Why is TFM dominated by one MD at at time ?

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Why is TFM dominated by one MD at at time ? Why is TFM dominated by one MD at at time ?

Topic started by RV (@ nat-20.avanticorp.com) on Tue Feb 10 21:52:22 EST 1998.
All times in EDT/EST +9:30/10:30 for IST.

Responses:

From: RV (@ nat-20.avanticorp.com) on: Tue Feb 10 22:08:21 EST 1998

Looking at TFM, there is a clear domination by one MD at any given point in time - at least from the sixties. Some expert should confirm whether this is true before the sixties.

In the early sixties, it was MSV-TKR with KVM running second.
In the late sixties, it was MSV with with KVM running second. In the early seventies, it was just MSV.
In the late seventies, it was still MSV with IR rising very fast.
In the eighties, it was IR with nobody even running second.
In the nineties, so far it is ARR with IR running second and Deva has the top slot in just numbers.

Why does every producer go to one MD, howsoever talented he is ?

Compare this with HFM.
In the fifties, there was Naushad, C. Ramachandra, OP Nayyar, Shankar-Jaikishan and the incomparable SD Burman. There are forays by Salil Chowdrry, Jaidev, Kishore Kumar and a host of others. Laxmikant-Pyarelal were coming up, Madan Mohan had his own niche...

In the sixties, Naushad faded away. C. Ramachandra died, I think. SDB and SJ were strong. LP were coming up. Jaidev, Salil, KK were still coming up with gems. RDBurman was the new talent. Kalyanji-Anandji started.

In the seventies, RDB was the numero-uno. But SDB still held strong. Khayyam, Chaurasia had occasional forays. Jaikishan died in the early seventies. There were a host of "lesser" talents - Ravindra Jain for one LP were still strong. Bappi Lahiri came up with his disco beats.

Eighties belonged to LP. Bappi was still strong, RDB was alive, many newcomers like Nadeem Shravan turned up.

Nineties, even ARR tries his hand.

The number of movies made is comparable in Hindi and Tamil. Why does this domination occur ?

At least, when MSV dominated the scene, he had some competition from KVM. Big banners went to MSV or KVM. V Kumar had a niche. Govardhanam, Vijaya Bhaskar, Vedha, Sankar-Ganesh did music for a few movies. IR was #1 to #100 in eighties. Now it is ARR/IR/Deva but ARR is clearly the leader. ( I am sure to get flamed for this. )

Why do the producers let one MD dominate the scene when it doesnt make any business sense ? Luckily, ARR doesnt accept lot of movies otherwise I am sure he would be the MD for almost every movie. Why, just because Deva did decent music/cut&paste for a couple of movies, it is if you cant get ARR, go to Deva. I mean, can anyone really think that IR doesnt have it in him any more ? Why dont the producers foster competition when it obviously makes business sense ?

All theories incl. conspiracy theories welcome.
From: Bhaskar (@ ww-tj06.proxy.aol.com) on: Tue Feb 10 22:37:56 EST 1998

RV:

Indha thread ennamO enakku marubadiyum adi thadi thread maadiri dhaan theriyudhu :-)))))))))

Enna unga question konjam veru angle-aa irukku :-)))
From: mannAru (@ ns.arraycomm.com) on: Tue Feb 10 23:41:36 EST 1998

RV:

Neenga solrathellam sari. Neenga pAtukku ippo
ARR no.1 sonna yArum othukka mAttAnga. Adhu kooda
parava illai. IR -ai no.2 solleeteenga. Ore adi
dhadi soda bottle thAn. Dhool! Indha Attaikku
nAn valleengo!

