When I wrote the last post a month ago, I finished it saying I was greedy that I wanted to watch The Godfather Part II also in the theatre.
And this time around, the universe was kind enough.
Yes, The Godfather Part II got re-released last week and I grabbed the opportunity to see it on the big screen.
Even though many regard the first part very highly, it’s the part II that actually works more for me.
Because of one reason.
Rather one man – Al Pacino
It was so awesome to see his performance on the big screen. Especially the eyes – the way those magical eyes emote and can convey what’s going on in Michael’s mind without uttering a word. The mannerisms that he very consistently portrays at multiple times in the movie living Michael in and out. For example:
The way he uses two fingers and rubs both his eyes whenever he comes to a place after dealing with lot of “stuff”
Or the way he moves his left hand fingers when he is making important decisions (such as the below one when he is meeting Hyman Roth at his home in Miami)
Al Pacino also lived the character of Michael with so much consistency in terms how he reacts when people betray him. He is genuinely trying to make the family business legitimate, but when people within his family betray him or do not understand him, he simply shuts the door for them.
A great example is, how he literally shuts the door for Kate when she visits the kids without his knowledge. No words are uttered. Just a strong hatred in his eyes. Walks straight to the door and shuts it.
It’s the same with Fredo. When he discovers that Fredo plotted against him and his family, he simply shuts him off from his life – so much that he decides to kill his own brother. And that too, a brilliant scene where he gives a go ahead to his assistant to kill Fredo after their mother dies – again with just his eyes.
The Nayagan Connect
Of course, it’s inevitable that one cannot find how much inspiration that Kamal had taken from Al Pacino for Nayagan. If Al Pacino moves his left fingers, Kamal moves his right hand over his bald head. All those close up shots where the scenes were focused on Al Pacino’s reaction in his eyes – one could see how much Kamal and Maniratnam embodied it in Nayagan.
If there was a baptism scene in this movie where Michael kills his enemies, there is an equivalent scene in Nayagan where the Reddy family gets killed while Nayakkar performs the last rites for his wife.
Overall, I am super glad that my greed got answered.
And of course, there is no end to one’s greed. I am seeing news that Nayagan is likely to get released in theatres. And that will just complete it for me 🙂
Never, ever, in my wildest dreams, I ever imagined that I would see this movie in the big screen.
I was casually checking last Wednesday if there are any good English movies to watch during the weekend and saw this being listed as a “Re-release”.
I saw it was running only in a few theatres across Chennai and just one show in a multiplex that I and my friend regularly watch any movie.
I didn’t bother to check with my friend and I just booked two tickets for the following Saturday. I knew very strongly that my friend would simply drop everything else for this lifetime opportunity.
And, it was a lifetime opportunity for us.
Watching one of the finest craft ever made. On the big screen. The way the director intended it to be seen.
Obviously I had seen this movie a number of times. This friend of mine recommended it back in 2007-2008 times.
In the 90s when I got exposed to Hollywood movies, I was just watching the regular sci-fi, action movies. The Speed, Independence Day, Cliff Hanger type of movies. Crime-Drama as a genre was something that obviously a school/college going kid doesn’t like to see. Especially the ones that goes in a slow pace.
So was my friend until he went to the US and accidentally stumbled upon this genre. He came back and highly recommended to see this.
I tried initially and couldn’t sit through the first 30 minutes – this was sometime in 2007/2008. I normally watch during the night and I dozed off in the first 30 minutes.
A couple of years passed and my friend pushed me to watch it again during the day – like an afternoon.
Sometime in 2010/2011 I saw the first part of “The Godfather” series and was completely blown away.
Ever since, I have come back to this movie at least once every 2 years to notice something new.
Though we now remember every single scene in the movie and of course most of the dialogues, it was still a different experience seeing it in the theatre.
The beauty of watching it in theatre (any good movie) is that you are locked in that dark room for 2-3 hours. And you are completely taken into the world the director has created.
It was the same in this case too. For 3 hours, I was totally in the world of the Corleone family. How the power was being transitioned and all the dynamics within the family and with the outsiders.
And I noticed another brilliant performance
Above is the scene where Al Pacino has come out of the bathroom having taken the gun that was hidden in the bathroom.
He is going to take out Solozzo in the next few minutes.
He comes back to the table and sits in the table. The camera zooms to Al Pacino’s face.
Solozzo continues to chat with Al Pacino.
Al Pacino is listening to what Solozzo is saying.
But he is also listening to something else.
The sound of an approaching train.
He waits for the train to make the crossing near the restaurant where they are dining.
And when the sound of the the crossing train is at the max, he shoots Solozzo.
