that) but he does it well, atleast we can listen to it not like other music directors and sriKanth and Geetha i agree 100% percent with your comment.
  
  Lankathas Pathmanathan
  
  
• From: Srinath (@ socks9d.raleigh.ibm.com) on: Tue Jun 30 18:52:20 EDT 1998
  
  Hi:
  It's a pity that we've all been forced to lower our standards so much. From appreciating true talent we have come down to accepting sleight of hand as an art. As IR once said in an interview to SPB, the changes brought in by IR were to the betterment of TFM, whilst the changes brought in by new MDs is to its detriment. Even if we were to take IR's words at face value and treat music only as a magician's art, where the same notes are twisted round and round to produce different sounding music, Deva would stick out like a sore thumb; for even then he would be nothing more than a small-time con artist in a world of magicians.
  
  Deva is surviving because we are willing to purchase inferior goods...that are packaged attractively.
  
  There I go again...no brickbats please...adikkaadheengo...ayyo...ayyo...valikudhey...okay..okay..okay...Deva is a great composer...boo-hoo :-(
  
  :-)))))
  
  
• From: dhan (@ dajal.legato.com) on: Tue Jun 30 19:33:19 EDT 1998
  
  "Ninethaen Vandhaai" is a remake of telugu film Pelli Sandhadi. Except manisha manisha, looks like all songs are just re-used. So all the credit shd go to Maragathamani instead!. I agree Malligayae malligaye's recording is absolutely fabulous!
  
  
• From: badri raghavan (@ 206.103.12.125) on: Wed Jul 1 05:57:10 EDT 1998
  
  hai!
  
  it is a universally accepted and agreed fact that deva copies and the purpose of this thread (if i understand rightly) is to analyse the reasons for his success (survival is too harsh a word for a md who has scored for the maximum number of movies last year) inspite of his image as a copycat.
  
  so let us not rub it in and find the source of each and every song of his (i did it couple of days earlier in the same thread and i feel bad about it)
  
  to answer the question why is deva successful (owner of the thread will forgive me for this amendment), we shall look at the following issues:
  1.he has the brand equity of delivering music without much fuss:
  2. he is malleable and flexible in terms of content:
  3. he does not seek a larger image than the film itself (of late i see that trend reversing with a more than necessary coverage on posters for deva on the lines of raaja and rahman)
  4. he also delivers on time
  5. his rates are still affordable
  6. he uses more instruments and people and so artistes are more eager to work for him which enhances his image as a reliable supplier.
  
  imo, i see his success as an output of strategic marketing initiatives rather than art-driven or performance-driven. and on what moral grounds can the film industry castigate him when their stories are adaptations at best or blatant copies of western or indian themes?
  
  the moment he tries to dilute his equity on any of these fronts, he will have problems because he is not creating music on his own.
  
  i am keen to know your feedback
  
  
• From: Suraj (@ customs.proxy.lucent.com) on: Wed Jul 1 09:20:13 EDT 1998
  
  The song Engenge Engenge in Neerukku Ner by Asha bhonsle/Hariharan is a lift from a song(which itself is an old hindi song) in one of Bally Sagoo's remix albums.
  Azagu, azahu in the movie Basha is a lift from a hindi song "dilbar".
  
  

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