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V.Kumar: Malarum NinaivugaL

Topic started by bb (@ 24.6.231.170) on Wed Jul 7 00:37:21 EDT 2004.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Saravanan is starting a new series on V.Kumar, titled 'V.Kumar: Malarum NinaivugaL'. He has been in touch with V.Kumar's wife and son and is planning a comprehensive series of articles on V.Kumar. I am sure this will be a treat for VK fans. This will also feature unique introductions to the songs by V.Kumar himself, in his own voice. Thanks to Govind and VK's family for their help on this.

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: G.Ragavan (@ 61.16.168.131) on: Fri Aug 6 04:21:38 EDT 2004
  
  Hi saravanan, wonderful narration it is. The flow is so simple and easy to read and appreciate. VKumar is lucky to have fan like you.
  
  
• From: raj (@ 61.246.255.3) on: Fri Aug 6 04:29:22 EDT 2004
  
  A wonderful Writeup asusual!!
  
  Good Work Sara!!
  
  Ninaivil nindraval , Bommalattam Comedy Ventures by Mukata. Who can forget Cho's Comedy in both the movies. Also NAgesh-sachu playing with major sundarrajan who acts as if he's blind.
  
  Mayakkathai thandavan yaaradi is a Wonderful solo by PS
  
  thottadha thodathatha is another classy duet by PS,TMS
  
  Vaa Vadhyare by Manorama.
  Vaali refuted to write while mukta made him write this song.
  
  Mukta's Confidence on VKumar has been proved by the tunes
  
  thanks for kindling the Sweet memories..(60's & 70's)
  
  
• From: GK (@ 68.162.211.57) on: Fri Aug 6 20:31:34 EDT 2004
  
  Great songs leading to the weekend. It was just
  great listening to them after a long hectic week at
  work.
  
  
• From: Sathya Kabali (@ 67.85.218.179) on: Fri Aug 6 23:25:42 EDT 2004
  
  Saravanan,Kupps,bb and haris
  nanRi!nanRi!
  Kupps
  Do you mean my brother "bones" who used to participate in TFM threads a few years ago?
  
  haris
  special thanks to you for posting my write up in Tamil.
  
  Saravanan
  very good write up about VK-Mukatha films.
  I have the 2 songs you mentioned in Major chandrakanth.
  veediyellAm pUppanthal pOdaNum
  thuNinthu nil.
  I will make MP3 versions and post them soon.
  
  
• From: Saravanan (@ 217.165.82.139) on: Mon Aug 9 00:48:18 EDT 2004
  
  Thanks for the responses, friends!
  
  I seem to have inadevertently left out a TMS solo from bommalattam- 'nee aada aada azhagu'- will include it in the next part.
  
  Sathya Kabali, thanks for the offer!
  
  Btw, Jaya TV is featuring K.Swarna's sirappu thenkinnam now, even as I am typing this. All those who can watch it, please post details of the programme here. I am at work :(
  
  
• From: Kupps (@ 24.0.236.246) on: Mon Aug 9 01:52:19 EDT 2004
  
  Sathya Kabali
  
  adhu neengannu illa ninaichchaen unga brother-aa? cinema-vula varra "double-action" confusion maadhiri aayiduchchi.
  
  sara just miss paNNittengaLae :)
  
  
• From: OISG (@ 213.42.2.11) on: Mon Aug 9 04:18:45 EDT 2004
  
  Thanks for the "consolidated-Post" mail.Scintillating narrations!
  RasigargaL Amaivathellam Iraivan kodutha Varam.Thodarattum..
  
  
• From: SK (@ 199.90.34.67) on: Mon Aug 9 14:08:14 EDT 2004
  
  Here is a best piece of situation-based, dialogue infused joke from 'bommalaattam':
  
  Nagesh: yEmmA, unga kitta mooLai irukka?
  Cho: avan yEdhO kEkkarAne,kodukka vENdiyadhuthAnE!
  Mano: nAn yenna vechchukkittA illEngirEn!
  