A brilliant piece of scene staging by the director.
And an amazing performance by Al Pacino. He simply keeps his head titled (to show that he is forcing his ear to listen to the train sound) and he moves his eyes to express what’s going on in his mind.
You need to watch this scene to fully appreciate this.
The train sound is also played out to us in the background when Al Pacino comes out of the bathroom – thats when the character “Michael Corleone” had listen to the approaching train sound. And decided that another train must pass soon and will use that opportunity to make the kill.
I noticed this during the movie (thanks to my friend who pointed it out). Something that I had never noticed in so many times I had watched before.
I am truly grateful for this once in a lifetime opportunity of watching this masterpiece in theatre.
And now I am greedy – I want the part 2 to be re-release again. For me, personally, part 2 is still the best in the trilogy.
ps: Of course, I and my friend were discussing and comparing how Kamal and Mani had got inspired and used many techniques in Nayagan. Kamal’s hairstyle, the expression in the eyes, the calmness are all direct lift-off from Al Pacino.
And of course, the opening scene where “Bonasera” describes about the cruelty his daughter faced is a direct life-off and played by A.R.S (the DGP) in Nayagan 🙂
This movie made me come back to the theatres like never before. I don’t think I have done this for any other movie.
The production quality of this movie is right at the top. It’s probably the best produced movie by Hollywood this year.
When I saw the trailer of the movie a few months ago, I had told my friend (and movie buddy) that this one is a theatre watch and we had to watch it in IMAX. But what I didn’t realize back then was that I would end up watching it a number of times in the theatre itself.
Title Card
As they Tamil saying goes “Oru paanai sothukku oru soru padam” (You may know by a handful the whole) – when I saw the title card it clearly conveyed what you can expect from the rest of 2+ hours of movie. A complete high quality production that’s truly authentic and feels absolutely as real as possible.
Here’s the title card scene:
It’s very likely that this movie will win an Oscar for Cinematography.
Let’s just look at the shot that shows the circuit. A drone shot that shows the circuit from far off. And the drone slowly moves closer to the circuit. And you don’t see the car until very late. You start hearing the sound of the car doing laps. And suddenly the car appears.
And we all know how fast F1 cars are. During the shot the car was probably doing 180-200 mph.
As the car appears out of nowhere all of a sudden, the drone shot seamlessly transitions to a high speed shot where the camera is seamlessly tracking the speed at which the car is going.
I don’t know how they got this idea and executed it – it’s probably a combination of multiple shots and some brilliant editing. But as an audience I simply felt wow at this moment itself.
Timestamp 1:29 in the video – the pan shot. This was so amazing to watch in the big screen. How the camera seamlessly pans from the front view to the rear view. This pan shot was used a few times in the whole movie and it used to appear all of a sudden during tense moments in the race showing both the driver’s perspective (front) and the driver’s reaction (focusing in the face of Brad Pitt).
What blew my mind about the cinematography was this – you obviously have to shoot the film in 4K and for IMAX which requires pretty heavy camera rigs. And an F1 car is the complete opposite of “heavy”. There is no way you could mount heavy camera rigs to shoot all those perspectives from the car. And it clearly showed that they had mounted cameras on the car to give us those perspectives.
Here’s behind the scenes video where the team talks about developing custom cameras in collaboration with Sony to bring out those awesome shots.
The Score
What an amazing score by Hans Zimmer!! The main theme that was played in the Title Card is so captivating. This main theme is played again after the end credits roll – you need to wait out for about 2-3 minutes for the theme to play again. Every time I saw this movie, I made sure I stayed for the end credits and heard the theme once again in the theatre’s sound system.
It’s kind of dangerous to play this theme in your car while you are driving – you literally feel like Sonny Hayes and might start racing on the road 🙂
Similarly the score during the final lap where Sonny Hayes feels “flying”, the score that comes right after he wins the race and the team starts celebrating took the movie to a different level.
To me, Interstellar is the best work of Hans Zimmer. This comes next.
Real IMAX Experience
When I saw the movie in IMAX in Chennai, I wished if I had the chance to see it in IMAX in the US. The IMAX that we have in India (except the Prasad labs one in Hyderabad) all have screens that have rectangular aspect ratio. This is very different from the proper IMAX theatres where the screen is more square-ish and seating arrangements are different with more vertical seats (where your knees are literally right above the head of the person sitting in front of you).
Those proper IMAX theatres are built for IMAX from the grounds up and they give a much better experience.
Every time I come to the US, the first thing that I look for is if there is a proper IMAX theatre nearby and if some great movie is being played (my unfulfilled wish so far is watching Interstellar in a 70mm film proper IMAX).