Regards
mannAru
From: vijay (@ 129.252.29.214) on: Wed Feb 11 00:16:12 EST 1998

i do not think anyone is dominating now.
people like KB,p.vasu who once ditched IR and went to ARR have not continued their relationship with him. rumours are that mani approached IR for iruvar.if u take the no. of films as the criteria deva might still be at the top.but lot of his films are being snatched away and shared by the likes of vidyasaagar,sirpy,KR etc.
so i do not see any domination as of now. i agree that there was a domination earlier.

vijay
From: SATHIYAVAGEESWARAN (@ client-151-200-125-135.bellatlantic.net) on: Wed Feb 11 08:59:16 EST 1998

As Vijay said, no one is dominating TFM now. When MSV was number one, he was doing the music for majority of films. When IR was number 1, he was everything, simply the GURU of entire Tamizh Cine Industry rather than a mere MD, which is the only instant in Indian Cine History all time. Now if somebody is Number one, he should be a GURU like IR, or atleast a leading composer like MSV. ARR does not accept many films is not true. He accepts as many films as he can do. Also he hides himself behind Cream people(Dir, Produ, Artists) and he never dares to come out of his circle. Deva has been producing 100 junks for a few good songs. No number 1 MD has done it in TFM so far. Deva is a BAN for TFM. Also nowadays other MDs like Sirpi, SA Rajkumar, Vidyasakar are able to dominate in an year than even ARR songs. e.g. Poove Unakkaga-1995, Ullaththai Allitha-1996.
Also Tamil cine industry is at its nightmare with hardly 5 - 10 hit films an year. I like to attribute the decline of Tamil Film Industry to the decline of IR's regime.
My emphasis is that, for the first time in Tamil Industry, many MDs are in the field competing each other like Hindi films. Unlike their healthy competition, our MD's quality is detoriating day by day.
From: bs (@ saturn.bt.com) on: Wed Feb 11 09:09:42 EST 1998

Domination can only be done by talented personalities having variety,stuff & depth which only IR has/was/is shown until now..His domination was complete in all the respects like quantity + quality + originality +.. +..etc...(which Satya can only list)

Now Deva dominates in quantity, ARR/IR in hit songs & others making not that small an impact.. If only ARR attempts above his quota of 5/6 films an year we can easily see that he will bite the dust..Also if Deva goes for originality+quality, pavam Theru theruva velaikkaga alaya vendiya nilamai varum. Since KR has decided to be poorman's ARR, he cant also come anywhere near to domination.. Totally TFM has also become a hung parliament like our politics which can only be redeemed by bringing IR into prominence through bigbudget films..Eventhough everybody should welcome competition/novely/innovation if these very things make you sick of TFM there is no other way than domination/monopoly by a true genius rather than by a won-day-kid or some $Ł*music-breeze guy....
From: Kanchana (@ ww-tf02.proxy.aol.com) on: Wed Feb 11 11:43:19 EST 1998

RV:
One clarification: since you are talking pure business and not asking for judments on musical genius, don't you think Deva is currently the leader in terms of the number of movies he gets--i.e., his market share versus other MDs?

My $0.02 to your question: in a way, it makes perfect business sense to go with one or two MDs as long as they can meet the producers/directors/audience's needs. During their respective "dominant" periods, MSV-TKR/MSV and IR served as great security blankets who could be relied upon to minimize the risk to the producers' return on investment.

In the 60s and early 70s, characterized by fewer movies and a dominant big-studio-culture with big directors, big stars and talented lyricists , MSV-TKR/MSV could be relied upon to give almost 100% hits/movie and to work well with the directors, lyricists and stars to make the songs a hit. This definitely is an achievement especially given the number of songs/movie those days.
The "mass" audience did seem to want all these elements to fit together and was happy with the beautiful melody-based music and meaningful lyrics.

In the 80s which saw a massive boom in Kodambaakkam and the relative decline of the big-studio-culture, IR could be relied upon to turn out a sizeable % of hits despite the heavy time-crunches caused by the "mass production" trends in the movie industry. He could be relied upon by the big directors to enhance their movies and by the small directors to compensate for the lack of storyline/big stars/good direction/lyrics, through his orchestration and innovative approaches.
The "mass" audience was happy with IR's approach to music, and accepted other trade-offs due to his exceptional genius in orchestration.

