The First Illusion of Moonlight in Indian Cinema! - Super Hit Movie from 1957

This song is from the super hit movie Maya Bazaar released in the year 1957 simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu. The movie ran for 100 days in 24 theatres and eventually became a Silver Jubilee hit hitting the 25 weeks mark. The movie had stellar performances by its entire cast notable among them being S V Raga Rao as Kadothgajan, Gemini as Abhimanyu, NTR as Krishna, M N Nambiar as Sakuni, Savithri as Vathsala and Thangavelu as Lakana Kumaran. The story is an adaptation of the Telugu folk tale 'Sasirekha Parinayam' based on Mahabaratha. The story's one-liner is as follows - Krishna and Kadothgaja plot and work together to unite Abhimanyu, Arjuna and Subadhra's son with Vathsala (Sasirekha) who is the daughter of Balarama, against the wishes of the Kauravas and Balarama. It seems NTR had been reluctant initially to play the role of Krishna! But we know what happened after that and how NTR etched himself eternally into the minds of the South Indian Cine Audience as the living image of Krishna!  This particular song is apparently the first film sequence to have shown the Illusion of Moonlight in Indian Cinema and was shot by the famous Anglo-Indian Cinematographer Marcus Bartley who has several hit movies to his credit. The songs of this movie were written by Thanjai Ramaiah Dass and music was composed by Ghantasala. Enjoy this song and the illusion of moonlight filmed so beautifully with the limited facilities available those days.

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!

Correlation Between Intelligence and Success, Wealth and Compassion, Love and Marriage, Dreams and Reality - All in Just One Song!

Is there any correlation between intelligence and success? If at all there is a correlation, according to the lyrics of this song of Kannadasan from the movie Annai, there is an inversely proportional correlation rather than a direct relationship! The song goes on to establish a similar inverse proportion between various other aspects of life's realities that we face in our day to day living and societal experiences.  Kannadasan's phenomenal success is due to his gift and ability to present simple and subtle niceties of life on the one end and on the other end of the spectrum the harsh and painful realities of life, with equal clarity using a clever arrangement of tastefully poetic words without compromising the greatness of Tamil Poetry's Classical Grammar! While we are with this song it makes sense to discuss a bit about what success really is. Is success money? Is success good relationships? Is success good health and fitness or as Martin Seligman says is it Good Character? All the above aspects (except health) which we assume to be elements of success are basically components related to physical pleasure and our perceptions of externally oriented societal interactions. The truth is every human being wants to be happy! But none of the above can make you happy. The richest person can be unhappy! A person surrounded by friends and relations can be unhappy. The person with best fitness, health and character can be unhappy. So the most successful person is one who can be truly happy in spite of and irrespective of all these components of life! There is a saying, 'An artist is never poor'. The logic behind this saying is that the constant creative process the artist experiences is so rich that he doesn't need other things to be happy! So live a rich and creative life! Be Happy! Thereby Be Successful! You don't have to prove anything to anyone! It's your life! As Shakespeare says, Live it "As You Like It"! Enjoy this song from the movie Annai, sung by the great Chandrababu (A Deserved Separate Post about Him Will Follow Soon), written by Kannadasan and Composed by R Sudharsanam.

Two Great Legends of Comedy Together in a Comical Song from a Super Hit Movie with Award Winning Performances!

Two great legends of Comedy Chandrababu and Nagesh have featured in this rare appearance together in this comical song from the super hit movie Annai released in the year 1962. The movie was based on a Bengali Play and film which was in turn based on the 1938 Hollywood movie 'The Old Maid' which had been a turning point in the career of one of the most acclaimed actresses of Hollywood, Bette Davis. Both Chandrababu and Nagesh were great legends and had their own rightful place in the history of Tamil Cinema. Both actors had somewhat similar personal lives filled with sorrow due to personal and financial problems. Both were great friends of Sivaji and had acted in several movies with him. Though Chandrababu had acted in a few movies with MGR during the early stages of his career, it was Nagesh who had been MGR's favourite and Nagesh had virtually been part of almost all MGR movies during the 1960s and a few during the 70s. The movie Annai saw Chandrababu and Nagesh working together in this comical song, though Nagesh had just played a small cameo in the movie. Apparently Bhanumathi had been reluctant to play the role initially since the original character in the Bengali Play and the Hollywood movie had had a negative undertone to it. When AV Meiappan and the directors Krishnan Panchu had made suitable changes to the Tamil adaptation, Bhanumathi had accepted to play the role and she eventually ended up receiving the President's award for this movie. Incidentally her co-star S V Rangarao had also received the President's award for his performance in the movie. The music for the movie had been composed by R Sudharsanam and lyrics were written by both Kannadasan and Koththamangalam Subbu. This particular song was written by Koththamangalam Subbu. The song was sung by TMS, A L Raghavan and L R Easwari.

The Greatest Legend of Tamil Cinema! A Life Characterized by Phenomenal Success and an Endless List of Episodes of his Compassion and Kindness!

