Live Life with Conviction and Purpose. Means and Everlasting Fame Will Follow! - MGR Hits 1965

This is a hit song from the movie Panam Padaithavan starring MGR, Sowckar Janaki, K.R. Vijaya, Nagesh, T.S. Balayya, S.A. Asokan, R.S. Manohar and others released in the year 1965. The movie was produced and directed by T R Ramanna. The song features a dance sequence based on the Western Style of Ball Room dancing. The lyrics written by Vaali echoed the thoughts and ideas of MGR who always practiced in real life what he preached through his movies. If you live with purpose, respecting the words of your forefathers without forgetting the path shown by them, then that is what can be considered as being human and civilized. Live life with such strong conviction and purpose so that people will remember you and keep you in their heart and thoughts long after you are gone. This is the essence of the lyrics of this wonderful song written by Vaali. And MGR lived his life exactly based on these guiding principles and no wonder that he remains in the hearts and thoughts of millions of people even today. Tribute to MGR on the occasion of his 99th Birth Anniversary.  Nagesh's antics as a side track to the main dance actually enhances the enjoyability of the song!  Music has been composed by the great Composers (duo) Viswanathan - Ramamoorthy.

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.

Entered the Film Industry After Marriage! Actress with the Longest Career Span in the South Indian Movie Industry!

Sowcar Janaki entered the movie industry in the year 1949 at the age of 18 after she was married, in order to overcome the financial constraints faced by her family. She went on to act in nearly 400 movies in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. She was a favorite co-star of Sivaji and in her own words Sivaji had praised her acting several times during her performance on the sets. Known for her performances in melancholic roles she has also done well in negative and comic roles. It was K Balachander who had used her in comic roles in a few of his movies. Along with a few North Indian actors she has been one of the most longstanding actors of all time with a career span of almost seven decades! she was also a renowned stage artist with hundreds of stage performances to her credit. This is a song from the super hit movie Puthiya Paravai starring Sivaji, Saroja Devi, M R Radha, V K Ramasami, Nagesh, Manorama, and others along with Sowcar Janaki. The movie was directed by Dada Mirasi who had not been convinced that Sowcar Janaki was ideally suited for the character of Chithra. But after having seen Sowcar Janaki's performance in this song he was truly convinced that Sowcar Janaki was the ideal choice for this particular role. The songs for the movie were written by Kannadasan and music was composed by Viswanathan Ramamoorthi. This movie was based on a super hit British movie 'Chase a Crooked Shadow'. This song sung by P Susheela with outstanding performances by Sivaji and Sowcar Janaki, is rated as one of the most popular Tamil songs of all time. 

Hundreds of Popular Songs! Thousands of Successful Stage Shows! A Career Spanning More than Six Decades! The Unsung Singer with a Unique Voice!

A L Raghavan began his playback singing career in the year 1950 with the movie 'Vijayakumari' under the music direction of C R Subburaman. But he became popular much later with the song "Hello My Dear Raami" which he sang along with the actor/singer J P Chndrababu for the movie "Pudhayal" in the year 1957 under the music direction of Viswanathan Ramamoorthy. He has sung a song in a movie recently in the year 2014 at the ripe old age of 79! He has sung hundreds of songs as a solo singer as well as duets with all the leading Playback Singers of the 50s, 60s and 70s and for all the leading music directors. He was also very successful in conducting musical stage shows along with his popular orchestra, across the globe for over 50 years. He was the playback voice of the famous comedy actor Nagesh and has sung many songs for him in several movies. He is married to the famous actress M N Rajam. This super hit song in which he has sung playback for the superstar Gemini Ganesan is from the movie Paarthaal Pasi Theerum. The movie was a super hit and was released on Pongal Day in the year 1962. The movie had a stellar cast with Sivaji and Saroja Devi as one lead pair and Gemini and Savithri as the other lead pair. The leading pairs were supported by Sowcar Janaki, K A Thangavelu, C K Saraswathi and Kamal Hassan the child artiste in a dual role. With great performances from the entire cast and super hit songs composed by Viswananthan Ramamoorthy,  written by Kannadasan, the movie was bound to succeed at the box office, which it did in great style! The song has been sung so well by P Susheela and A L Raghavan but the fact is no one ever credits A L Raghavan with this song! The general assumption is it was sung by PBS who normally sings for Gemini! A L Raghavan is truy an underrated and unsung singer with a very unique voice!

Child Artiste to Supporting Actress, Negative Roles to Heroine - She Has Done it All! Most Prolific Supporting Actress of All time!

M N Rajam started her acting career a  child artist at the age of seven in stage plays and entered the world of movies at the age of nine in the year 1949 through the movie Nalla Thambi starring NSK and Bhanumathi. Her role as a vamp at the young age of 14, in the super hit M R Radha starrer Ratha Kanneer in the year 1954, proved to be the turning point in her Tamil Movie career. She has mentioned in several interviews that she had hesitated and had been reluctant to perform a scene in the movie in which she was supposed to kick M R Radha who was already a Super Star and senior actor then. But it was M R Radha who had given her the confidence to perform the scene and the movie had gone on to become a super hit movie. After that she had acted with all leading actors of the era, MGR, Sivaji, Gemini, SSR and others. Though she had acted in various roles it is only the negative roles which she had played in hundreds of movies that had got her a name in the industry. This particular song is from the movie Paavai Vilakku starring Sivaji Ganesan, Sowcar Janaki, Pandari Bai, Kumari Kamala along with M N Rajam in lead roles. The film was based on the popular Tamil novel "Paavai Vilakku" by Akilan. The story was known for its twists and turns and complex characters, which were brought out on screen in brilliant fashion by A.P. Nagarajan through his screenplay and by the fine performances Sivaji, Sowcar Janaki, Rajam, and Kumari Kamala and others. But the film had not done well at the box office. This song was the last song that was shot inside the famous Taj Mahal after which permission to shoot movies inside the Taj Mahal has not been given (to other movies) till date. The song was written by Maruthakasi. Music by K V Mahadevan and sung my C S Jeyaraman and P Susheela. This wonderful composition by K V Mahadevan based on Hindustani Classical music is truly a timeless classic!

Comical Song - Shallow and Materialistic Nature of Societal Relationships!

This is a comical song from the movie Edhir Neechal - 1968 starring Nagesh, Jayanthi, Sowcar Janaki, Muthuraman, Major Sundarrajan, Manorama, Sridhar, M.R.R. Vasu and others. Edhir Neechal was directed by K. Balachander  and music was composed by V. Kumar. This song was written by the versatile and evergreen lyricist Vaali. The movie depicts the materialistic nature of human beings and brings out the shallow and superficial nature of societal relationships in a humorous manner.

Comedy Song - Balachander Hits

This is a comical song from a hilarious movie Edhir Neechal, with a slightly sad undertone that has Nagesh in the lead. The movie was directed by K Balachander and Nagesh had portrayed the character of Maadhu brilliantly in this movie. This particular song features Srikanth and Sowcar Janaki. It is rare to see Sowcar Janaki in a comedy role. This is one of those rare performances by her!