The 90s audience is a totally different beast compared to the other eras we are talking about. This audience is not as homogeneous as the previous eras' in preferences and is more variety-seeking in any product (including TFM) etc etc., due to the fundamental change to an open-market, open-communications society (for good or bad is another issue.)
So, it is logical for producers to start exploring multiple MDs to provide more variety to their audience to protect their monetary investment. Whether we will ever have a single-MD dominance trend again is yet to be seen, and will be largely dictated by consumer preferences and industry politics.
From: easwaran hariharan (@ proxy-lvl1.net.bms.com) on: Wed Feb 11 12:07:46 EST 1998

For years, I have been praying to see TFM flooded with many MDS rather than few MDS as It robs us from enjoying different styles of music.
In 50's, there are more than few popular MDS in TFM like GR, R sudarsan, M.D. Subbiah Naidu, subbaraman, AMR, VR, and others.
In 60's it changed drastically and only VR, KVM ended up sharing all the burden.
In Mid 70's it changed again and we saw MSV, KVM, VK, VB, SG and others giving equal no of hits.
But after IR came, he took the whole TFM in his hands, we did not see anyone good enough until ARR came.
In 90's again it changed for good, and now for the first time, there are more MDS roaming Kodampakkam, than ever in the past.
Though ARR dominates the music industry in terms of popularity and sales, I think now anyone with a good score can make an impact
in the industry.
In HFM,producers/directors/actors use to stick to their favorite MD for a long time, like raj kappoor used SJ and Ravindra Jain. But this trend is not catching up in TFM, though that could be a welcome trend to follow.

I may wish to see 5 or 6 films from a MD in a year, as it will allow them to concentrate on quality ( if they can) and also gives us the pleasure of listening good songs.
It may be too much for asking from the current bunch. Is it?. May be not. Did anyone expect deva to be this much successful?. I did not. I am completely surprised by his success.
Why can't we wait to see what do others have to show us, before asking IR to dominate once again.

e.hari
From: MPR (@ dyn07.iacc-t23.ndsu.nodak.edu) on: Wed Feb 11 13:23:15 EST 1998

e.hari:

Today there are so many new MDs, just because of only one thing. It's nothing but synthesizer. Or else howcome Deva can compose songs like 'pulveli puliveli'. In IR's era, to bring out a song perfect, imagination was much needed. So nobody could reach 60% of his level. That kept some distance from IR to others. That's what made him giant. Now you have the synthesizer, sit down and compose again and again, you'll get a good song. I'm not saying that you don't need imagination at all when you compose using synthesizers. But you can practically see what's going on and change it if it doesn't come out properly. That's why there is not much gap between ARR and others like IR had.
From: RV (@ nat-20.avanticorp.com) on: Wed Feb 11 14:05:14 EST 1998

Ennanga idhu, The question is why one MD dominates TFM at any given time. This thread is not to discuss ARR vs IR. Adhukkutthan yerkanave 10 thread irukke ?

Bhaskar, Mannaru:
TFM janta-vai nalla purinjittirukkenga.

Vijaya, Sathya, bs, mpr:
I beleive ARR is the trendsetter right now. People look forward to ARRs next movie. My impression could be wrong here but thats what I think sitting in the other side of the world.

IR today, in the market sense, has his niche. But thats exactly it - a niche.

ARR is the trend setter, Deva is the market leader, and if ARR accepts more movies, he would be both trend setter and market leader.

Pl. note that the merits and demerits of IR and ARR are irrelevant to this discussion. It doesnt matter that Deva is an expert copyist. I am talking about market, business and not music.

If nobody dominates TFM now in the market sense, that is news to me and lets talk about that. But I still beleive - one more time - ARR is the trend setter, Deva is the market leader. While Vidyasagar, Sirpi, KR, YSR do music, they neither dominate the market nor do they hv the aura of ARR.