MGR is undoubtedly the greatest Legend of Tamil Cinema! On the occasion of his 100th birthday this song serves as a true tribute to him and his legendary kindness, compassion and amazing philanthropy. His life and career in the Tamil Movie industry is filled with phenomenal successes and in equal measure if not more, of episodes of his kindness in which he has helped innumerable individuals both from with in and outside the Tamil Film Industry. Every single person who has talked about him during various interviews has narrated at least one unique incident of  his kindness and big hearted nature with out fail. From legends such as Nagesh to Ranga Rao to the lyricist Muthulingam who has written just a few songs in comparison to the other great lyricists, there is no end to the list of people all of whom MGR has helped financially. His act of kindness in which he had helped Ranga Rao is similar to Lord Krishna having helped Kusela! Apparently Ranga Rao who had been facing financial difficulties during the later part of his career was finding it difficult to conduct his daughter's wedding. Though Ranga Rao had not been in good terms with MGR during that period, based on the advice of his friends he had visited MGR's residence, with an intent to ask MGR for his help. But due to his hesitancy because of his strained relation ship with MGR and fearing that MGR might turn down his request for help, Ranga Rao had returned home with out asking for help. But MGR being the great human being he was (is) had sent the required jewels and money for the proper conduct of the wedding to Ranga Rao's house, having come to know the actual reason for Ranga Rao's visit to his residence from his associates!  MGR had helped so may individuals in need with out their having even asked for help just by sensing and understanding their needs and difficulties! Truly amazing! This song from the movie Engal Thangam was written by Vaali. In Vaali's own words, after having written the first line of this song Vaali had been toying with several words and phrases to express this great quality of MGR in the second line of the song. As a coincidence Karunanidhi who was MGR's greatest political adversary during the later stages of his career, had visited the sets of the movie and Vaali had mentioned his inability to come up with the words of a second line, which would correctly express the great philanthropic quality of MGR. It was Karunanidhi who came up instantly with the second line, 'Ethaiyum Alavindri Koduppavan', which when translated literally means, "There is no limit to the quantum of his philanthropy"! Words are not sufficient to pay tribute to this great Legend! Music by MSV and sung by TMS and P Susheela.

Birds of Several Kinds! A Movie Gone Missing Earlier! Miraculously Available to Every One Now!

This is the 'Title Song' of the movie Iruvar Ullam starring Sivaji, Saroja Devi, MR Radha, TR Ramachandran, SV Ranga Rao and others. The movie was directed by L V Prasad and was written by M Karunanidhi. Music by the Great K V Mahadevan, Sung by the Great TMS and Lyrics by the Great Kannadasan. The best clip for this song on Youtube happened to be from the beginning of the first part of the full movie upload and hence used here instead of a clip of just the song. There was a time some time back when this movie was not available anywhere and now it is miraculously available for everyone to enjoy as multiple versions on Youtube! Several actresses appear in this song along with Sivaji and the final one to appear is the famous actress Jayanthi whose debut film was in the same year Jeenu Goodu (Kannada).

Actress Par Excellence! The Female Sivaji of Tamil Cinema!

Savithri was one of the few actresses who were able to share screen space with Sivaji and match his performance and dialogue delivery along with impeccable diction on par with him. It is hard to believe that her native language and mother tongue was Telugu and not Tamil! Be it her effortless portrayal of the character of an young school teacher during her early days in Missiamma or her transformation at will into Sakthi and Saraswathi in Thiruvilayadal and Saraswathi Sabatham during the later stages in her career, what stood out was her outstanding ability to connect with the audience through her performances. Her performance in Maya Bazaar, matching and at times over shadowing the performances of S V Ranga Rao, Gemini Ganesan, M N Nambiar, Thangavelu and others confirmed her as a Legendary Actress and rightfully earning her the title Nadigayar Thilagam. Her own production and maiden directorial venture Praptham in which she paired with Sivaji in spite of having received critical acclaim did not do well at the box office. Her performance in Pasa Malar as Sivaji's sister is part of the folk lore, history and legend of Tamil Cinema. She exhibited her flair for comedy in several movies and this song is one such performance of hers in a guest role in the movie Vallavanukku Vallavan.

The Unsung Superstar of Tamil Cinema - The Other Ganesan!

Due to his iconic and supremely dominant status in the Tamil Movie industry, the first and more often, the only Ganesan whose name is at the top of every single Tamil Movie fan is that of  the truly legendary actor Sivaji Ganesan. The other Ganesan who was a contemporary of Sivaji and arguably, equally famous on and off the screen was Gemini Ganesan. Gemini had acted in more than 200 movies in a film career that spanned over a 50 years. He had acted with Sivaji in several films that were and are super hits even now. He had given multiple Golden Jubilee hits on his own with several leading directors of the industry. Be it comical roles, negative roles, supporting roles or leading roles, he had done them all brilliantly with a deceptively effortless ease. Yet he has always been the Unsung Superstar in the sense that people always talk about Sivaji and MGR as the two pillars of the Tamil Movie industry and don't give Gemini the status and respect he truly deserves! Just Tamil Songs Salutes Gemini Ganesan's achievements and acknowledges his contribution to the Tamil Movie Industry by way of posting this super hit song of his from the early 1950s.

A Super Hit Song by the Maha Kavi!

This is yet another super hit song by the Maha Kavi from the movie Kai Kodutha Theivam starring Sivaji Ganesan, Savithri, SSR, KR Vijaya, SV Ranga Rao, Pushpalatha and others. This particular song shows what a legendary visionary the great poet Maha Kavi Bharathi had been. He writes about National Integration, Interlinking of Rivers and other futuristic concepts even before independence.