  The delivery, timing and the situation of this scene made me laugh all the way back from the theater and even today, I quote this often to my people. padaththai pAththavangaLukku puriyumnu nenaikkirEn.
  Thanks again, Sara, for an excellent nostalgic trip[free!!] with compliments from Sathyakabali as well! Double Bonus!!
  
  
• From: SK (@ 199.90.34.67) on: Mon Aug 9 14:27:14 EDT 2004
  
  I am sorry! The above piese is from 'thEn mazhai' and not 'bommalaattam'.
  
  
• From: Saravanan (@ 213.42.2.23) on: Tue Aug 10 09:00:49 EDT 2004
  
  Thanks, OISG and SK!
  
  
• From: bb for Saravanan (@ 24.6.251.57) on: Thu Aug 12 01:05:50 EDT 2004
  
  

  Part V - Soiree with Swarna

  We commenced 1968 with Muktha’s bommalaattam, and before proceeding further, let us listen to the 4th song from bommalaattam- ‘nee aada aada azhagu' sung by TMS:
  
  http://www.newtfmpage.com/cgi-bin/stream.pl?url=http://www.dhool.com/sotd/vkumar/neeaada.rm
  
  Around this time Kumar had shifted from Vepery and was staying with his mother in the first floor of a house in T. Nagar. The owners lived in the ground floor. Hailing from Vijayanagaram in Andhra, the owners’ household consisted of Yedavilli Suryakanthamma, her son Venkataramana Moorthi and daughters Rama and Swarna.
  
  Swarnalakshmi (born 1949) was interested in music even as a child. Her father Yedavilli Prakash Rao, a School Head-Master, passed away suddenly when Swarna was just three years old. Their maternal grandfather Devapalli Krishnayya Pandhulu took the family under his charge. Sensing Swarna’s aptitude for music, her mother enrolled her in the renowned Music College in Vijayanagaram, where Swarna learned classical music from Dwaram Narasimha Rao. She passed out in flying colours in the ‘Higher’ examination.
  
  The family then shifted to Madras. Rama was an acclaimed young Kuchupudi danseuse, having trained under the legendary Vempatti Chinnasathyam. Swarna accompanied her sister on her programmes as the vocal support, even doing the nattuvaangam. At the same time, she continued her school education and passed the ‘Andhra Matric’ from the Andhra Mahila Sabha in Mylapore in 1966. As a treat on the last day of the final term, her class teacher took the students to watch ‘Major Chandrakanth’ which was being screened at Wellington Theatre. Swarna was spellbound by the film’s songs, and was wonderstruck at the discovery that the composer was none other their unpretentious tenant. And thus it came about that one momentous day Swarna went upstairs hesitatingly to request Kumar for a chance to sing in films. (Even now, years later, Swarna was so endearingly bashful while narrating this sequence of incidents to me!)
  
  Kumar, who was always engrossed in his world of music, was noticing this shy girl for the first time. He asked her to sing, and liking her voice, told her to practice rigorously. He didn’t give her a film song immediately though; he made her sing for a few stage plays. Swarna particularly recalls a play staged for the Pallavan Transport Employees Union, in which she sang some songs. Kumar then permitted her to observe his song recording sessions, so that she may get a hang of playback singing. Swarna remembers watching with awe the recording of ‘nalla naaL paarkavO’ and ‘thambi vaada adichadhu yOgam’. And only when he was fully satisfied with her progress did Kumar give Swarna her first film song.
  