We are not talking about whether Deva is bane or boon. It doesnt matter if IR never signs another movie - as far as this thread is concerned - leave alone big budget movies. I dont care whether synthesizer is used to produce hits or harmonium. These things are extraneous to this discussion. I am talking about a trend - letting one MD dominate the scene and not nurturing other, possibly lesser talents - purely as a business strategy.

Kanchana:
Yes, I think Deva is the market leader. I did mention it in my first posting but didnt emphasize the point.

I think you hv partly answered the question. MSV, KVM etc were any producers dream. They were compliant, accepted as many offers as they possibly could, produced great numbers, satisfied the mass requirements and didnt act like prima donnas.- which IR did. Probably the need for this strategy was not felt till IR came on the scene.

I remember an interview with Cho; Cho was making Mohd. Bin Thuglaq which satirized Karunanidhi and the DMK culture pretty savagely. Both MK and MGR tried to pressurize MSV from not doing music to this movie. Cho said that MSV refused this saying that he would do music if they make a movie satirizing Cho.

Another sidelight;
AVM studios seems to hv kept R. Sudarsanam in their rolls for a long time. He seems to be kind of their asthana MD. Was AVM thining along the lines I had mentioned ?

Similarly APNagarajan seems to hv used Kunnakkudi for lot of movies.

Also Chinnappa Thevar seems to hv used Shankar-Ganesh for lot of movies. At least the titles used to say something like "Thevars proteges SG".

Also,
did GR dominate TFM in fifties ? I am not sure as MSV-TKR, SMS, AMR, a bunch of Telugu MDs - Rajeswara Rao, Lingappa, Ghantasala, Adhi Narayana Rao, Pendyala - were around.
From: Bhaskar (@ 205.147.245.41) on: Wed Feb 11 16:13:10 EST 1998

RV:

The question is why one MD dominates TFM at any given time.

Unga question-aa naan substnatiate pannnumna I would say The MD X whoever is dominating is better than all other MD's A, B, C, D When I make that statement then it logically follows into a discussion of Why that MD X is better than MD A, B, C, D, then it boils down to X Vs A, X Vs B, X Vs C etc. Andha oru logic-la dhaan naan adithadi varum appadinnu sonnanen :-)))))

Dominate appadinna niraya vagaiyila irukkalam, number of movies, number of cassetes/cd sales, publicity, vithiyasamana paadalgal, etc etc. Ovvoruvarum oru oru vidhathil TFM-aa dominate seigiraargal at this point of time.

ARR dominates in terms of publicity, Cassette/CD sales, vithiyasamana isai, creativity, larger audience (HFM).

IR dominates in terms of creativity & originality of his Music, number of movies, BGM's in movies, symphony etc.

Deva dominates in terms of number of movies, paamara tamizh makkalukku (ennai pOla:)English pattukkal, future symphony :-)) etc etc.

Vidyasaagar dominates for almost all Arjun movies.

SA Rajkumar dominates for all Super Good Films mostly directed by Vikraman.

Ennai poruthavarai yaaru dominate seidhaalum paravaillai kaetkkumbadi arumaiyaana tamizh paadalgal koduthaal podhum, adhuvae enakku varaprasadham :-))
From: pg (@ gate02.merck-medco.com) on: Wed Feb 11 16:20:48 EST 1998

Bhaskar :
ungaL badhil height of diplomacy ! ellOraiyum thirupthi paduthum.
From: Ravi Krishna (@ ifmxmenlo.informix.com) on: Wed Feb 11 16:46:11 EST 1998

Even though this is a TFM , I would like to comment on RV's original statement that in HFM
in 70s RDBurman was no 1 MD. He was not # 1,
he shared that position with Laxmi Pyare. I dont
think there was any year in which RDB was more
popular than LP. I am following HFM since early
70s and I know what I am talking about.
In 80s RDB simply faded out and
LP were the defacto #1. LP lost that position
only in 1990 after Nadeem Shravan beat them.

