Celebrating the Raja and Ratnam of Tamil Cinema

Often have we seen people who follow the footsteps of others; others who they look up to; who are their role-models. As time progresses, those people take to supporting their idols very religiously, thereby putting their weight on them even during adversities, thereby offering a simple show of support. How does one manage to win such confidence from the masses, let alone become a role model of them? They tell and we listen without batting the eyelid; they preach and we practice; last of all, they train and people who train under them become gems of their respective fields.

The film industry has always garnered huge attention from our crowd. It has the capacity and the verve to dictate how people would lead their lives, notwithstanding the entertainment that they derive out of it. In that enormous sphere of those movie makers who influence people, some have stood apart with distinction; one that is solely due to the fact that they did not follow anyone, but made their own way, with their own styles, and people just followed.

To put some perspective, let us take our people through the tunes of Maestro Ilaiyaraaja, for they would have to just lend their ears and let his music delve into their souls. If there were to be an announcement that today some TV channel is going to telecast a Mouna Ragam, Roja or Thiruda Thiruda, there would be those fervent who would want to live the experience of Mani Ratnam. When we as audience have been privileged to witness them both working shoulders together in many movies which have gone on to fare well both critically as well as commercially, they both share their birthdays today. The two being geniuses of their own fields, had the charisma to etch their names with the best of the jurists and the best boards of the world, both individually and together.

Maestro Ilaiyaraaja, fondly called by his fans as ‘Isaignani’ and ‘Ragadevan’ was born in Pannaipuram near Madurai. From composing jingles for political rallies, his interest in music propelled him to take up Carnatic classical music courses as well as Western music courses for guitar. He worked as an assistant for Kannada music director G K Venkatesh and then got his huge break in the movie Annakkili. The success of the music of this movie was that it swept the entire state of Tamil Nadu, making Annakkili was a definitive listen in all households. Thereon, the numbers and the records started tumbling. Ilaiyaraaja’s brand of Western Classical music was accepted by the masses, with which his popularity leapfrogged. He went on to work with distinguished movie makers in all South Indian languages gradually progressing to Hindi too. Even today, some of his masterpieces make a train/bus journey sweet. Radio stations still dedicate a big chunk of their time to his music. This man is one to savour, having just reached a humongous 1000 movies of music composition. The distinct quality of Ilaiyaraaja’s music is that it has something for all the kinds of listeners, amateur to professionals as well as its appeal during background scores. His rendition of the director and the script writer’s mood for the movie won his plaudits. Ilaiyaraaja is responsible for making the careers of some of India’s and world’s best singers and instrumentalists glitter; worthy examples being S. Janaki, K S Chithra, S P Balasubrahmanyam, Sivamani and last but not least, our very own Isai Puyal A R Rahman.

Mani Ratnam on the other hand, entered into the film industry as an unlikely candidate. Born in Madurai to Gopalaratnam who founded the Venus Theaters, he just came with a clear mind and without any prior experience to direct his debut movie Pallavi Anu Pallavi in Kannada. The standout here is that Mani, who was then a debutante, asked Balu Mahendra, who was already an established director and cinematographer, to handle cinematography for his movie and was successful in convincing him into it. Thereon, Mani Ratnam went on to make movies of real life depictions and emotions in all South Indian languages, thereby offering stellar chances for P C Sreeram, Santhosh Sivan, Suresh Urs, who are all now wizards of their fields. Such is the respect that Mani Ratnam adorns, that he is a respected name in Hindi Cinema too. His pragmatic approach to movies won him critical acclaim from all over India. Anjali getting a nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award stands testament to his credit as a script writer.

When Mani Ratnam made his entry with Pallavi Anu Pallavi in 1983, Ilaiyaraaja had already stamped his authority as the best music director from the South & their association was more of a spring board for Mani than it was for Raja. The fact that Mani was able to extract music of kinds & genres Ilaiyaraaja had only begun to show glimpses of his genius in; genres he had not explored deeply into, until that point with his associations with Bharathiraja & Balu Mahendra; made for a classic case of a merger that had success written all over it.

In subsequent years, news of their combination was music to the ears of fans (pun intended, of course) thanks to stunning melodies like Poo Maalaiye Thol seravaa from Pagal Nilavu, Idhayam oru Kovil, Vaanuyarndha Solayile from Idhaya Kovil. These hints notwithstanding, at this point of time too, the peaks they would ascend to in the next few years, was not known until Mouna Raagam came the next year. A very simple story of the tension a couple have to undergo because of the girl’s glorious/tragic past was told in an astounding fashion by Mani supported amply by the background music bits capturing the three themes of ‘tension’, ‘glory days’ & ‘tragedy’ scored by Ilaiyaraaja. The proof of durability of this particular partnership of the duo comes in the form of the overwhelming acknowledgement Gen-Y is giving them even today – Mouna Raagam is a trending topic on Twitter whenever Raj TV airs the film.

By this time, it was an unwritten fact that songs in Raja-Mani combines were sure to be chartbusters. They were creating a fiefdom no other combination could even think of coming close to! That is when importance to background score took over. When Mani made his localized version of The Godfather in Nayagan , Ilaiyaraaja promptly played the role Nino Rota played in the former, earning the film an entry into TIME magazine’s List of Top 100 films of all-time. This trend continued with Agninatchathiram (who can forget the brilliant songs & the pulsating and contrasting scores given for the wonderfully sketched poles-apart characters of Prabhu & Karthik), Chathriyan (the training scene is cult, desi version of Rocky if I have the liberty for making that comparison). Next was Anjali, a film on a subject not often dealt with – Special Children & the then budding concept of societies system of living and how that conditioned people . The film offered ample scope for experimentation & the duo came out with products worth patenting! The songs are as fresh today as they were when composed! The final chapter of the partnership was Thalabathy, where again, the screenplay had two themes tangled – one on relationships & the other on brutal violence. The sounds had to be apt & apt they were! Some of the songs from the film are among the best on the all-time lists of any music fan. The song that deserves a mention at this point is Putham pudhu poo poothadho because it doesn’t feature in the film. So, if you are reading this piece and haven’t listened to it, go do it right away. The rest of the article can wait!

An old adage goes ‘All great things have to come to an end’. In what seemed like an obscure fashion, the duo decided to shake hands, shrug shoulders and go their own separate ways. Looking back, it is not obscure at all. They needed change. For Raja – the springboard for the talented- there were more directors queuing up to make use of him. Mani Ratnam continued extracting stirring music by narrating stories that were inspiring, to a certain young man who used to play keyboard for Raja years ago, whose wizardry has now gone on to conquer the entire music loving world! More on Isai Puyal in another piece. For now, birthday wishes to the members of the single biggest partnership that has blessed Tamil Cinema with class. Happy Birthday Raja, Happy Birthday Ratnam. Our best wishes.

Column written by Sriram.V & Sivaram.L