"MSV CLUB" - The Discussion Forum of MSVTimes.com

[madhuraman]

Dear Friends, "veNNira Aadai"
I dedicate this the 800th posting of mine as a tribute to CVSridar and V-R who have made such deep inroads in moviedom way back in 1964-65; movie was made in II half of 1964 and screened in early 1965. It was a trend setter in more than one way; storylibe, mellowed acting, a responsible hero who did not dance around nor indulged in display of muscle/ midriff; all freshers to the craft, yet came out with competent performance. Certainly, Songs and BGM were of a different class with MSV's signature all over proclaiming in unequivocal terms that his was a brand of music novel and innovative then with live handling every millimeter.
There were 7 songs, each unique by its characteristics and well picturised to carry the audience.
1. 'ChiththiramE solladi' -PBS, SJ
A polite looking song with riots of interludes with flute drum bongo and guitar / violins all running to feverish pitch while all charanam segments are in peace of love.

2.'nee enbadhenna'- LRE
it is prose raised to poetic stature just by sheer orchestration. Only the lines are read out and made to appear like a song by the ubstant follow-up by flute drum percussion skills. Honestrly the piece achieves a song value from the guitar rich interludes played to grand speed with distant drum lending back-up. At places only the singer is heard as in
'therigiradhA purigiradhA idhu enna vizhippu' and the mood is brought through instrumental bonanza. For the mentally retarded girl MSV chose to 'read' the lyric and beautify it for a song stature by orchestration. Immense logic indeed.

3. 'ammamma katru vandhu' -PS
A rapid song held to rollicking scales by singing and tabla-flute play that ably registers the open cool water falls of kumbakkarai [no other movie has recorded the place so nice] MSV scales up song value for every song in this movie indicating the recovery of the heroine from her mental shattering.
4.'allippandhal kalgaL eduththu' -LRE, MS Raju
Another prose form song, rendered to song effect by quick jerky singing of words. The comic effect is elevated by MSR's youghling and the song has had a perfect blend of youghling to and from orchestral finishes.

5.'enna enna vArththaigaLO'- PS
A grand number for its rhythmic beginning carried to elegance by piano and brilliantly sung to suggest happy anticipation. Both CVS and MSV share honours for the marvellous presentation. A number of a new order then. What a controlled creation it has been?

6.'oruvan kAdhalan' - PS, PBS
An item far ahead of its time by singing style because, the whole lyric is prose statements. The MDs have adopted the technique of stretch to make the right impact. Look at the distict styles of interlude orchestration to create a floating feel. Picturisation has adopted a Hollywood style lighting where the lovers move through the dense tree cover and cinematographers [G.Balakrishna and N.Balakrishnan] have captured 'as is where is' effect marvellously considering the lack of post-production correctives then.
7. 'kaNNan ennum' - PS
A song etched by lyrical value and musical sedation hulding Kannadasan and Viswanathan as the 2 eyes of this beauty. Pallavi is rendered several times without any feeling of repetition. The opening of the number on a Drum- based start in proximity of strings was a novelty. One can see PS literally rendering the number in Jayalalitrha's voice in this very first movie of the heroine.

[ 'neerAdum kaNgaL ingE' was dropped from the movie.

Certainly the BGM was of a high order deserving a special posting on it. Our song analysts may please enlighten us of some of the novel nuances.

My dedicating this piece to Sridar has a personal touch. From my school days I have seen CVS [and MSV] take mammoth dimensions bringing some unknown approaches. 20-10-10 is the second death anniversary of Sridar. So, I thought it opportune to dedicate this to CVS and MSV for
'v A'- FULL OF RICH NUANCES IN TREND SETTING. Also, on 20-10-08 , I sat for compiling our book 'A music bridge between millennia' when the news of CVSridar's demise broke out. I hope my dedicating this posting to them is quite justified.
Warm regards Prof. Madurai.
_________________
Prof. K. Raman
Mumbai

[parthavi]

Dear Professor,
You have very appropriately chosen Sridhar's death anniversary to write about Vennira Aadai, a landmark film, in several dimensions. I have nothing to add about the songs, after your consummate presentation, except to say that they are a class of their own. Especially in Ammammaa, MM has captured the wind in the song and orchestration. Though each song renders its own experience, like the different delicacies of a splendid meal, I have always felt as if being carried away by the song Ammammaa (by the force of wind flowing through the song, as it were!)