  Here’s a small clipping from Swarna's thEnkinnam:
  
  http://www.newtfmpage.com/cgi-bin/stream.pl?url=http://www.dhool.com/sotd/vkumar/swarna1.rm
  
  And so we come to the film buddhisaaligaL (1968/ N.A.L. Productions). The film was produced by N. Azhagappa Chettiar and directed by Arunachalam. It starred Jaishankar, ‘magic’ Radhika, and a host of comedy actors.
  
  buddhisaaligaL was a loose remake of the English film It’s a Mad Mad Mad World (1963/ Casey Productions). Based on a story by Tanya and William Rose, who also wrote the screenplay, Mad Mad Mad World was directed by Stanley Kramer. The story was interesting- on coming out after a long spell in prison, a thief is speeding on a highway to a place where, years ago, he had hidden $ 350,000. In his haste, he meets with a fatal accident, and his dying moment blurts out the location of his stashed loot to occupants of four other vehicles who rush to his aid. Now the race is on between these 4 groups to reach Santa Rosita, where the cash is hidden. The film was filled with hilarious moments.
  
  BuddhisaaligaL was a small budget film and perhaps did moderate business. It had 4 songs in all. Lyrics were by Vaali, C.N.Muthu & Ku.Ma Krishnan. And the nineteen-year-old Swarna made her debut in tfm by singing 3 of the 4 songs. The titles referred to her as Y. Swarna.
  
  The first song ‘muththam muththam senthEn allavO’, sung by TMS and Swarna was filmed on Jaishankar and Radhika. Was it a mere coincidence that Swarna sings the lines ‘mudhal mudhalaai enna aRimugamO, kalaigaLilE nalla anubavamO’?
  
  Listen here:
  
  http://www.newtfmpage.com/cgi-bin/stream.pl?url=http://www.dhool.com/sotd/vkumar/mutham.rm
  
  The next is the more popular ditty, the comic ‘aattukku vaalai aLandhuvechavan buddhisaali’, sung with joyous abandon by PBS, Ponnusami, Swarna and Jamunarani. This was perhaps the only other song that PBS sang for Kumar, besides ‘thaamarai kannangaL’ in edhirneechal. The song was filmed on the different groups of people racing towards the hidden treasure- Manorama, A.Karunanidhi, T.P.Muthulaksmi and Surulirajan among others.
  
  Listen here:
  
  http://www.newtfmpage.com/cgi-bin/stream.pl?url=http://www.dhool.com/sotd/vkumar/aattukku.rm
  
  The other two songs were ‘maamiyaarukku kalyaaNam maalai nEram vaibOgam’ (Swarna) and ‘paavai vENumaa pazharasama, bOdhaiya thEvai thaan edhuvO’ (LRE & chorus).
  
  Thus Swarna came to sing for Kumar; and gradually won a place in his heart as well..
  
  Many thanks to sk for the buddhisaaligaL songs and Swarna’s thEnkinnam clipping.
  
  - to be continued-
  
  
• From: raj (@ 61.246.255.3) on: Thu Aug 12 05:21:16 EDT 2004
  
  As usual wonderful description by Saravanan.
  
  thanks for that
  
  yes Definitely Mutham mutham is a great number
  
  And my fav of Swarna & TMS is ezhudadha paadal ondru . Eagerly waiting for this song !!
  
  
• From: GK (@ 141.154.78.109) on: Thu Aug 12 08:42:00 EDT 2004
  
  Thanks Saravanan and sk for these songs.
  I've never heard them before.
  
  
• From: Bala (@ 68.38.80.142) on: Thu Aug 12 18:20:31 EDT 2004
  
  In my humble opinion, Swarna spoiled many of the good/very good songs of V Kumar
  1. Enangalile Enna enam
  2. Kannellam un vannam
  3. ennodu ennavo rahasiym (wonderful song in Thoondil mean - to be the best of V Kumar)
  4. ehuthatha paadal (TMS humslef spils it, so Swarna had to do little to spoil it more)
  
  To me when Music Directors start encouraging family members/favorites at the cost of the best available talent, all you get is a half-baked product. Bhava is one another fine example (Not Saying Swarna and Bhava are at the same level)
  
  Bala
  
  

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