Note: This is no comment on the quality of the
MD. RDB , despite his copying disease was clearly
better than LP.

If anyone wants to dispute this with me please
email to rkrishna@iname.com. This discussion has
no place in thir forum.
From: RV (@ nat-20.avanticorp.com) on: Wed Feb 11 16:56:31 EST 1998

Bhaskar:
Look at the HFM history capsule I had given; When one MD is #1, it may ( or may not ) mean that he is better than other MDs. It definitely need not mean that he is practically the only MD - that would be domination.

When Naushadh was #1, C Ramachandra, SD Burman, OP Nayyar, Madan Mohan had a good innings in parallel; When MSV-TKR was #1, KVM was #2 and there was nobody else. When MSV was #1, KVM was #2 for some time; when KVM faded away, there was no #2! - till IR came on the scene. Of course, when IR was #1, forget #2, there was not even a #100. The question is, as a business man, why would not someone nurture even a LESSER talent ? Why is it always #1 or nobody else ?

To give another parallel, in the eighties, Kamal and Rajini were the kings in Tamil movies; didnt Mohan, Suresh, and a bunch of incompetent heroes have a long innings as heroes ? Why wouldnt that logic extend to say, nurturing Vijayabhaskar or Narasimhan or Keeravani ? After all, these people did produce good numbers in a few movies. They had talent - they were not IRs or MSVs but they could produce decent numbers.
From: Kanchana (@ ww-te01.proxy.aol.com) on: Wed Feb 11 17:36:00 EST 1998

RV:
To your question of "why should a businessman not nurture a LESSER talent?" may be I did not make my point clearly earlier: given the investments at stake, why should a business person (producer) wish to risk his/her life savings by backing a new guy if and when the #1 guy is available & willing, and there is no visible audience need to do otherwise?

In the 90s, there is an audience need for diversity/ variety and therefore, some producers are taking some risks and backing some new MDs. I would say this is just an exploration phase, with no conclusions yet. Whether we will ever have this old-fashioned "dominance" (like the 60s, 70s,80s) is yet to be seen, and will be largely determined by consumer preferences and industry politics.
From: Bhaskar (@ 205.147.245.41) on: Wed Feb 11 18:31:56 EST 1998

Kanchana, RV:

Another possible reason might be, is that I have heard that MD's whoever is in No. 1 position buy out the LESSER talent MD's and use their talent under their banner so they remain #1. Even if they want to become independent they might be threatend of supression by the No. #1. This is just a theory :-)))

These types can be interpreted in two ways, 1. The MD is working as an assistant to the MD or 2. He is bought out by the No. #1 MD.

For Ex: Eventhough Ranjit Barot excelled in his debut movie VIP he is not to be seen as an independent MD for quite a long time, but still could be seen in albums of ARR. What should we interpret this as ?

If a new MD has to come up successfully in the Film industry one needs a lot of push from the industry perum pullis apart from talent alone.

This can be seen when we listen to IR & ARR stories when they come out with stories of how they struggled to attain a respectable position in the TFM industry.

Digression: There was a person called TRV who used to post in our TFMDF sometime back with very keen interest in composing TFM music. His composition was very much appreciated by lot of our TFMDF people, I heard that he has gone back to India quiting his US job to compose for TFM, one wonders how easy it is do that kind of a job eventhough you have the right talent.
From: RV (@ nat-20.avanticorp.com) on: Wed Feb 11 18:50:59 EST 1998

Kanchana:
I understand the point. I think I didnt put the right emphasis on my reply. There is no need as long as the MD doesnt act like a prima donna and is compliant. This changed with the advent of IR, I think. Probably this as a business strategy made sense only then and not before - definitely not in the MSV/KVM era.
From: RAJAN (@ proxy-115.iap.bryant.webtv.net) on: Wed Feb 11 20:51:19 EST 1998

RV:

Yaarai kutram solla veandum yendru, intha threadai aarambithathin kaaranam ungal pathilil nandraga thearikirathu!