As luck would have had it, I was in the US last week and had some time over the weekend. And I saw F1 was being played at a proper IMAX near to my cousin’s place where I was staying.
I and my nephew went to watch it in IMAX. My nephew is about 17 years old, he had seen already once and wanted to see it once more in IMAX – such is the impact this movie has had on people 🙂
When compared to the IMAX we have in India, the screen didn’t make much of a difference. But the sound quality was definitely a few notches up. We managed to get seats in the absolute center of the theatre to get the perfect sound experience. The main difference is the clarity of the sound where you are able to hear even the slightest of the sounds. It totally was worth it!!
What about the movie? The plot?
It’s a standard commercial movie plot. You literally know how the movie is going to end – that Sonny Hayes will win the race. It was also a giant commercial for Apple products (white themed interiors and suits, visibly placed Apple Mac Studio, Apple Monitors and what not) and Expensify, T-mobile, etc…
But despite that, it’s a movie that will make you watch it a few times – for the sheer production quality. How real it felt on screen is something that can be experienced only in theatres.
A month and half later, as I walked into a theatre in Chennai yesterday, the movie is still being played and people are still watching it.
If the movie is still running in a theatre near you and you haven’t watched it yet – go and watch it. An IMAX preferably. You will absolutely be blown away!
ps: I haven’t been following F1 since 2004. 7-8 seconds pit stops were considered perfection back then. I couldn’t believe that they have got it down to 2.5 seconds these days. While reading out pit stops, found this amazing video that explains the precision and engineering behind those 2.5 seconds pit stops – in slow motion. Do give it a watch if you are interested!
For all of my previous posts, I was able to start writing in the get go. But somehow I have been sitting on this post for more than two days without even writing a single word. I kept thinking “How do I start this post?”, “Where does one start when they have to write about SPB?”.
And I was wondering why it is so difficult. Why don’t I just start writing what I feel?
Only then I realized SPB was that. He is a feeling. He is an emotion. While we can express most of our feelings in words, some feelings cannot be described in words. And SPB is that. And that’s why millions of people just mourn this loss within themselves; in silence.
In part, the reason why SPB is an emotion to us is because he emoted so well in his songs. He would sing “Adae nanba unnai velvaen” in Vetri Nitchayam with so much power that we felt Annamalai’s pain within ourselves. And when he sings “Kannirendil naan dhaan Kaadhalenum Kottai, Katti vaithu paarthaen athanaiyum ottai” in “Unna Nenachae” (Aboorva Sagotharargal), we cried along with Appu (for his and our love failures!).
While Kamal Haasan emoted so well on screen, I would argue that SPB was emoting equally through his songs – just that the medium is different.
Any careful listener of SPB’s songs would appreciate the variety of emotions that he brings to his songs. And he would do those so effortlessly without messing up with the ragam, the words and its meanings.
But I was surprised at the variety that he brings to just one emotion – laughter. Instead of me trying to describe it in words, it’s best you listen and understand what I mean. Here’s a small compilation of the different types of “laughs” that SPB has performed in his songs. In some cases, you may miss it if you aren’t listening careful enough – so I have called out right at the moment he emotes. And you will also see (or rather listen :)) SPB performing 5 different variety of laughs in a single song.
Without any further due, here you go. I would recommend you use a headphones. Otherwise you may miss those magical touches.
And that’s why SPB is an emotion to us!!! I somehow don’t feel that SPB has passed away. For, an emotion dies only when the person who feels it dies. So, until I die, you will always live within me sir!
Aan Paavam is one of my all time favorite movies. It’s one of the greatest entertaining film with a very simple narrative. This is the debut for Pandiarajan as an actor and I didn’t realize for a very long time that he was the director too (his second film after Kanni Rasi).
Apart from the many comic scenes (brilliant Janakaraj, VK Ramaswamy and Kollangudi Karuppayee ) for which I keep going back to this movie, there is yet another main reason. Yes, the background score of Ilayaraja for this movie.
While this movie is appreciated for all the entertainment it provides, Ilayaraja provided a great background score for this movie (and of course the famous Kaadhal Kasukkudhayya song).
Here’s the specific score that has stayed with me ever since I heard it for the first time when I was around 15/16 years (when I saw the movie for the first time).
The Situation
Pandiyan and Seetha like each other as part of the “Pon Paakum episode“. However, the broker says Pandiyan is not the “Mapillai” he had recommended to Seetha’s father and there is a mix up. Despite Pandiyan’s attempt to meet Seetha and convince her, Seetha says she will marry only the person her parents choose. Pandiyan gives an ultimatum – “I will wait at the riverside tomorrow morning. If you don’t come to meet me, I will not bother you anymore”
Overnight Seetha’s parents talk that they also like Pandiyan and Seetha’s father will meet Pandiyan’s father next day to proceed with the wedding.
