Ragini n Rohini

Don’t get confused that I’m gonna write a post on Chennai Theatres. It’s all about Raavanan.

Everyone would have come to know that Raavan character’s name is Beera in Hindi (Abhishek) and Veera in Tamil (Vikram). Aishwarya Rai’s name in Raavan & Raavanan is Ragini. Ram charcter’s name is Dev in Hindi (Vikram) and Deva (Prithvi Raj). Mammooty’s name in Dhalapathy too was Deva.

It was rumoured that Aishwarya Rajnikanth would dub for Ash in both Raavanan and Endhiran. later it was said that Ash would dub in her own voice in Tamil too. I was so anxious to hear Ash’s Tamil. But in the trailer, it’s none other than the husky voice expert Actress Rohini. (Mani is obsessed with husky voices talking in a very low pitch). She’s one actress with a good voice like Saritha. She’s aasthaana dubbing artiste for Actress Heera. Today I watched Kadhal Koattai in KTV. I couldn’t see Heera but I could think of Rohini only. Even in Vettaiyadu Vilaiyadu, it’s Jyothika’s performance that made me watch her else Rohini would have dominated. Hers is so special voice. Her voice is same since she started her film career as a child artiste. We can identify her voice so easily. Normally she speaks in a mild tone with a huskiness. In Balu Mahendra’s Marupadiyum she rendered a brilliant performance as a schizophrenic with yelling voice. Magalir Mattum too was a completely different performance. Unfortunately she couldn’t become a successful heroine but still she’s a popular dubbing artiste.

Interestingly, Rohini was paired with Vikram in his debut movie Thandhuvitten Ennai, (sema mokkai movie) directed by legendary director Sridhar. It’s been 2 decades back.

 

Mouna Raagam – Vikatan’s Review

When Raavan/Raavanan is the talk of the Town, I’m penning down my views on Mani Ratnam’s one of the most loved films Mouna Raagam. This is one of my most favourite films and so as to most of Tamilians. I would have watched this film for more than 100 times. I’ve been thinking of writing a post on this since I started my first blog in blogspot. But this week’s issue of Tamil weekly Anandda Vikatan made me write this post. Regular readers of Vikatan know that it has reserved a few pages for Old articles of Ananda Vikatan (Pokkisham Vikatan). In fact I still buy Vikatan (which has now almost become a B Grade Magazine) only for this and S.Ramakrishnan’s “Siridhu Velicham”. Mouna Raagam’s Review of Mouna Raagam was published in this week’s issue. It has got 43/100. Vikatan’s reviews were valued a lot those days which has been degraded in recent times. 40+ out of 100 in Vikatan was very rare which has become a minimum mark now. The thing that surprised me is not even a single word was mentioned about Karthik’s character (Manohar), which is like the soul of the movie. It’s the best cameo performance in Tamil Cinema till date and has been a chapter on Best Supporting Actor category in Pune Film Institute. I was a bit worried for that though it had given a rave review on Direction, Cinematography, Revathy-Mohan’s performances and Music. Music was also mentioned just like that. The background score is one of the best of Ilayaraja. I’ve never seen anyone that they wont like Mouna Ragam’s music. The Theme Music would be everyone’s favourite. If I were a reader of those time, i would have certainly written a harsh letter for this. I wonder how Actor Karthik would have reacted for this review.

Once Actor Sivakumar has mentioned in an article (Vikatanum Naanum) that his performance in performance in K.Balachander’s classic Sindhu Bhairavi as JKB was not appreciated while Suhasini and Sulakshana were appreciated for their performances. When he asked about this to Vikatan Editor, he told Sivakumar that Suhasini was a budding artist who needed an encouragement unlike Sivakumar who has already achieved in Film Industry. But Karthik was also a new actor then who needed a special mention. Let’s see whether they publish any reaction of Karthik in the next week’s issue

 

Raavanan Music

The Music of Raavanan is a big disappointment for me. Not from A.R.Rahman, but from Vairamuthu & Mani himself. As mentioned in my previous post, I don;t like the words like Kaatu sirukki, usure pogudhey, etc. But after listening to all the songs, I was totally let down. Though the songs have strong village/folkish flavour, the lyrics doesn’t suit in most of the places.