Vaalga ummal aana siriya thoandu!
From: RAJAN (@ proxy-117.iap.bryant.webtv.net) on: Wed Feb 11 22:42:49 EST 1998

RV:

Innoru chinna karuthu vearubadu:

"Prima donnas" MSV, KVM, TKR, KONNAPPA, KITTAPPA kalathil illai yendru neengal uruthiyaga koorikolvathu, ungalathu ariyamayai thaan kaattukirathu.

Konnappa, kittappa pagavathargal katcherikku varum poathu, avargalai kuthirayil alaithu vanthu rajamariyathai seivaargal yendru kelvipattu yirukirean, athey poal matravargalukkum....

"Prima donnas" avaravargal kalangalil, antha antha soolnilaigalukku yearppa athu irunthirukkirathu.

Antha kalathil ithayellam padipatharkku, ketpatharkku, paarpatharkku ippoluthu iruppathai poala thoadarbu sathanam illai, aathalaal intha kaalathil athu poothakaramaai thoandri ungalai kaduppadikirathu!

Neengal kuripidum nabarin "prima donnas" -kuriya karanangalai koora oru ugam (netru devathai padam parthathin paathippu) veandum.

"Prima donnas (enga sir intha vaarthayai pudichinga, roamba nallayirukku!) patri niraya yelutha aasai thaan, aanal athu "PALAYA KURUDI, KATHAVA THIRADI" kathayaga poaividum yenkira padiyal, iththudan ungalukku purinthirukkum yendra nambikaiyudan,

RAJAN
From: RV (@ 1cust7.max20.san-francisco2.ca.ms.uu.net) on: Thu Feb 12 01:25:37 EST 1998

Rajan:

Naatla nalladhukku kaalamillainga. ;-)

IR was not compliant as MSV and KVM were appadinnu sonna adhile ennanga thappu ? Cho/MSV parti koduttha kurippu kaanga.

Adhu ennavo therialleenga IRkku yedhavadhu oru facet konjam negativennu sollittaa ulterior motive kandu pidikka aarambicchu vidaranga. Ivvalavu sensitive and emotional rasigar koottatthai uruvaakkia ore contemporary MD IR-agatthaan irukkum. Summa sollak koodadhu, thannudaiya isaile avar niraya perai kanna pinnanu kavarndhu izhutthirukkarunga. -;)

Ungalaukku en theory edho ulnokkam vaitthu ezhudharennu thoninina unga theoryai edutthu vidunga!
From: Kanchana (@ ww-td02.proxy.aol.com) on: Thu Feb 12 10:21:49 EST 1998

Rajan & RV:
From my limited knowledge of the industry, prima donnas are an unavoidable reality due to the extremely high talent level in their respective fields.
And, as long as the final audience/consumer needs are being satisfied well by a particular artiste, everyone does turn a blind eye to his/her prima donna behavior (either real or perceived). That is the business reality--the endgoal is money, power and fame; whether that goal is achieved through "prima donnas" or "compliant artistes" is irrelevant for the really business-minded folks.
Hopefully, that answers both your questions. RV, thinking about what the 90s audience wants and sticking to the "high ground" will help answer your business question better, in my opinion. Will meet you both in other fun-filled threads! :-)
From: MPR (@ dyn07.iacc-t23.ndsu.nodak.edu) on: Thu Feb 12 11:09:37 EST 1998

kanchana:

when did you post your last message? Just curious, let me know :))
From: RV (@ nat-20.avanticorp.com) on: Thu Feb 12 14:22:21 EST 1998

Does anyone know whether there was a one MD domination in the fifties ?
From: Kanchana (@ ww-td02.proxy.aol.com) on: Thu Feb 12 15:51:02 EST 1998

MPR:
My last posting was at 10:21 a.m. :-)

RV:
Weren't there a lot of MDs in the 50s, like GR, SMSubbiah Naidu, Sudarsanam, Ghantasala, AMR, T.Chalapathi Rao, T.G.Lingappa & others?
Also, is Adhinarayana Rao an MD or lyricist from the 50s? I associate his name with the classic thEsulAvuthE from maNALanE manayin bAgiyam.
From: RV (@ nat-20.avanticorp.com) on: Thu Feb 12 16:31:39 EST 1998

Kanchana: My impression too. I would like to confirm it though.