The next 5 minutes or so is an absolute masterpiece to watch. Its a great screenplay and Ilayaraja elevates it to a different level altogether.
I have broken it down into 4 parts. And these 4 parts have distinct emotions to it. Ilayaraja uses just two compositions for these 4 parts. The best part is, both the compositions are used in a contrasting way to convey exactly opposite emotions.
Part 1 – The feeling of love
After Seetha’s parents agree to talk to Pandiyan’s parents, Seetha fondly recollects the encounters with Pandiyan. Her love for Pandiyan is expressed through simple shots. She is enjoying the night anticipating her meetig with Pandiyan the next day at the riverside. She even has a “Marudhani” in her feet 🙂
Ilayaraja brings out a brilliant composition with just a flute, a bass guitar and a beat. Here you go:
Part 2 – The Joyous Passage of Time
The scene transitions into a joyous passage of time. The overnight wait and Seetha happily getting ready in the morning.
A “Veena” is all that Ilayaraja needed to compose a score for this:
Part 3 – The Painful Wait
Just as Seetha was about to step out of her house to go to the riverside, her mother forces Seetha to help her out. Seetha is frustrated. Pandiyan has arrived at the riverside.
Ilayarja uses the same composition that he used for the previous scene. With just one addition – the sound of a clock ticking. And it just works well for the painful wait that Seetha and Pandiyan are going through.
Part 4 – The Final Joy and Sorrow
Seetha finally gets relieved. She is running like crazy so that she meets Pandiyan on time. Just as Seetha arrives at the spot, Pandiyan is walking away in the distance.
As Seetha finds out Pandiyan walking away, Ilayaraja uses the same composition that was used in Part 1 to convey the sadness.
In Part 1, the composition was made up of flute and it conveyed the love and the happiness that Seetha felt (anticipating her meeting the next day). In Part 4, the same composition is now made up of voilins and it conveys the sadness and the sorrow of the situation.
Bonus: The Magical Timing
If you didn’t notice in the above clip, just watch again at 0:30 seconds. That’s when the audience is revealed that Pandiyan has actually left. The camera pans from right to left. The score exactly changes at that moment of camera panning from right to left 🙂
Ilayaraja would have composed the entire score in one go. Would have recorded it continously. No computers to edit the timing through software.
Here’s the entire clip in full. Watch it in its full glory to feel the magic again. 3 minutes of absolute bliss.
If you haven’t checked out yet, I highly recommend the following playlist
This was a concert conducted by Ilayaraja in Singapore in 2018. The quality of the show is simply awesome and the post production quality to bring it to youtube is even more awesome for people like me who missed watching this live.
I have now seen the videos in this playlist many number of times. Beyond the awesome performance, there were quite a few important life lessons that I learnt.
Always give your best
This was a show that badly needed S.P.B. But unfortunately Ilayaraja and SPB hadn’t made truce yet (I am glad they ironed their differences in 2019) and Mano was singing all S.P.B songs. Of course, every single person who listened to the songs live that day and on YouTube would compare the performance with S.P.B. Not just this performance, any peformance where Mano had sung a S.P.B song would attract comments like “Not even 10% of S.P.B”.
But that didn’t stop Mano from giving his best. Just listen to this portion of “Pani Vizhum Malar Vanam”. Mano perfectly imitates S.P.B’s laugh and Ilayaraja was completely surprised (his reaction and the laugh that follows is simply awesome)
I am sure Mano always knew that he would be compared with S.P.B. But that didn’t stop him from giving his best. And your Guru is surprised that you are performing to perfection – what else is required?
Staying Humble and Having Fun
Mano again. Take a look at the following and you will understand what I mean. Mano has sung well over 30,000 songs (some 2000 songs for Ilayaraja alone). Yet, he stays humble and has some fun too!! He brought an instant smile and laughter amongst Ilayaraja, other singers on stage, the audience and the foreign orchestrator!!!
Take a bow Mano!! I still like the S.P.B version of these songs any day 🙂 But as a human being you are simply awesome!!!
Perfection is always appreciated
Chinna Chinna Vanna Kuyil – the song from Mouna Ragam. This song was recorded 30 years ago!!! But there is a specific point where Chitra finishes and couple of small beats play to perfection. Ilayaraja signals and has a small smile on his face that it all synchronized well. Take a look:
The greatest entertainer is the Music
Spend next 7 minutes of your life listening to the following. It is very likely that you will play this multiple times and spend more than 7 minutes. There was just so many happening in this performance:
Right from the beginning, everyone who is singing is absolutely happy to sing this song
There are multiple places in this song where the drums catch a specific nerve amongst the audience that you instantly start dancing
The drummer plays with a superb perfection that audience ask for once more (where Ilayaraja makes fun of Mano :)) and the drummer again performs to perfection!!
