This
song from Paavai Vilakku was introduced to me by my sister Sujatha. Whatever
little knowledge I have in Tamizh literature is due to her influence. This song beginning with Sivaji rendering the lines like poem and C S Jayaraman repeating them as a
song, made me feel that it is a poem and I was quite thrilled by it. have not seen this movie and unfortunately I could not get a video link on youtube for this song. Here is the audio on youtube with a still of C S Jayaraman. The lyrics are by Maruthakasi and music by the great K V
Mahadevan.
The beat
in the beginning attracts me to this song every time. A very nice duet by T M
Soundarrajan and P Susila for MGR - Sarojadevi, one of the three famous pairs
of the yesteryear movies, this song is from the movie Panathottam. I have not
seen this movie so far, so I have no inputs about the story. In fact, I am
watching the song may be for the second or third time only on this youtube
link, but still it is one of my favourite MGR songs. With no knowledge of the
picturisation of this song, any time I hear it, I am reminded of the radio sitting
on the dressing table in our home in Nungambakkam and my sisters Sujatha and
Sundari avidly listening to the songs in vividha bharathi! The greatest music
director duo MSV-TKR composed music for this lovely song by Kannadasan.
This melody by M L Vasanthakumari was quite popular in our
household. Used to hearing this song quite often, my mother surprised me one
day by saying that Gemini Ganesh was the villain in the movie. That was quite
unheard of as the Gemini Ganesan I knew then was THE romantic hero! Another
surprise was that R.S. Manohar was the hero! Later, thanks to the telecast of
all the old movies sometime or the other in Doordarshan I had the chance to
watch this movie also. The film wasn't so impressive, but of course
the lovely rendering of the song Konjum puraave by MLV was the best in the
movie. This song was written by Udumalai Narayana Kavi and music by Nagaiah and
Ramarao.
I could not get a video of this song, here is the audio on youtube with details about the movie
Any time I hear this song, I
recall my sister Sundari’s discussion with her close friend T.R.Jayashree about
the way P. Susheela has emoted in this song! I came to hear this discussion when
I was quite young, but later really understood the greatness of P.Susheela in
rendering this song. One of Vaali’s classics in the movie Padagotti, Saroja
Devi acted in the song sequence well without any of her antics which strikes
you when she acted with MGR! Of course the music of MSV/TKR combo made it a
great hit.
Ondru serntha anbu maruma (Makkalai petra maharasi)
I have the habit of humming some old Tamil movie songs on my
way to office (silently of course, otherwise this busy road in T.Nagar would
have become empty many years back!) This morning the song that popped into my
head was “ondru serntha anbu maruma”.
I visualized the song in my mind and the thread of thought
continued as to how I came to know about the background of the song from my
mother. I owe all my knowledge of old Tamil movies/songs to my parents, who
have always given interesting inputs about the background/actor/movie the
moment I ask about any movie song!
That’s how I came to be planning this series about the old Tamizh movie songs I like.
This song “ondru serntha anbu maaruma” is from the movie
“Makkalai Petra Maharasi”
This movie had a double pair – Sivaji/Bhanumathi and Nambiar/M.N.Rajam.
This movie was the first one where I heard that Nambiar had acted as one of the
heroes. I found it very amusing that Nambiar, who I had always known as a bad
man in MGR movies and sometimes in Sivaji movies, had also played the role of a
hero at some point. Of course, I came to know of this when I was quite young.
Later, I grew up to realize what a great actor Nambiar was!
Coming back to the song, it is a great melody with my
favourite singer P.B. Srinivas singing along with Udutha Sarojini. The lyrics are by
Maruthakasi and music is by K.V.Mahadevan. P.B. Srinivas’s voice later became
very very melodious. But in this song that is quite old, his voice had yet not
developed the softness and is a little raspy. But I think it suited a rather
tough looking Nambiar quite well! The way Nambiar swings a twig in his hand
shows the great villain he was to become later!
Here is the youtube link of this song for you to enjoy!