One interesting fact about this movie, though of only trivial significance is that all the 4 new faces introduced by Sridhar (JJ, Nirmala, Srikanth and Moorthy) had attained fame and had played prominent roles in films for a very long time. I don't know whether the actress who paired Moorthy was a new face.
_________________
P Rengaswami (9381409380)
MSV, Un isai kettaal puvi asainthaadum, idhu iraivan arul aagum.
http://msv-music.blogspot.in/

[madhuraman]

Dear Mr. PARTHAVI,
Thank you for opening the topic further. Let me add a few more dimensions that justify the trend-setter credentials of the movie.
The movie was brand new in the sense, all artistes except Rukmini [actress Lakshmi's mom] who played J's mom were new to films [Major Sunderrajan had a couple of films then]. A DETAILED SURVEY REVEALS WHAT IS EXPERIMENTATION / INNOVATION AND TO WHAT LEVELS!
Actor Sreekanth was a high placed officer in U S I S, Chennai and had stage experience .
Jayalalithaa with her convent background was NEW COMER and she handled her role with ease and aplomb.
Nirmala too was a stranger to filmdom and was visibly so in ' v A'
Moorthy was a Law graduate and hesitantly chosen [ hesitation due to his professional qualification]
Mali [Moorthy's dad in the movie] is a close friend of Chitralaya group but not seen in films till then]
ASHA the lady who paired with Moorthy was an Airhostess from BOAC -the name by which British Airways was known then. Later, in movies her name was changed to Shaila shree.
Seshadri who played Nirmala's dad was a retired official from Indian oil corporation [probably he too has had stage experience]
More than the band of NEW COMERS that CVS inducted in this single movie, he mustered the services of two Cinematographers who [to my knowledge] came together for the first time under CVS. They were G.Balakrishna from the Hindi screen under the doyen V.Shantharam and N.Balakrishnan who had already worked for 'kalaikoil' 1964. Till then CVS has had the services of Aloysius Vincent and PN Sundaram as the Cinematographers right from the days of CVS's life in Venus pictures in the late 1950s till 'kADHALIKKA NeRAMILLAI' of 1964.
So much of bold ventures have been done by CVS; So, I am not too inclined to believe that only after 1975 someone ventured to bring in new talent. Once again, MSV stood up to the task and ably lent a rich music and BGM support . Thanks for inviting this response.
Warm regards Prof. Madurai.
_________________
Prof. K. Raman
Mumbai

[madhuraman]

Dear Mr.Baskar and other friends
Certain things 'happen' beyond the plans of movie makers.
Look at these items relating to "v A" that was not in any serious hibernation [Compared to 'Ooty varai uravu"]. Still. "v A" too had such hiccups that I recall here.
The project was started with Hemamalini [yes the later fame actress on Hindi moviedom and titled Dream girl]. In fact some song sequences were shot in Vaigai dam and the stills appeared in 1964 issues of the then lone Tamil cine magazine 'Pesum Padam', where clippings of Sridar showing dance movements and facial expressions to those actors appeared. But, CVS chose to drop her [HM] and opted for Jayalalithaa. Much later, CVS explained that Hema's Tamil accent was of a too brahminical whiff and did not suit the screen play free of any such communal setting.
Coming to songs,
'Nenjaththile nee nEtru vandhAi' was composed and recorded for '' v A" and CVS decided to forego it. Later, it was utilized in ALS' movie "Shanthi" as the lyrical phrases were quite fitting for the situation. Then,'neerAdum kaNgaL inge' was recorded. Sridar dropped that also from the movie. Since in those days songs were recorded on Graphite discs [Gramophone records], the song 'n k e' managed to sneek into sale counters and turned out to be a massive hit without an iota of a chance for anyone to have been influenced by the visuals there of. There have been several such hiccups along the way and still the movie was full of sophistication in 'handling' in every department.
Warm regards Prof. Madurai.
_________________
Prof. K. Raman
Mumbai

[Sai Saravanan]

Dear Professor,
Another beautiful treatise on Sridhar and MM! Your narration has done justice to both of them. Being too very selfish about MM, my mind hovers only around his music (sorry to disappoint you Sir!).

I feel a glorious colour splash when I listen 'chithirame'. My eyes eagerly look for the piano portions when I see 'enna enna vaarthaigalo', experience rapid progressions of ecstasy when I hear 'ammamma kaatru vandu' and often picturise a lazy Sunday dream when I feel 'oruvan kaadalan'.

The 'neeradum kangal' masterpiece is still a treasured song with me, ...I did not know that this was a dropped song. Somehow, I had got it recorded, unknowingly!

Thousands of credits must be given to MM for choosing PBS to aptly suit a quiet Srikaanth and SJ for the timid looking Nirmala. What an imagination of the actors and their personalities! As I did not see the movie properly (on TV, of course), all I recollect are the colours used by Sridhar, and our songs!
Thanks,
Sai Saravanan