The song is simply timeless. The song was recorded 33 years ago!!! It’s no wonder all the middle aged people were so happy to listen to this song. But just look at the numbe of 20 something people who thoroughly enjoyed this song. It makes even a 5 year old go crazy!!!
And what a finish – I am guessing this was the last song of the concert. Everyone who had turned up that day would have left so happy!!! I wish I experienced it live
Without any further due, here are those 7 minutes of happiniess to you
I have an Ilayaraja specific bucket list. Starting to write blogs about his music was one. There are few more:
A monumental wish of digitally re-recording his popular creations (both songs and BGM so that all of us can appreciate the true depth in his compositions)
Being in his studio and watching a composition come alive
Time-travel to 80s and do point 2. Stay put in his studio and never bother to do anything else
But one of the things that I had been longing for and couldn’t somehow do it so far – watch one of his concerts live. Because I am quite aware that being in his studio is a far fetched wish – watching at least a full orchestra performance is pragmatic. And that wish came true. Yes, I managed to visit the temple and get a proper darshan – at the Isai Celebrates Isai event that was organized (pretty poorly; more on that later) to celebrate his 76th birthday and raise funds for the “Cine Musicians Association”.
The orchestra
Hearing the orchestration of a song live is a completely “elevating” experience that cannot be expressed in words. The perfection with which every person of the orchestra plays to bring the composition is something that needs to be experienced in person. It’s not just the instruments, even the singers sing to the notes that’s been handed over to them (of course singers like SPB would add their touch in between). The best example of the perfection was this – one of the songs was halted in between when Ilayaraja got upset with a security guard who apparently came to the stage and disturbed the proceedings (it sounded pretty silly on Ilarayaja to me). Ilayaraja said “stop, stop” and everyone stopped playing. It got stopped at the middle of the second interlude of the song. After all the commotion got over, Ilayaraja asked to resume. That’s when I realized the magic – the entire orchestra just continued from where they paused. It was as if you hit the pause button of your music player and resume a while later.
I had a mixed feeling at that moment. I was completely floored – amazing set of professionals (both the Hungarian/Indian musicians and the singers). And I felt “nothing” as a professional. That I never had aimed for the level of perfection that these people exhibited. Exhibited live. L.I.V.E. In front of 1000s of fans. As a Software Engineer, we fret doing live demos. Like simple “Hello World” demos. We even keep a recording of the demo as a backup.
S.P.B
When I started writing this post, I wanted to keep the SPB section towards the end – like eating your favorite dish at the end. But what lingers in my memory now about the show is S.P.B. Or rather the deadly S.P.B and Ilayaraja combination. This show got S.P.B and Ilayaraja together again – after all the drama between them on the “copyright” part (watch Rajini’s way of making fun of it here). And what a difference S.P.B makes to Ilayaraja’s compositions was right on display during the show. And here’s the breakdown:
Madai Thirandhu
The first song that S.P.B sang was the infamous Madai Thirandhu. I realized the magic of S.P.B when he sang the “Pa…Pa…Pa…PaPa” portion (listen to the original here) just after the first interlude. The first interlude itself is an amazing composition with so much of voilins, guitar and keyboard. And then S.P.B does so much modulation of his voice during the “Pa…Pa…” portion. He did that portion exactly (in fact I would even say better than the original recording) during the show. I was blown away on how at this age, he could do those modulations. And I was like “Man…we are on for a S.P.B magic tonight…”
There were couple of important emotional moments. Specifically when he sang these lines:
“காலம் கனிந்தது கதவுகள் திறந்தது
ஞானம் விளைந்தது நல்லிசை பிறந்தது
“வருங்காலம் வசந்த காலம் நாளும் மங்கலம்
இசைகென இசைகின்ற ரசிகர்கள் ராஜ்ஜியம்
எனக்கே தான்”
Definitely “காலம் கனிந்தது” for S.P.B and Ilayaraja to be back together. The lines “விரலிலும் குரலிலும் ஸ்வரங்களின் நாட்டியம்” and “இசைகென இசைகின்ற ரசிகர்கள் ராஜ்ஜியம்” are very apt for the duo. Apparently the lyrics was originally written by Manivannan (http://www.envazhi.com/manivannan-a-lyricist-too/). If so, what a “dheega dharisi” he was!!