In Veera Veera, the music is dominant and hence I didn’t give much importance to its lyrics. Still Hindi Beera is better than Tamil veera

But “Usure pogudhe…” is a total let down for me. I wondered at Gulzar’s intense words with deeper meanings. Vairamuthu’s similes and metaphors try to match Gulzar’s but it doesn’t suit the music though it has the similar feel. It seems Karthik is more comfortable with the Hindi words than the unfamiliar Tamil accent used in the song. But he rocks as always.

Thok de killi is not many people’s cuppa. But I liked it at the 2nd listen. But Kodu potta didn’t impress me. Though Benny Dayal has done a good job, he can’t match Sukhwinder Singh who has loads of energy.
Vairamuthu can be felt in

The problem with dubbed/bilingual movies is that the poet’s imagination is restricted to an already composed tune and he has to adhere to the script too. Still it’s not a tough task for our Diamond pearl (Vairamithu) as he has done excellent job in several dubbed movies. The director-lyricist duo has given National Award winning Lyrics. The issue is neither the lyricist nor the director took much effort or involvement. I personally feel that Mani hasn’t given much importance to Tamil that he gave for Hindi.

To be contd…

 

Raavanan – Music Preview

Post Raavan, the audio release of Raavanan created much more hype than the former. The audio release was slated 30th April, then changed to 2nd May and finally on May 5th 2010. Due to the social service of tech savvys, the songs are uploaded a day before the official release. I’m forced to download the songs. Since I’m a die-hard fan of Mani-ARR, I want to listen to the song at the earliest. So i can’t wait till the Music hits the stores. Though I download the songs, I’m gonna buy an Audio CD tomorrow like I did for Raavan. So, as the songs are getting downloaded, I would like to write a short preview.

The track names indicate that the Lyrics will be disppointing. Since Beera Beera and Veera Veera has minimal Lyrics, I’m not much concerned about that. Behne De is my most favourite for which I expect a National Award for its Splendid Lyrics and Terrific Singing is Usuru Poguthey in Tamil. The first two words let me down. I saw it as “Moozhgida vaa..” in wikipedia a couple of weeks before. I don’t doubt Karthik, but I doubt Vairamuthu whether he would have given justice to Gulzar saab’s usage of intense words. Ranjha Ranjha is Kaattu Sirukki.  I can’t even think of these kinda words in a Mani Ratnam film. Thankfully Anuradha Shriram has crooned the Tamil version of Ranjha Ranjha. I’m looking forward to Killi Re as Shreya has sung in Tamil.  My favourite Music critic Karthik has written in his Milliblog that Shreya’s “Kalvare” is much better than Reena Bharadwaj’s Khili Re (which is so obvious) and it’s the Best in Tamil Album. Thok De Khilli is Kodu potta sung and Sukhwinder is replaced by Benny Dayal. I’m curious how the lyrics would be in Tamil. Kata Kata is keda kari which is obvious kata hua bechara bakra is kedaa kari in Tamil. In wikipedia I found 7 songs, one sung by Rashid Ali & Asha Bhonsle

Eventually, I expect folk type of Lyrics. In my opinion, the title Asokavanam which was named previously for the Tamil Version is so good and pleasant. If Bhagyaraj didn’t direct Sundara Kandam, Mani would have grabbed the name for this film. Raavanan is so rustic and so as the Music.

 

Happy B’day Sujatha

Sujatha aka Rangarajan, the one person whom I wish I had a Master Brain like him. If I get a boon, I would choose his brain in my next birth. He was one of the most versatile writers of Tamil. He could talk/write on any topic- from Sanga Ilakkiyam to Science Fiction; from Naalaayiram Dhivya Prabandham to Nanotechnology; from Physics to Politics. I have never seen such a muti-faceted personality. I just love his way of writing. Be it a Short story, or a novel, or an essay or Movie Dialogues, he has made a Mark in each and every field. He’s the mentor to most of the writers especially most of the bloggers. Miss him and his writings so badly.

Dear Sujatha, though you are not with us, we celebrate your 75th Birthday with you in the form of your words.

“Vidai perumbodhu kaala manarparappil un kaal padhivugalai vittu sel“. You have kept your words. We can just try.

P.S: It’s so sad that Ananda Vikatan didn’t publish any article (Not even his old Short Story) about this great person who had been a pillar of Vikatan.