God is in the Smile of a Child! God is in One's Intellect Developed by Reading! God is in the Philanthropic Efforts of Individuals!

God is in the Smile of a Child! God is in the Intellect Developed by Reading Good Books! God is in the Philanthropic Efforts of Individuals and in the True Joy One Gets by Playing a Role in the Development and Upliftment of the Underprivileged! This is a rough translation of a few words from this wonderful song!  Contrary to the popular belief that this song was written by Kannadasan this is a hit song written by Vaali. Vaali has written more than 15000 songs in a career spanning over 5 decades. He was able to adapt himself to the changing trends in the movie industry. He has written some of the most popular hits of MGR. This is a rare hit song written by Vaali for Sivaji. Music by MSV and sung by TMS. This song is from the movie Babu released in the year 1972 and had not done too well at the box office. This song features a young Sridevi with the legendary Sivaji Ganesan. The likes of Sridevi and Kamal Hassan had literally grown up amongst the greats and the legends of the Tamil Movie Industry. No wonder they are such good actors!

One Composer, Four Languages, 40 Years, 600 Movies! Endless Flow of Everlasting and Sublimely Divine Music!

K V Mahadevan was born in a small town in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu in the year 1918. He made his entry into the world of Films at the age of 24 with the movie Manonmani. A simple background and a humble beginning was not a constraint for this gifted composer for he went on to achieve a truly Legendary status as a Music Composer with a cult following during his life time. He was known for his Classical Music based compositions ingeniously crafted to reach the common man. He teamed up with the great director A P Nagarajan and created some of the best songs Tamil Cinema has ever seen. Apart from having composed music for several mythological blockbusters such as Thiruvilayadal, Kandan Karunai, Thiruvarutchelvar and Saraswathi Sabatham he was equally successful in creating music for social dramas that were blockbusters such as Thillaanaa Mohanambal, Vietnam Veedu, Vasantha Maaligai, well the list is endless as mentioned in the title of this post. He won two National Awards, one for Kandan Karunai and the other for the Super Hit Telugu Film Sankarabharanm. He made SPB sing for MGR for the first time in Adimai Penn. A single post is not enough to pay tribute to the Legendary Music Composer K V Mahadevan. This song from Kandan Karunai is a classic example of his ability to work with varied singers with original voices and his gift in bringing out the best in them. Singer and actor S Varalakshmi. Lyrics by the Legend of Tamil Stage and Drama Sankaradas Swamigal.

First Part of the Song is 400 Years Old! The Final Part is 300 Years Old! Masterfully Blended with Contemporary Lyrics! Divine Music! Magical Song!

This is a divinely magical song from the movie Aadhi Paraasakthi written masterfully by Kannadasan, composed by the legendary music director K V Mahadevan and sung by the inimitable TMS. PBS the famous singer paying his tributes to Kannadasan had referred to him as having been the most well read person he had ever met. He said Kannadasan is not someone who has merely read several books but he is someone who has acquired and assimilated the knowledge from several libraries. This song is a best example of this fact and showcases Kannadasan's genius. This song begins with a bit from Abhirami Anthathi (Maniye Maniyin..) from 400 years ago written by the ardent devotee of Goddess Shakthi Abhirami Pattar. The last bit of the song is from 300 years ago taken from Kutraala Kuravanji (Sengaiyil Vandu..) written by Thirikooda Rasappa Kavirayar an ardent devotee of Kutraala Naathar in Kuttraalam. The rest of the lyrics have been written to fit this particular scene in this movie and ingeniously blended with these two bits from classical literature by the legendary genius Kannadasan! K V Mahadevan for his part has injected energy into these divinely crafted lyrics and brought them to life in a scintillating fashion through his magical music.  M V Subbaiah has played the role of Abhirami Pattar originally known as Subramaniya Iyer. In this particular context, using the clichéd expression, M V Subbaiah has literraly lived in the character and not just acted out the role, is surely not an exaggeration and befits the occasion!  This song is a scene depicting a real life incident in the life of Subramaniya Iyer also known as Abhirami Pattar. M V Subbaiah's portrayal of this historical character is ample proof of his supreme talent for bringing to life some of the most powerful legends that history has ever witnessed! What an amazing amalgamation of wonderful talent! End result is a magical song that is a timeless classic!

Five National Awards! Three Nandi Awards! One Film Fare Award! From a Humble Corporate Job to The Greatest Character Actor of South India!

