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An Interview with Vani Jayaram

Topic started by Neel D (@ 24.98.42.169) on Thu Aug 15 09:10:17 EDT 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Visit http://www.vanijayaram.com

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Wed Sep 11 11:46:26 EDT 2002
  
  AV-
  Address your message to the right person please.
  I did not broach the issue with you.
  
  
• From: av (@ 132.206.124.201) on: Wed Sep 11 11:47:41 EDT 2002
  
  Lastly (and upon my word!!! - I need a font-change on my comp!), I have written a reply to Naaz, when it should have been to Neel D. Sorry to both!
  
  
• From: Nazir (@ 172.164.186.180) on: Wed Sep 11 19:08:55 EDT 2002
  
  Kaumudi before calling me names, please learn about your respected friend from earlier threads.
  
  He has an alternate personality called uma or usha , 'a bhramin girl brought up in bombay and supporting tamil singers' :).
  He and His other personality used to talk each other in the same thread(ofcourse praising each other) until the tryst was found out. Poor guy came out with a sob story that she is his roommate, who conveniently moved out after the truth was discovered.
  Talk about wierdness.
  
  He created another one recently in the name of Ahmed. If he denies that, then let them prove by coming on the same day at the same time.
  
  Dont throw stones from the glass house
  
  
  
• From: Neel D (@ 24.98.42.169) on: Wed Sep 11 22:53:16 EDT 2002
  
  AV,
  
  MSV, KVM, SG, CB, etc treated VJ as "one of" their prime singers, never as their prime singer, ever. But that is good enough for me. Vijayabhaskar is the only MD who treated VJ as his prime singer, for a few years.
  
  The issue is not VJ against SJ/KSC. This is about discrimination against the natives (men and women alike) though it spawned from the example VJ.
  
  Who said anything about "jealousy"? Aren't we talking "discrimination".
  
  Naaz,
  
  I read this in one of the websites. Mammootty says, "Vijaykanth says all Tamils should hold their head up. Should we Keralites put our heads down then?". Then he says "I have lived in Chennai for 15 years. But why wont you accept me as one of you?". I think the answer to his question is in his own words. (For a thick accented Malayali he has done quite well in TF Industry. How many Tamil actors can get so far in MFI?)
  
  I read in Dinakaran.com an interview with Shobana after she had won her second national award. She says, "I am a Malayali. I would like to thank all my Malayali rasikas for this award".
  
  I have read similar things about Sridevi disowning her Tamil nativity in favor of her long lost Telugu origin, everytime she got a chance.
  
  By the way, when was the last time we had a top Tamil actress in Tamil films? Sripriya, Radhika, Poornima Jayaram and did it stop there 20 years ago?
  
  
• From: Neel D (@ 24.98.42.169) on: Wed Sep 11 23:09:07 EDT 2002
  
  Kaumudi,
  
  Thanks for not taking offense from my post. About your question about marketability, it is the MD who makes the singer marketable. If the MD is marketable himself, he can choose any singer and make him/her popular. About the singer's voice suiting the actress, VJ,UR and BSS would have suited any actress in the 70s,80s,90s and will suit anyone today just fine and way better than the singers that are singing today. I dont see any problem with that. Why would you think otherwise?
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Thu Sep 12 00:56:26 EDT 2002
  
  Neel D -
  Thanks for the information on the Mamootty/Shobana utterances. What's to add?
  
  I have noticed something really interesting in a few threads, where other music directors and current songs are being discussed: Nobody is talking about Voice or Singing or the Singer's contribution and/or perfection in terms of Calibre (musically.) All discussions seem to be about "music" or "technique" or "sound effects" or "who is better" (but without any formal indication of IN What way? Or how?)
  They say "I listened to this song," and then talk about the music interludes, sound of breaking ice, whether the songs are a hit or miss...etc.
  What happened to Voice? Singing? Singing Correctly?
  
