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Directors who have worked with Ilaiyaraja

Topic started by Viswa (@ webgate0.mot.com) on Tue Apr 7 06:43:22 EDT 1998.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

More on Ilaiyaraja ! (Can't help discussing more about him :). I'd like a discussion on the directors (of all languages included) who have worked with IR, what they have had to say about him, what he has had to say about them, and what the press has had to say about them. So, folks, pool in your info and post them right here !
Ravi, let me know your feedback about my postings !

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Responses:

• From: NOV (@ 202.184.134.10) on: Wed Apr 8 04:12:26 EDT 1998
  
  Viswa - Although I'm tempted to say "good topic", I'm afraid, it seems a bit too vague for me. :-))
  Are you looking for a list of big timers who used his services? Let me begin with a few:
  
  1. K. Balachander
  2. Bharathiraja
  3. Maniratnam
  4. K. Bakiaraj
  5. Balu Mahendra
  6. Mahendran
  7. R. Sunderarajan
  8. SP Muthuraman
  9. P. Vasu
  10. Gangai Amaran (well, he did give some blockbusters. :-))
  
  Others may wish to continue.......
  
  
• From: Viswa (@ webgate0.mot.com) on: Wed Apr 8 08:08:40 EDT 1998
  
  NOV :
  I'm looking for discussions (and info) highlighting Ilaiyaraja's interactions with various directors (no, not just the big timers), his relationship with them at various points of time, his comments about them, their comments about him, incidents involving IR with various directors, etc.
  For instance, Balachander once remarked about him after Punnagai Mannan was released, "Indha padathai porutha varaikkum, idhu ennOda padamnu solradha vida idhu RAjAvOda padamnu sollalAm - andha aLavukku avarOda pangu irukkiradhu..."
  
  The same Balachander remarked at a later period after Pudhu Pudhu ArthangaL , "RAjAvOda isai enakku thevai illai. Avar isaiyin uchakkattathin podhE nAn vEru isai amaipALargaLai vaithu vetri padangaLai thandhirukkirEn..."
  
  Similarly, during the making of Mudhal MariyAdhai , Bharathiraja said, "RAjAvin isai en padangaLin oru miga periya amsamAgum, Agave nAn veru isai amaipALaridam pOga vAippum illai, adharkku avasiyamum illai..."
  
  There is one more incident involving Balachander and Ilaiyaraja. During the making of Punnagai Mannan , Ilaiyaraja was extremely busy with movies slated for Deepavali release, with the result that the songs for PM were yet to be composed when it was almost time for release. It was then that Ilaiyaraja rose to the occasion by composing all the songs in the span of a week ! Balachander said about this : "Padathai veLiyida sila nAtkaL mattumE irukka, kavalaiyAga irundhadhu, AnAl RAjAvin isai enbadhAl avar kai vida mAttAr enra nambikkai urudhiyAga irundhadhu. Sirandha isai amaippALarAna RAjA orE vArathil athanai pAdalgaLaiyum orE moochil pOttu thandhu vittAr. Asandhu pOi vittEn.."
  
  I look forward to similar incidents and quotes...
  
  
• From: NOV (@ 202.184.134.10) on: Thu Apr 9 03:50:03 EDT 1998
  
  Viswa - That was very interesting. One episode I can recollect is regarding IR and KB, after the huge success of Sindhu Bhairavi. There were some rumours going around that the songs of SB was ctually scored by MSV and that IR's name was used to cash on his popularity.
  KB was noted to have commented that MSV had not descended to such a level that his name could not be used publicly and that IR's talents were not to be under-estimated.
  
  
• From: Viswa (@ webgate0.mot.com) on: Mon Apr 13 06:34:18 EDT 1998
  
  Strangely, some established directors have done as few as just one movie with IR. For instance, Visu (Getti Melam), Mouli (Anne Anne), R. C. Sakthi (Dharma Yuddham), etc., even though some of them had great things to say about his music !
  
  
• From: S.Suresh (@ dwarpal.wipsys.soft.net) on: Tue Apr 14 07:07:43 EDT 1998
  
  Many new directors have benifited by Illayaraja tuning for them One of them is Manirathinam. Raja always reserved great things for Manirathinam. If you consider many of the movies made by IR/MR, you find that IR has some theme for MR in most of his movies. For example, Anjali and Agni Natchatiram were electronic. Nayakan was a throwback to the old days. (ARR tried it in Iruvar but IMO failed). Geetanjali (Telugu) had a different type of sound. So did Mouna Ragam. Of course his background score in Geetanjali was just excellent. I dont know if the following statement will makes sense but I will nevertheless make it. In most of MR's films the music was very homogeneous. Maybe it could be due to use of certain ragas for more than one song (Yamunai and Sundari from Dhalapathi are based on Kalyani) or it could be use of similar orchestration. I know what I mean but I am not sure if I have expressed it clearly. I will write about IR/K Vishwanth combination some other time.
  
  
• From: G. Varghese (@ 142.194.172.223) on: Tue Apr 14 22:33:34 EDT 1998
  
  To the best of my knowledle, Ilaiayaraja composed music for all of Fazil's Tamil movies. A few of the movies that were produced by Ilaiyaraja were also directed by Fazil.
  
  
• From: G. Varghese (@ 142.194.172.223) on: Tue Apr 14 22:37:12 EDT 1998
  
  Of course, it is knowledge, not knowledle! Sorry about the typo.
  
