Echoes of the Maestro – Song 41 – Aagayam Mele

Aagayam Mele is such a fun song set at the beach. The music aptly puts us in the mood. Unlike other beach songs, this one has a tinge of message. You can call it a message or just another song people sing when they’re high. K.J. Yesudas’s voice makes it even more funky! Interestingly, this film is an official remake of the Hindi Film Majboor, directed by

Echoes of the Maestro – Song 40 – Oru Maina Maina Kuruvi

While the Uzhaipaali album is itself wholesome and all the songs from this album are my absolute favorites, this song is special, especially for the absolute dance value this song has. Eventhough, though this song can be termed the cabret type of song the sheer difference in Music Illayaraja shows while a new song lead lady shows up is brilliant.

Echoes of the Maestro – Song 39 – Vizhiyiley

Some time ago, I shared a song from the movie “Bhuvana Oru Kelvikuri”. Unlike earlier movies where Thalaivar (Rajnikanth) often played villain roles and actor Sivakumar played the lead, this movie was a complete turnaround. “Bhuvana Oru Kelvikuri” also received two Filmfare awards, one for Best Tamil Film and the other for Best Tamil Director.

Echoes of the Maestro – Song 38 – Aasai Nooru vagai

Talking about the Rajni – Illayaraja combo and not talking about Aasai Nooru Vagai is a grave injustice to both. For my Generation, that is 90’s kids Kutty bhai Yuvan Shankar Raaja was the one who introduced this song through his remix in the “Kurumbu” movie.

Echoes of the Maestro – Song 37 – Katta Pulla Kutta pulla

This song is featured in Bairavi, directed by M. Baskar. If you’ve heard Themmangu Songs, then I think we can also add this song to the list. If you Google “Themmangu Songs”, most of them are from the late 80s or completely in the 90s, but this one came out in the late 70s.

Echoes of the Maestro – Song 36 – Rajathi Raja un Thanthirangal

In a recent interview (a month or two old now), Superstar Rajnikant mentioned that Illayaraja composed more superhit songs for his counterpart and friend Kamal than for him. While Rajnikant might be right, it irked me a bit. I thought I should highlight some of the superhit and hidden gems from Thalaivar’s movie albums.

Echoes of the Maestro – Song 35 – Oru Kaadhal Devathai

Saindhadamma Saaindhaadu is the 5th movie of Devaraj – Mohan and Illayaraja combo and Sivakumar played the lead in this movie as well. Oru Kaadhal Devathai stars with melodious music and then pivot to a different genre altogether.

Echoes of the Maestro – Song 33 – Peigala Nambadhey

Peigala Nambadhey is a unique song, especially the Preludes, and I’ll come back to that later. The plot of this story was inspired by a real-life incident involving Kamal Hassan, where his domestic help attempted to kidnap his daughters for ransom. In an interview, he mentioned that most of the movie deals with his fears. Watching this film as a child deeply affected me and changed the way I see the world. Even now, I cry when I watch the scene where Kamal tries to rescue his daughter from a brothel and pleads with everyone to leave them alone.

Echoes of the Maestro – Song 32 – Pootukkal Potaalum

I’ve been rewatching some of the old Captain Vijayakanth movies for my Podcast and man what a ride. It’s like a Tamil saying “Oru Kallula Rendu Maanga” which allows me to revisit some of my childhood favorites and use them for the Newsletter and my Podcast.

Echoes of the Maestro – Song 31 – Ithuthan

The debut film of Director R.K.Selvamani, Pulan Visaranai, was also the first film for actor Sarath Kumar. This movie is based on the real-life confessions of the criminal Auto Shankar. While some of the dialogue in the movie didn’t age well, the song was a lot of fun to listen to, especially Raja appa enjoyed singing it himself. Oh! Do watch the Video song and Kuyili’s