Bewitching

Beauty is a very beautiful concept. I am saying ‘concept’ because all said and done beauty is subjective. What is beautiful to me may not be beautiful to you. That is why they say ‘Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder’. 

But if one dwells deep into the subject, it does throw up a lot of interesting things.

What is beauty after all? One that gives us immense pleasure just by looking at it/listening to it/reading it? 

We say ‘a beautiful landscape’. 

We say ‘a beautiful piece of music’. 

We say ‘a beautiful poem’. 

Now, the tamizh word for beauty- Azhagu - is another beauty. 

It is because it has the letter ‘zha’(ழ ) and the word Tamizh itself has ‘zha’(ழ) .'Zha' is a letter unique to Tamizh language and gives a very attractive sound when pronounced properly. 

It is of course a different matter that a majority of the people has forgotten this letter and the sound and pronounces it as(ல) ‘la’.தமிழ்-Tamizh then becomes தமில்-tamil. This includes people who call themselves as custodians of ‘Tamizh Culture’..oh..sorry 'Thamil Culture'.

The song for today-which is one of my all-time favourites- is also beautiful written by the beautiful poet whose other name is Kannadasan. 

The fact remains that there can never be another Kannadasan (of course there can never be another ILaiyaraaja!). 

Though many gems of Kannadasan were tuned by MSV sir, the Raaja-Kannadasan combination has also given some excellent songs like ‘KaalangaL MazhaikkalangaL’(Idhayaththil oru idam), ‘Kovil Mani Osai thannai’(Kizhakke Pogum Rail) ‘Minminikku Kannil oru Minnal’(Sigappu RojakkaL), ‘Vasanta Kaala KolangaL(Thyagam), ‘Sindhu Nadhikkarai oram’(Nallathoru Kudumbam), ‘Sridevi en vaazhvil’(ILamaikkolam) , ‘Oru Thanga Radhaththil’(Dharma Yudhdham) and of course my all time favourite ‘Engengo sellum’(Pattakkaththi Bhairavan) just to name a few.

It was his nephew-Panchu Arunachalam- who introduced Raaja into films and Kannadasan’s first song for Raaja was ‘Kola Kolaya Mundirikkai’ in ‘Paalootti VaLarththa KiLi’- Raaja’s second movie. He humorously(and sensibly too) added the phrase ‘Raja vaa’ in that song symbolically welcoming Raaja.

Incidentally, he wrote his last two songs for Raaja in ‘Moondram Pirai’ before leaving for the US. It seems he remarked to his assistant ‘Raaja is lucky.I don’t think I shall write again for movies after my return’.

He never returned. Only his body arrived here.

But he lives with his immortal songs and will continue to live for many years to come. 

I mentioned that the song for today is also beautiful. 

It is beautiful because of many reasons: 

1. Tune

2. Orchestration

3. Voice

4. Cinematography

and most importantly,

5.The Lyrics.

1.Tune - It is a very different tune and cannot be classified under one particular Raga. It has shades of Sivaranjani, Karnaranjani and even Madhukauns. But it follows a pattern consistently evoking a very different feeling.

2.Orchestration - For the Emperor, is this not a child’s play? He uses the voice of Yesudass as different instruments in the prelude. 

The beautiful Violins and the elegant Veena interspersed with sounds from electronic instruments in the first interlude (listen to the sympathetic chords towards the end..), the Bells juxtaposed between the Dilruba and the mesmerizing flute in the second interlude, the overlapping Bass guitar and the synthesizers in the third interlude.. 

Emperor is Emperor.. Let there be no dispute. 

In fact, a close observation suggests that each interlude is unique and independent but still is closely related to each other. 

Paradoxical?

Play the interludes one after the other and see. You can see poetry there. 

And of course the beats.. The Hindustani Type Tabla beats transport us to another world.

 3.Voice - I do not think any other singer could have sung this song in a better way. This kind of ‘ natural rolling and oscillating effect’ can be produced only by the gentleman called Yesudas. And do I have to say about the natural sweetness?

 4. Cinematography- Not many Raaja songs are shot well-at least to our satisfaction. But this song is an exception. As per the situation, the Hero- who is blind- tries to describe the beauty of the heroine by touching her and she in turn would sketch that description. It could have easily been shot in a glamorous (euphemism for vulgarity!) way. But the entire song shot in indoors shows the aesthetic sense of the Director (Singeetam Srinivasa Rao), the Cinematographer (Barun Mukherjee) and the actors (Kamal and Madhavi).

 5.Lyrics:

The Pallavi ’Oh..beauty..you are like an epic written by a thousand poets’.He uses the word ‘Paavalar’ and not ‘Pulavar’.Both may mean the same but there is a subtle difference.’ Pulavar’ is just a poet. ’Paavalar’ is an expert! 

First CharaNam: 

‘Hair is as cool as the clouds’. We have seen poets comparing the colour of the hair with that of the clouds.. But this is a different thinking in deed! 

‘Ears like question marks Face and eyes like lotus flower’. 

Here comes the beauty. ’Mana kaNgaL sollum ponnoviyam’. 

The hero sees her through his mind’s eyes and this line immediately follows the description of her eyes. 

Mark of a Genius!

 Second CharaNam: 

‘Lips shine like an oyster’. 

There is pearl in oyster and that is the teeth. So naturally, one would expect him to write ‘Serntha pallin varisai yaavum Muththu pondrana’. 

But he says’ Mullai pondrana’(like the jasmine flower). 

Kannadasan, ILaiyaraaja and O’Henry - are they not in the same league? 

Expect the unexpected. 

Then the last line shows the naughtier side of Kannadasan - Oru Angam KaigaL aRiyaathathu’(sorry..no explanation needed!). 

Third CharaNam: 

‘Waist like a creeper, thighs like a plantain leaf, and feet like the mango leaves, you are the Vedas. There is no woman equal to you in this world.’ 

There is no equal to Kannadasan. There is no equal to ILaiyaraaja. 

Just like the letter tamizh letter ‘zha’.