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Echoes of the Maestro – Song 85 – Manasa Sirasa
A beautiful Western and Carnatic fusion from Illayaraja for this Telugu film
Realities Around Us
A beautiful Western and Carnatic fusion from Illayaraja for this Telugu film
A perfect Midnight Illayaraja playlist song
Abhilasha is the first combination of Illayaraja and Chiranjeevi. This movie is based on a novel by the same name by legendary Telugu writer Yendamuri Veerendranath, exploring the theme of capital punishment. The novel seems to have taken inspiration from Two American films The Man Who Dared (1946) and Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956).
Okay, this is one of those Malayalam songs that became a trend across the globe and never in my wildest dreams I thought it was composed by Raaja himself. I mean I understand old Tamil compositions finding their way to the New generation and becoming a hit but this is a surprise for me and I’m glad that it was composed by Raaja.
Geetha (1981) film by Shankar Nag has a popular song album I guess as mentioned in my previous posts many songs from this album has been reused by Illayaraja himself for other languages (mostly Tamil though). Despite him reusing the original tunes he changed the base and we saw the difference in Kelade Nimageega and Devadhai Ilam Devi
I was shocked to learn that Devadhai Ilam Devi from Aayiram Nilave Vaa movie was actually from the Kannada song Kelade Nimageega and the use of the songs in these two films is completely different while the Tamil version is more of a Ghost song and the Kannada original is a love song and all these
Aalolam is your 80’s Malayalam family drama which is a commentary on the decaying Village life directed by M. Mohan. Veene Veene is such a poignant song that shows the Mother’s love for her unborn child and possibly a song that would put the child to sleep. As usual, Janaki Amma brings life to this song with her rendition and Illayaraja takes it up a notch in the emotion through his music.
Yarigaagi Ee Aata is from the Kannada movie Bhaari Bharjari Bete, directed by Rajendra Singh Babu, which is a Western Action film. This song is set in Puriya Dhanashree, a Hindustani raga. In one of the interviews, Illayaraja mentioned that the song demanded Cabret-style music, but he didn’t want to be predictable. He gave the song a choppy and modern beat, and it was said to be unconventional in its sensibility.
Thumbi Vaa is yet another popular song that became so popular and loved by Balu Mahendra that he used the tune in his Hindi film Auk Ek Prem Kahani, and his Telugu film Nireekshana. Director Balki re-used the song in his Hindi film Paa. I’ll add all the different variations of the song. It is such a beautiful song that I love Janaki Amma’s version even though Sangathil Paadadha Kavidhai is the version I first listened to.
Choosing to explore Illayaraja songs from different languages and not writing about Jotheyali will be the biggest sins. One of the popular songs that was loved across languages and remade in Tamil and Hindi as far as I know but not sure about other languages. I’ll loop in all the versions for you to enjoy this beautiful song.