Nilavae Vaa
This was his next one. To be honest, this didn’t create much of an impact. May be because we have listened to this song a million times and take it for granted.
Oh Butterfly!!
When S.P.B finished singing this one, I had tears in my eyes and was speechless for few moments. I think it was one of the “Oliyum Oliyum” where I heard this song first and I was may be 10-12 years back then. This song has this character of making one to be at peace the moment they listen to it. Just like one watching a Butterfly!! And if you listen closely, the second interlude really has music arranged like a Butterfly flying (watch Ilayaraja explain it here: https://youtu.be/O4s9Vbs0McU?t=56).
The magic that S.P.B performed live were these:
Listen to the start of the song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny2zQpgvWqA). He utters the word Butterfly 4 times. He starts with “Oh Butterfly! Butterfly!”. And then the third line goes “Wow! Wow!! Oh Butterfly! Butterfly!” The 3rd and 4th utterances of Butterfly has a distinct sootheness in it. He sang exactly like that on stage. Exactly!!! Some 35 years (37 to be exact) since the original was recorded
Immediately after that the song goes “அருகில் நீ வருவாயோ
உனக்காக திறந்தேன் மனதின் கதவை”. He sings the “அ” in “அருகில்” from the bottom of his voice giving it the required emotion. And its sung in a high pitch. During the live performance, I would say that he even went a higher pitch than the original. And did that completely effortless. What a sight it was!!! No matter how hard I try, its very difficult to express it in words
S.P.B and Yesudhas sang together Kattu Kuyilu Manasukulla song from Thalapathy. It was so refreshing to hear the song come alive again on stage. It was pretty emotional as well as the lyrics itself is about the friendship between the main characters in the movie. But it looked as if the song was even apt for the friendship between S.P.B and Yesudhas. In fact Yesudhas even called out saying that S.P.B is more like a younger brother even though they weren’t born to the same mother. The specific line “பாசம் வெக்க நேசம் வெக்க தோழன் உண்டு வாழவெக்க
அவனைத்தவிர உறவுக்காரன் யாரும் இங்கில்லே” was pretty emotional – in fact that portion was sung by Yesudhas and S.P.B gave a hug to Yesudhas
My respect for S.P.B has gone up manyfolds after this live show. I am now listening more carefully to all of his songs to enjoy the magical touch that be brings to the genius composition from Ilayaraja. Though Ilayaraja has certain pride about himself (which I feel has become intolerable for me), he should be thankful to almighty that he had someone like S.P.B all along with him to bring all those compositions the life it deserves.
K.J.Yesudhas
After the show I read more about Yesudhas’ career. Apparently he has sung more than 80,000 songs in a career spanning 40 years. Thats about 5 songs a day. And he slowed down towards the end of his career. I think we take Yesudhas for granted that we don’t even realize the scale of his contribution to music. There can only be one version of Harivarasanam. So much devotion by him in every song that he sang. So much that even “Maasi Maasam” sounds more divine than sensual 🙂
Unlike S.P.B, age shows up in Yesudhas’ voice. But the divinity hasn’t gone down even a bit. In fact, after he sung few songs, he was narrating incidents about the friendship with S.P.B and spoke great about the collaboration between Ilayaraja and S.P.B. He then concluded with some sloka. The whole episode felt as if some divine power came down to earth and blessed two souls.
The other side of the show
While I was happy to witness all of the above, there was tremendous frustration with the way the show was organized. The number of issues that happened that day will make me think a thousand times before I go to any other live show in the future.
