Slangs in Tamizh Cinema..

Tamizh Cinema is known to have songs with slangs.

One of the most popular songs I can think of is ‘Muththu KuLikka VaareegaLa’ from ‘Anubhavi Raja Anubhavi’.It had the Tirunelveli slang rendered beautifully by TMS and LR Easwari with wonderful acting by Nagesh and Manorama.

‘Elantha Pazham’(PaNama Paasama) and ‘Vaa Vaadhiyare Voottande’(Bommalattam) had the great Madras slang.

In a similar vein, the Directors enjoy dragging a particular community.

It all started with ‘Ethir Neecchal’(Aduththaththu Ambujaththai paartheLa) went on to become ‘Iyeraaththu ponnu Sonna’ and ‘Engaathukku maappillai nee’(sorry, don’t remember the movie names).

‘Vaangonna’ was banned by AIR, the reason being ‘hurting the sentiments of a community’.
Now-a-days, it is fashionable to robe the ladies in the group dance sequence with the 9 yard sarees and make them gyrate to the horrible beats(yes..this does not hurt anybody’s sentiments!!).

The point to be noted is that except one or two none of the directors is politically correct.

For example, in a movie where a very popular hero appears as a ‘paatti’, (s)he wears the nine-yard saree throughout and the ‘thaththa’ who loves her(?) is shocked when she says she is already married.

The fact of the matter is that any lady is ‘eligible’ to wear the nine-yards only after she is married.

One of the other ludicrous things is the group of women wearing white sarees during a pooja.
White is anathema to married tamizh ladies in that particular community and even this fact is not known to that great perfectionist!

One feels very bad looking at such comedy of errors.

My idea is not to defend or offend any particular community but the film makers must realise the implications of wrong depictions and portrayals.

Today’s Rare Gem also uses the slang.

Though the song does not show the community in poor light, the diction and pronunciation of the slangs by Shailaja and Vasudevan leave a lot to be desired.

I honestly feel SPB and Suseela would have done a better job.Janaki of course does a good job in the song!

However, one can enjoy the song for the mesmerising Mohanam and the hypnotising Orchestration.

The song starts with a humming by Shailaja.

The Veena and the flute combine to give us a scintillating Mohanam and then the Nagaswaram takes over in the higher octave.

The first CharaNam has questions and answers (rib tickling?).The Raga again flows with great fluency and my most favourite line is ‘Thoppanaaru Panjapakesan..’(for the sheer beauty of the raga).

The Nagaswaram plays with evocative joy in the second interlude.The Jalatarangam and the tabla are the specialities of the Maestro.


The second charanam is structured in a different way. The voice of Janaki is a great relief here!

In ‘Nal Vaazhvu Vaazha Naam Vaazhththa VeNdum, Mohanam shimmers and looks at us with glee..

Listen to ‘Enthaththu Paiyyan Avan’ from ‘ILaiyaraajavin Rasigai(1980) and be blessed!