S V Ranga Rao, one of the greatest actors of Tamil and Telugu Cinema has acted in 100s of movies during an acting career spread over three decades. He brought to life some of the greatest characters in our epics and puraanaas through his majestic on screen performance and presence. He was a contemporary of some of the greatest actors of Tamil Cinema but he carved a special place for himself in the Tamil Movie industry through his numerous brilliant performances. He started his career with the TATA group as a budget assistant and came into the movie industry through his appearance in a Telugu movie in the year 1950. And then he went on to do extremely well in his acting career through his exemplary performances in several Tamil and Telugu movies. He became a director during the later stages of his career and got two Nandi Awards as the best director. This song is from the cult classic hit movie Maya Bazaar, a 1957 Indian bilingual epic fantasy film directed by Kadiri Venkata Reddy. It was produced by B. Nagi Reddy and Aluri Chakrapani under their banner, Vijaya Vauhini Studios. The film was shot in both Telugu and Tamil with the same title, but with a few differences in the cast. S V Ranga Rao played and brought to life the lead role of Katothkajan, son of Bheemaa. This song is again a cult classic hit and was written by Thanjai Ramaiah Dass and was sung by Tiruchi Loganathan. Music was composed by the singer music director Ghantasala. Enjoy the song!

The Unknown Side of Mohan Sharma! An Actor Producer Who is Much More Than Actress Lakshmi's Ex-Husband!

Mohan Sharma (Actress Lakshmi's Ex-Husband) was born in Tattamangalam, a sleepy village near Coimbatore. Mohan Sharma had his formative education in Tattamangalam and Chittur. Mohan Sharma served in the panel of examiners in Anna University for about 10 years. He is a polyglot who can read, write and speak in 4 languages namely Tamil, Malayalam, English and Hindi. Being an ardent fan of vegetarian food, cooking Palghat cuisine remains his passion. He is the first South Indian Actor to have graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India, Pune, and to have made a mark in the South Indian Film and Television Industry as a leading Actor. During a career spanning almost 40 years, he has acted in over 150 films in leading and supporting roles in all South Indian Languages. He has produced 15 films in Tamil, Telegu, Malayalam and Kannada and is probably the only successful actor/producer to have produced films in all major South Indian Languages.This rare song is from the movie "Nadagame Ulagam". V Kumar has composed the music for this movie directed by Krishnan Panju. This song sung by SPB and Vani Jayaram features K R Vijaya and Mohan Sharma. This song was very popular on Vivid Bharati in the late 70's and early 80's. Despite the existence of a huge number of 24 hours music channels these days, many songs such as this one are rarely ever seen on television! Enjoy the song!

Tamil Movie Industry's True Gentleman, People's Artist and Popular Super Star! James Bond of South India!

Jaishankar was known as the James Bond of South India primarily because of his portrayal of the character CID Shankar in the movie of the same name and in the movie Vallavan Oruvan. In the 60s, an era that was dominated by MGR and Sivaji along with Gemini, Jaishankar managed to create a niche for himself and had his own group of ardent fans and the fan following continues to this day going by the number of positive comments on YouTube. He was loved by everyone in the Tamil Movie Industry as a person known for his kindness and compassion - A true gentleman! He was also know as People's Artist (Makkal Kalaingar). Action movies as a genre was rare in those days. Jaishankar was a pioneer in the sense that he was the first true action hero of the Tamil Movie Industry. He had a flair for comedy too as showcased by such movies as Bommalaattam, Aayiram Poi, etc. This song is from the movie Vallavan Oruvan that features Jaishankar and L Vijayalakshmi. The Plot of the movie is as follows: On an investigation regarding arson crimes, a C.I.D officer is shot dead. C.I.D Shankar(Jaishankar) is brought into the investigation of the death of his colleague. He quickly unravels the mystery behind his colleague's death and the mastermind behind the incendiary crimes. C.I.D Shankar's efforts to wipe out these miscreants and arrest them is the rest of the story. This film is loosely based on the 1964 classic French movie Banco à Bangkok pour OSS 117 and some scenes were based on 1962 James Bond Movie and Sean Connery starrer, 'From Russia with Love' and Dr. No with a few songs and romantic interludes. This film was a box office hit and earned Jaishankar a nickname Thenagathu (South Indian) James Bond. Due to the success of this movie, a sequel was made by the name CID Shankar in 1970. An interesting tidbit is that the heroine of this movie L Vijayalakshmi went on to become the Finance Director of a leading University in the USA, Virginia Polytechnic Institute in her later life! This song was written by Kannadasan and music was composed by Vedha.