Seating Issues: For the start, there was complete chaos with respect to the seating arrangement. I had got a Rs.2000 ticket. However, the event layout allowed even folks who had got 500/1000Rs ticket to be seated in the same zone. By the time (a good 1.5 hours ahead of schedule on a hot sunday evening) we reached our zone, all the good seats in the 2000Rs zone were already taken by folks who had bought 500/1000Rs ticket. Despite a few of us fighting against this, the organizers did not bother. And the police personnel as well. I wouldn’t blame the police folks. And wouldn’t blame people as well (there were no signages or volunteers to guide). It was a terrible mis-management by the organizers. And they simply didn’t want to fix it. They were just happy to take the money that day
Delayed Start: While the about seating issue was going on, the start of the show kept getting delayed. There was some lady who was supposed to be an anchor for the show and she couldn’t stand for 5 minutes on stage and keep the people’s mood going. She disappeared in the next minute. Singer Mano came and apologised and cited traffic as a reason for the singers to get delayed. As audience we were instructed by the booking portal to plan for traffic. Why can’t the singers do the same? It’s the people who pay money for the show who should plan ahead and wait for hours together in the scorching sun. By the time the show started it was delayed by 1h45mins
Terrible Nadhaswaram Filler: It appears that Ilayaraja loves Nadhaswaram and they had organized a troupe of 75 Nadhaswaram artists to start the show. As the singers were getting delayed, the Nadhswaram artists were used as a filler. The overall performance of the troupe was some 10 notch below the Nadhaswaram and Thavil one would arrange for a wedding. It was super irritating (on top of the seating issues and the delay). It was super irritating even for the lead Nadhaswaram player that he made reactions (that were telecasted in giant screens) asking his fellow players to play the instrument better. So much to a point that Mano came on stage and asked them to stop
People’s civic sense: People who were supposed to be seated behind us, started bringing chairs from the back and formed additional columns. So much that even the walking space were occupied by people. Had there been any need for evacuation, 100s of people would have just died by stampede. The heights of this was a person who brought some 5 chairs and asked someone sitting behind us to take care of those 5 chairs while he goes and brings his family. When he brought back the family, he got upset with this other person for not taking proper care of those 5 chairs
And the biggest of all issues: song selections. Except the ones I have mentioned above, and a couple more like “Hey Ram!” and “Hara Hara Mahadev!!”, the other ones were some of the unpopular songs. In a show like this, I would expect “Ilaya Nila”, “Poove Sempoove”, “Nila Adhu Vaanathu Mela”, “En Jodi Manja Kuruvi” at the minimum. To me the bar is the Singapore show that was organized last year. Hear this playlist in your best headphones and you will understand what I am talking about: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qeXeiMKRYB8&list=RDQMqFP3ojdgtXg&start_radio=1
That’s the bar. That’s the bar for a properly organized musical evening. That’s the experience the audience should get.
I just realize that if I start writing about other issues (a bright yellow light blinding the audience, unwanted/irritating fireworks after every song, 20Rs water bottle sold for 100Rs), it would warrant a blog post of its own. A modified version of Master Card Advt is what I would use to sum up:
A latest Android Smartphone. Rs. 5999/-
2GB of 4G data per day. Rs. 249/- per month
Getting value as a customer. Can’t expect
There are certain things that even MasterCard cannot buy.
One of the things that makes me extremely sad is this – the fact that digital recording, technologies like Dolby and theatres with amazing audio setups weren’t there when we had Ilayaraja music. Especially those background scores that has so much depth in them. While without Digital recording and Dolby mixing we were able to get so impacted through his background scores, imagine the level of impact those would have had on us with such a setup. I have always wondered how would it his BGMs sound if we are to completely record them today, digitally remaster the film, mix them again and watch it in theatres such as Satyam Cinemas or Jazz Cinemas in Chennai.
I recently stumbled upon a Youtube video by High Octavez where there was a live performance of the Mouna Ragam chase sequence. Here’s the video (do listen in a good quality headphones):
That was some awesome live performance of the BGM. What a depth when you re-create it today, capture the sound digitally and listen through a headphone.
I was wondering how the scene would have been in theatre if you are to mix these today. So here we go. The first one is the original – sourced through Youtube. And the second one is the same sequence mixed with the version that High Octavez live performed. If you listen to the second version, you would be able to appreciate the depth of the background score – the magic that Ilayaraja creates with all those voilins, the double base and the cello.
So, plug in your headphones and get into the wonderland of Ilayaraja. And once you finish seeing the second video, imagine for a moment watching the movie again in a theatre like Satyam, with this kind of digital recording. We would have laughed so much with all the pranks that Karthik does and when this sequence finishes in the screen, we would be in a mix of emotions – the magical writing from Mani Ratnam and an amazing score from Ilayaraja.
The original:
And the version mixed with audio from High Octavez’ recreation:
By now, I have lost count the number of times I have watched this movie. And somehow I cannot resist myself going back to watch this one whenever I get a chance. I saw this again in the theatre (thanks to Jazz Cinemas to bring this back in IMAX). When the movie was released, there were lot of discussions about how close the movie was with respect to the science of Interstellar travel. And even the scientific community went crazy about the visualization of the wormhole and the Gargantua (the black hole). Apparently Kip Thorne, the renowned Physicist provided the math and the special effects team turned that math visually.
Beyond all the science and the fiction in the movie, I went back to this movie multiple times because of how “emotional” this movie is. Towards the end of the movie, Murph (the grown up one trying to solve the equation), hugs her brother and says “Daddy’s gonna save us!!!” after looking at the data being passed through the watch given by Cooper.