  
• From: Viswa (@ webgate0.mot.com) on: Thu Apr 16 00:38:07 EDT 1998
  
  Verghese :
  You are right about the fact that IR has composed music for all of Fazil's Tamil movies. The movies were (co)produced by IR with Fazil's direction are :
  En Bommukkutti Ammavukku (Paavalar Creations)
  Karpoora Mullai (Ilaiyaraja Creations) - this was a dubbed version of Ende Surya Puthrikku (Malayalam)
  
  Fazil and Ilaiyaraja have struck a fine combination - the latest feather in their caps being "Kaadhalukku Mariyadhai". I wish IR scored the music for his Malayalam originals too ...
  
  I think they have done about 12 films together now (including one in Telugu, named "Easwar")
  
  Oru chinna thuNukku about Maniratnam's comment about IR after the release of Roja :
  In an interview with Ananda Vikatan, he said "Ilaiyarajavin isai thiran asAdhiyamAnadhu. IvvaLavu varushamA ivvaLavu padangaLukku isai amaitha piragum "Dalapathi"la avaroda isai migavum pudhumaiyAga irundhadhu"
  
  
• From: Viswa (@ webgate5.mot.com) on: Thu Apr 16 00:45:19 EDT 1998
  
  A chinna correction : Fazil's Telugu movie was named "Killer". The dubbed version in Tamil was "Easwar".
  
  
• From: Viswa (@ webgate5.mot.com) on: Fri Apr 24 05:58:32 EDT 1998
  
  Does anyone know who is the director with whom IR has worked the most (i.e. maximum number of films) ? And which director has worked with him over the longest period of time ?
  
  Well, the point I'm trying to get at here is what is the factor that keeps the partnership going ? (Is it the director's creative rapport with IR, or is it something else ?)
  
  
• From: Ravi (@ 128.119.40.129) on: Fri May 29 02:01:08 EDT 1998
  
  This is a test...
  
  
• From: Ravi (@ 128.119.40.129) on: Fri May 29 02:07:56 EDT 1998
  
  Testing again.
  
  
• From: Raghu (@ inet2.tek.com) on: Tue Dec 21 20:05:53 EST 1999
  
  SP Muthuraman has once mentioned that he has done
  42 films with IR. It looks like SPM started and finished his carrier with IR.
  
  
• From: AthiNarayanan (@ 1cust107.tnt40.chi5.da.uu.net) on: Tue Dec 21 23:13:36 EST 1999
  
  I think Balu Mahendra has worked for 18 years or so with IR from 79 to 97 till Raman Abdullah and I believe he hasn't started a new movie after RamanAbdullah and whenever he does,it will have IR as MD as Balu Mahendra has spoken about it so many times.
  
  
• From: RA (@ 202.9.148.216) on: Wed Dec 22 01:06:11 EST 1999
  
  Hi
  
  This is an interesting thread. The reason for IR/KB split was due to KB only. This was what happened.
  
  There was a Karthik movie directed by Amir John in which Karthik acted as a police informer, sorry I forgot the name. At the last minute Kavithalaya approached IR with a request that they don't have time to do the RR and can they go ahead with fillers from their earlier films. Indirectly they are saving the money they have to spend on the studio/musicians charges for the RR sessions and they will also reduce the originally agreed fee of IR because he has not done the RR. IR allowed them to do this even though he knew that the real reason was not time but money, a cheap way to do that.
  
  The next film was Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal. A film in which IR did produce some marvellous songs, including some scenes in which he acts as himself recording the song with the hero of the film who is a famous playback singer. When IR was waiting for the final cut version for him to see and take the RR sessions, Kavithalaya Natarajan comes again with the same request, that if IR can do the RR in a week's time it would be fine otherwise they do not have the time to wait so they want to go ahead with the stock fillers from the past. This upset IR very much. It was the phase where he was having at least 20 films on hand, where to meet his RR dates, producers used to employ multiple editors to get the rough cut ready. And knowing very well that IR can not give dates in such a short notice, KB & Co approached him. IR did not make a fuss though he was expecting to do the RR for this musical movie with a great interest. And the movie came with a lot of old RR scores from films like Varumaiyn Niram Sivappu done by MSV. This added insult to injury. The next time Natarajan came to talk about the next project, IR simply said that "You people always seem to be having a very tight schedule, I am sorry I am not the right person for your kind of projects, hence please excuse me!". That is the end of the relationship with KB. After that he tried his best to mend the relationship with IR thru people like Rajani/Kamal, but it did not work out. Then in utter frustration he started talking badly about IR with any one willing to listen. Of course, IR as usual, never acknowledged any of his diatribe.
  
  RA
  
  
• From: nvd (@ bkj-cache81.jaring.my) on: Wed Dec 22 01:12:56 EST 1999
  
  Whoever IR had worked with and later parted, I think BR will be the utmost betrayer of all. He should not have done this because we know how the two people came to Madras to seek film opportunityand suffered together before attained the mega-status now. Even now I dare to tell, BR had done nothing great after his separation with IR if except for Kizhakku Chemaiyile... BR thinks he can be ever-supremo director but for me (personally) he is nothing than any other moderate performer. Don't believe me, well buy a ticket to see his latest "KUPPAI" - TaJ Mahal. Waste of time and $$, and to some extent, brings defame to the great architecture of the century..Very pity of BR! Please return to IR if he wants to smell some victory out of IR's music.
  
  
• From: eden (@ 202.54.71.134) on: Wed Dec 22 04:44:44 EST 1999
  
  Raghu!
  SPM started off much earlier than IR, films as old as `mOham muppathu varusham' & he has not been consistently with IR either (a no. of his AVM movies didn't have IR - e.g. pOkkiri rAjA, manithan...)
  
  However, there's no doubt that he had his own share of IR's beauties for some Rajini starrers, like thanikkAttu rAjA, kazhugu...
  
  

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