  Is this because, as VJ says in the interview because Music has come to the fore, and Singing has receded (devolved) as a secondary, or incidental aspect of a composition? Or is it because MDs have become the Song, and Singers mere adjuncts?
  
  Any thoughts?
  
  
• From: Cinema Virumbi (@ 203.197.220.219) on: Thu Sep 12 05:28:40 EDT 2002
  
  Naaz,
  
  Some loud thinking! (Again IMHO and NOM!)
  
  Going by the details you have given about your etnic background, I understand that you are close to Tamil actor Nasser (Tamil Muslims who speak Urdu at home). There’s nothing Non-Tamil in this / him / you! (Pl. don’t ask me who gave me the authority to dole out Tamil and Non-Tamil stamps to people!)
  
  By the same token, Nagesh and TR Ramachandran who are Maadhvas (belong to TN but mother tongue is Kannada) and VeNNiRa aadai Nirmala (I think) and TMS who are TN Saurashtras are no less Tamil! If anyone tries to belittle their achievements, he’ll be doing a great disservice to Tamil!
  
  But the complaint against some Non-Tamil singers is their bad pronunciation. While PS, Jayachandran, SPB, SJ and even SP Sailaja are known for their good pronunciation (should I say in that order?), the same is not true with KJY (even after 40 years in TFM!), KSC, Jency , Asha Bhonsle and a number of recent entrants from Bombay (who only sing ‘Tamil maadhiri songs’- to borrow a phrase from Ramesh Prabha of Sun TV!).
  
  Some glaring examples are:
  
  KJY: NinaivaalE silai seythu…… TherukkOyilE Odi vaa! as against ThirukkOyilE Odi vaa!
  Sendhorra Bendham as aginst Sendhoora Bandham
  Pillai thamizh paadugiREn! Oru pillaikaaga paadugiREn! As against PiLLai….
  
  KSC: PaadaRiyEn….. ezhuththu vaha naanaRiyEn as against ezhuththu vaga….
  
  Jency:Meen kodi thERRRRRil manmatha RRRRaajan ooRRRvalam pOginRRRRRaaan
  
  Asha: sheNbhaaaaagaaaaamE as against sheNbagamE or better still seNbagamE (Asha and Lata can be pardoned as they sang only a handful of songs in TFM!)
  
  More than anything else, one gets irritated at the attitude: Tamil pronunciation - is- not- worth- the- bother- of- getting- it- right or if I may say something slightly stronger: Tamils - are- not- worth- the- bother- of- getting- their-pronunciation right !
  
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Thu Sep 12 11:18:42 EDT 2002
  
  Cinema Virumbi -
  
  Your response contains some valid points and examples. "Close to Nasser," parththabodhu konjam bayam vandhadhu, brackets-ai parththavudan nimmadhi vandhadhu :-)
  Although this "investigation" into "nativity" is both controversial, and perennial - at the risk of belabouring a point (and addressing your post,) here are my two-bits:
  
  The discussion has forked into two different positions: One is (or can be considered to be,) "Nationalist," and one is "Assimilationist" (integration of non-tamizh natives into tamizh culture.) But to fall into either camp, is also to miss the essential argument: By saying homegrown tamizh speakers are not being given their due share, it does not implicitly mean that non-natives should be shown the exit route.
  The "nationalist" position may seem conservative, and the "assimilationist" position may seem compassionate - but that is not a true summation of either. And one also has to keep in mind that cross-border migration is mostly (if not always,) for economic purposes. That is primary. However, to guage how much this is the case(as far as southern film music is concerned,) one only has to look at how much tamizh-natives are successful in other south-indian states. Neel's lament is not about bad-mouthing PS, SPB, SJ or other prominent TFM singers (that would be bitter and unfair - not to mention absurd,) but about the neglect of people who are homegrown that might have taken good care of the "Theru Kovils" and "TheRRs" had they only been considered. And if not that time, then at least some other time down the road. To ask What about Us? is not saying Don't Patronise Them.
  Ask this: If a MFM singer is sent back to Kerala after brief stint in Tamizh or Telugu - will they not have opportunities from their people/field/film-makers? Ditto for Telugu. Or Hindi. Or Bengali (Would a Kishore or SDB/RDB not have done well in Bengali (and they did extremely well,of course!) had their careers been snuffed in HFM?
  Now let's count the number of cases of great successes of homegrown Tamizh speakers in Tamizh fim singing, say in the last twenty odd years? That's all the proof one needs to understand what's being said, and what is really at stake.
  