MM Baagyam has several other nice songs too; all I remember now is "Azhaikkadhe", "Parameswara Swami Jagadeeswara"
From: MPR (@ dyn07.iacc-t23.ndsu.nodak.edu) on: Thu Feb 12 16:33:20 EST 1998

Kanchana:

I read your message lastnight but it seems you did post only this morning. And this morning when I read your message, I felt like I've read it earlier. I checked the date and time of your message but couldn't believe it. That's why I asked, never mind :))
From: easwaran hariharan (@ proxy-lvl2.net.bms.com) on: Fri Feb 13 15:48:04 EST 1998

MPR,
I agree with you completely. Composing music in today's world is lot
easier than past. Even MSV/IR had better ways to produce music than
their predecessors. I guess it applies to them also. As long as these
new people come up with good and creative music, I don't see any problem
in that. In fact having more people creating music, is a welcome trend
and good for TFM over all.

Take deva as an example, as the market leader in terms of no of
movies, he scores around 30 films per year, out of which around
15 - 20 films, his music is simply crap. If these films
go to other MDS, they will definitely do a better job.
I think it is part of the MDS responsibility to accept reasonable
amount of projects at a time. I admire ARR in this aspect.
Even IR is also culprit in commercializing his music too much in 80's.
I still think, he should have done less number of films per year.
To some extent, we cannot blame MDS alone for this. This business
comes with lots of insecurity. People remembers only your recent success.
It is lot easier to do 10 films and gives 1 or 2 hits than taking 2 or
3 assignments and failing in it.
It is a collective effort and people involved in this business should
sincerely strive for quality than quantity. If deva fails in one or two
films, I bet everyone will run for another MD. To some extent, this is
not happening in HFM. People like Yashchopra, subasha Ghai stuck with
their MD for a long time, irrespective of their current success.
In TFM AVM, balaji Prod, KB are known to have asthana MDS for a
long time.

e.hari
From: Krish (@ sb-fw1-ny.i11.advantis.net) on: Sun Feb 15 15:45:50 EST 1998

I read the postings calling IR a prima donna. I just admire his guts taking on the so called big guns in the tamil industry who were the real prima donnas. Example, IR's problem with Bharati raja was because BR wanted IR to score music for his film first ignoring all the other projectw he had signed on before that. His problem with K Balachander was that KB could not admit that the only thing that was good in KB's Pudhu Pudhu arthangal was IR's music. IR's problem with ManiRatnam and his bro GV was that IR had the guts to not tolerate to the insulting treatment afforded to him during Jayalalitha's regime. Infact, GV threatened IR that he will get rid of IR (GV also once did this to Rajni). Also earlier in his career, IR challenged the tamil producers to insist that MD's should get royalty for the audiocasettes sold and MDs now get the royalty. And regarding press, I don't know how you feel when you read some of the interviews reported with film personnels, I feel they are so stupid. So, I can empathize with IR for not taking the press seriously.

Well based on the above you may have different opinions, but I admire and respect Ilayaraaja for the man he is and his courage and not putting up with the sycophancy expected in the film industry.
From: RV (@ nat-20.avanticorp.com) on: Tue Feb 17 16:01:13 EST 1998

Krish:
For the nth time, it doesnt matter whether IR is justified or not in picking up fights; whether Deva copies his songs or not; whether ARR sleeps on the left side of his bed or right side. But if this issue creates an image of someone who is not easy to work with, then the producers hv a vested interest in creating some alternate channel.