To me, that was the defining moment in the movie, even though it comes towards the end of the movie. It’s that love between the daugther and the father that really makes this movie so good and so different. She has always been so connected to her father that she could feel something in that room!!! Cooper, on the other hand, always wants to go back to his kids (I think its just Murph, he doesn’t care a damn about his son :)) and has always prioritized that before everything else. Every decision that he makes in the mission (including choosing Dr.Mann’s planet which causes less time delay vs Dr.Edmunds which is closer to the black hole) is backed by some data and more importantly the urge to go back to his daughter.
There are so many such examples throughout the movie. Take for instance the scene where Cooper leaves on his car to get on to the mission without able to convince Murph enough. He lifts those clothes on the passenger side of the car to check if Murph is hiding inside (the very blanket through which Murph comes out from the hiding when they go to the undisclosed NASA location earlier).
Or the scene where Cooper comes back from Miller’s planet having wasted 23 years, plays all the video messages from his kids and starts crying – I literally cried along!!!
The scene where Cooper is trapped inside the Tesseract and goes back to the timeline of him walking out of Murph’s bedroom. Murph is showing that she deciphered the ghost saying as “Stay”. Cooper, caught behind the bookshelf, cries “Make him stay Murph”, “Dont let me leave, Murph!!!” and keeps crying helplessly. My heart was so heavy by this time and may be I cried again in the theatre!!!
What about the dialogues?
“Once you’re a parent, you’re the ghost of your children’s future.” – has such a deep connect with every parent and Cooper was literally Murph’s ghost in the bookshelf 🙂
“Love is the one thing that transcends time and space” – Amelia says this in the ship and explains how she has a connect with Dr.Edmunds who is somewhere out there and she doesn’t even know if Dr.Edmunds is alive or not. All of us have some kind of connect with people who have passed away!!! While the NASA folks in the movie explained it as a gravitational anamoly and how gravity can transcend space-time, a layman like me do not understand all these. However, how brilliant it was of Nolan to translate that into something like “Love” which all of us can instinctly understand!!!
The very scene where Cooper plays 23 years of video tapes, he is listening to updates from his son. The last message from his son goes something like “You are not listening to this. Aren’t you. All these messages are just sent into darkness“. While it just sounds fairly logical, there is this deep aspect of human lives in it. Isn’t it? How many times have we looked up the sky and spoken to lost loved ones. We do want to talk to them and be connected; only to come back in time and realize that it was just meaningless. Something that we just spoke to someone who didn’t exist anymore and was just sent into a void!!!
I love Nolan’s movies for this emotional aspect of his movies. Beyond the fiction and the larger than life aspects, almost every movie that he has made has this emotional aspect that connects so deeply with the audience. If you think of Inception, Dark Knight series, the emotional aspect runs throughout these movies. And its probaby the reason why I would consider Nolan as one of the best directors of our time. Spielberg used to do it – I cried for E.T as a kid 🙂 But in the recent times, and the times when I had the maturity to understand movies deeper, I would say Nolan does it better for me these days!!!
I would keep going back to Interstellar, Inception, Dark Knight series – I don’t think I will ever be “done” with these movies in this life. And if at all, “they”, the fifth dimension people choose me, I request them to fill the Tesseract with these movies.
The song in itself is kind of composed as a fusion. A fusion between carnatic and western depicting the situation – a couple from two different caste falling in love. The song starts off with a fusion between a vedic recital and a church coir. However, what was super interesting to me was the interlude 2 in the song.
A base Guitar is supported right from the beginning of the interlude till the end. The interlude starts off with a vocal (like sung in a coir). While the vocal is being sung, a bunch of Voilins start supporting them in the background. At around 0:16, a Veena starts playing and that’s when the fusion really starts to blend in. As the Veena continues to play, the support from the base Guitar continues bringing in the fusion. And then, two sets of Voilins take over. One in the foreground receiving ample support from a bunch of Voilins in the backround along with Cello/Double Base.
I have listened to the Veena/Guitar fusion portion and the Voilins that follow countless number of times. There is no complexity in the composition. Not like 8 layers of music that we are used to these days. A Veena and a Base Guitar. Every one of those countless times I have listened to this, it instantly a sense of aweness and some eternal connect. Something that you cannot describe. Something that I get only from Ilayaraja’s compositions.
I saw this movie may be 25 years ago and didn’t really appreciate it. Never bothered to see it again. But the movie in itself was one of the top rated Tamil movies bagging a lot of awards. And of course the album is still hugely popular. I guess “Aayiram Thamarai” and “Putham Pudhu Kalai” (which was recently reproduced digitally for “Megha”) are popular amongst fans. But “Kadhal Oviyam” still stands out to me for its beautiful composition, the fusion it brings and of course great singing by Ilayaraja and Jency.
Raghu's Ramblings 