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!