Anyway, looking at all the postings in this thread, these are my conclusions;

1. In the fifties, there was no domination. GR was probably the first among equals. But he had competition for SMS Naidu, MSV-TKR, many telugu MDs like Rajeswara Rao, Ghantasala, TG Lingappa etc. Also, AMR, KVM were beginnig to make a mark. Sudarsanam was always around - at least in AVM movies.

2. In the early sixties, MSV-TKR took over the number one spot. KVM climbed to the number 2 spot.
Vedha created a niche for himself in Modern Theaters movies. But it was virtually a two horse race between two near equals viz. MSV-TKR and KVM and these TWO MDs dominated the TFM scene.

3. In the late sixties, MSV replaced MSV-TKR. But #2 remained the same. V. Kumar had a niche for himself and people like Govardhanam etc. stepped in.

4. In the early seventies, MSV was the only one. There were several also-rans in V.Kumar, Vijaybhaskar, Shankar-Ganesh, GKVenkatesh etc.

5. In the late seventies, MSV was still #1 with IR rising very fast.

6. In the eighties, IR dominated the scene.

7. In the nineties, ARR has taken over the top slot as a trendsetter and Deva scores for max movies. IR is still reasonably strong, though.

Strictly speaking, the domination by one MD occured in early seventies and eighties only. One can argue that sixties were dominated by two MDs instead of one.

I hv come to the conclusion that this is just happenstance. MSV-TKR, MSV, KVM did great music and took on as many movies as they possibly could. Why should the producers look anywhere else ?

Similarly in the eighties, IR was the only MD with some standing. His fights started in the late eighties. Why should any producer want a different MD in the early eighties ?

I am sure many a producer wanted some alternate channel for music in the late eighties. KB tried Narasimhan, Maragatha Mani etc. Bhagyaraj tried his own hand at music - real desperation, I guess.
It is possible many of them latched on to ARR and Deva when they made their presense felt. IMO, Deva was not a factor till "Aasai"

I think that the the bad facets of monopoly in TFM was never really felt till the late eighties. Also, we dont hv producers of the standing of AVM Chettiar, Modern Theaters Sundaram, Chinnappa Thevar, SSVasan - all of whom tried their hand at an "aasthana MD"
From: RV (@ nat-20.avanticorp.com) on: Tue Feb 17 16:03:16 EST 1998

Krish:

BTW,

I dont think you should consider all MDs other than IR as sycophants either. I mean MSV defied MGR and Karunanidhi at the height of their powers. He was not viewed as a diffcult MD. What evidence does one hv to consider GR, SMS Naidu, KVM, Vedha, Kumar, ARR, Deva etc. as sycophants ?
From: aruvi (@ spc-isp-tor-uas-81-9.sprint.ca) on: Tue Jun 22 14:10:56 EDT 1999

Enn iniya tamizh makkalE!

In today's tamil cinema, ThEnnisai Thendral Deva is the man in the lead with number of hit albums. He has the most in quantity and quality behind him as the sale of his cassettes have proven in the recent times. I will NOT say anything about IR, for my safety:-)). But nowadays, I feel as though ARR is riding more on hype then he is on his music. Before, he gave all those great albums and rightfully hailed as number 1. He deserved it, as much as anyone else anyhow. But recently more hype is given to the promotion of his cassettes. The quality is slowly dying, I think. Since 1996, I have had this feeling that somethings been missing from music. I don't know, maybe my expectations from him are high. Anyhow, getting back to the topic, as I said earlier, I think that ARR only there because it is expected. Only after someone else comes will he loose his number, whenever that would be. Because I think that it is just an established fact in India and no one is willing to challenge it. Anyhow, to date, even if ARR is number 1 to the public, Deva is heading him, I would say.

((Man I can't believe that, Aruvi, have just said something close to a compliment about Deva:-))

BTW, people, I listened to a couple of songs from Deva's newest release 'Nenjinile'. I liked the Chitra/UnniK. duet. As usual, they are both at their best and the music by Deva is not bad, although I bet some would say they have heard it before. I have.

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