  I hope this is understoond in the right spirit (of the argument.)
  
  
• From: Nazir (@ 172.165.204.134) on: Thu Sep 12 19:57:53 EDT 2002
  
  Harini,anuradha shreeram, Nithyashree, Bombay jayashree, Bhaavatharini, Mathangi, Mahanadhi Shobna, Mahalakshmi, chitra shivram - ivangallaam franciliyaa porandhaanga?
  Paava ahmedumanaaz kku theriyaadhu polirukku hehehe
  
  
• From: Neel D (@ 24.98.42.169) on: Thu Sep 12 23:18:39 EDT 2002
  
  Please click on the link, read, click on "Where are they now?" and read more.
  
  http://www.outlookindia.com/full.asp?sid=1&fodname=20020819&fname=F15+Min+Heroes
  
  What do you think?
  
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Fri Sep 13 00:34:28 EDT 2002
  
  Neel D -
  
  Thanks for the link.
  
  That compilation only proves that northerners have not really looked southwards in the last 30 years (unless it has suited them.) The sun must surely rise and set in the Mumbai armpits. Once a Madarasi, I guess.
  
  Bias-nnu sonna, poththikkunnu vandhurum silarukku.
  
  Whoever included VJ in that compilation gets full marks for more than 15 minutes of laziness and indifference.
  
  
• From: av (@ 132.206.124.209) on: Fri Sep 13 10:14:52 EDT 2002
  
  VJ giving LM and AB (forget them - even Suman or Sudha Malhotra) a "run for their money" is certainly a joke! Some journalists are good humourists, I say!
  
  BTW there is no song VJ has sung for Kumar Gandharva. The song was most probably a Vasant Desai composition - it was sung with Kumar Gandharva.
  
  
• From: Naaz (@ 24.76.127.63) on: Fri Sep 13 11:20:25 EDT 2002
  
  Small, crucial detail:
  
  For a first song, Bol Re Papi Hara achieved this:
  
  16 weeks on Binaca Geet Mala (interview part 1.) - A programme that was (in those days,) considered to be THE barameter of HFM.
  
  The only debut song in the history of HFM to win the renowned (for its classical exclusivity) Tansen Sammelan Sammaan.
  
  No prizes for guessing who else was in the running for the same, that year.
  
  We all know who the joke was really on.
  
  
• From: Kaumudi (@ 136.142.153.250) on: Fri Sep 13 11:36:36 EDT 2002
  
  AV
  I do believe that was not a joke. Those were the days when people listened to LM and AB and LM and AB only most of the time. True, they had great voices (I am a big AB fan!) but "Alavai minjinaal amruthamum nanju" meaning even nectar can become poison beyond limits. Possibly this was the situation then.
  
  So, people (audience like us) welcomed this new, fresh sounding voice with open arms. I remember my mother telling me how much she had put in an effort in learning Bol re papi song (my mom's a singer) although she did not understand the language and how much of a hit it was even in the south those days.
  
  Apart from VJ's vocal talents, the song itself was a beautiful composition. When one puts all these factors put together, one realises that there was an immense potential for VJ coming big and strong in the HFM scene. She could have been something more than a one-time wonder.
  
  And in my heart of hearts, I do believe that LM and AB could possibly have had a hand (note the indefinite article) in bringing VJ down. However, I don't have a way to prove it, I don't think anyone does or will!
  
  

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