56. Hrudaya Ragangalude Raja - 4

Here is Episode 5 in three parts.

55. Meeting the Maestro (REPOST)

Two years back, I had met the Maestro on this very same day. This is an old write up on those moments I had written which I am glad to share with you again.

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I was very fortunate and happy to meet Maestro recently at his residence. It was my long cherished desire to meet him in person in my life time. Lady luck finally smiled at me on 29th October 2006.

My wife and myself had been to Prasad Studios once around 2001, when Lajja scoring was going on and hence he was in Mumbai at that time. We left the place disappointed. Though I visited Chennai regularly, I didn’t have the courage to muster myself up to his studio or residence.

Finally, it happened during my visit this time. It was a Sunday evening and I was casually going out with my wife to T.Nagar for some shopping. I thought why not try out our luck today and see if it happens. If he was not at home, I thought of requesting for an appointment to see him another day.

As you all know, He stays at 38 Murugesan Street, T.Nagar. First we went to Vani Mahal to check on some drama play but due to heavy rains it was cancelled, but there was another function organized to release a book on Kannadhasan, where AVM and MSV were to be the main guests. Then I got sceptical that Raja may come there, so we may not be able to meet Him at home.

However, we took an auto and went to Murugesan Street. Landmark known to me was the Raghavendra Swamy mutt at the road corner. From there, you have to go ahead and take the 2nd right and His house was the 2nd on your right. It had a big white colour gate with some of the trees from his garden peeping outside. We reached His house around 4.30 PM and saw two security guards at the gate.

We went to them and said that we are from Muscat and wanted to see Maestro. He didn’t ask any other questions (my business card came out handy at that time). He said ‘ayya’ (they reverently call Raja by this name) is busy in a recording inside and asked us to wait near the gate. The house was silent - I thought others may be out at the moment. We saw that couple of short steps led to the main entrance which opened into a huge hall. I remember seeing a Vinayaka statue near the entrance and inside hall had a huge Tirupati Balaji picture (with golden lacing work).

The security removed his slippers and went near the hall entrance and softly called ‘ayya’. One can sense that Maestro has come out of the room to see him from the sudden change in his pose (he was almost half-bent). I heard him saying ‘some body has come from Muscat to see you’ and then ‘I don’t know’. He came back and said ayya is busy and asked us to stand there. We would have waited for 10 minutes which seemed like eternity. I felt like standing at the gates of heaven. In the mean time, couple of vehicles arrived – which were posh. Still no sign of Maestro calling us. We felt uneasy that we may be disturbing him.

Now another car came. The person was in safari suite kind of dress, asked something to security and went inside. I couldn’t recognize him and thought may be some director or His manager. He also removed his shoes and went in respectfully, after few minutes we could see him sitting in the hall sofa and the next sofa was occupied by another person of whom we could see only the edge of his hand and a bare leg – it was covered in white kurta and veshti!! You can now imagine how I would have felt at that time.

Raja would have talked to him for 5 minutes or so – we could see only his hand gestures from where we stood but not anything else. Now another big car came inside and stopped in the portico. It was Sujeya (Yuvan’s wife) and I think a small boy was also there. She was giving some instructions to the driver. Before she went in, she saw us and then asked the security who we were. The security told about us and handed my card to her. She took it and went inside.

Within few minutes, the man in safari dress came out to receive us and took us inside. He asked us to leave our footwear there. When I went in, I saw Maestro coming to me with a question in his eyes and saying ‘vaanga’. I immediately touched his feet to take his blessings and said I come from Muscat. He was very respectful to us. He showed us the sofa and we took our seats. I told him that I have been his ardent fan for the past 20 years and he just nodded with a smile. I then presented him with the gift (Mont Blanc pen) that I had taken. I just kept the box on the glass table and requested him to open and see. He smilingly asked ‘edhukku idhellam?’ (why all this?) I said ‘its just for my satisfaction, hope you will like it’. I opened the box for him and showed the pen. He saw it for few seconds with lit up eyes and nodded his head in perfect satisfaction.

I apologized to him for causing disturbance in his schedule and he just smiled at me. Now I was dumbstruck and frozen after seeing him at such close distance, my eyes were roaming all over him, drinking this great figure in jibba and veshti. I was having mixed feelings inside me like reverence, surprise, shock, ecstasy, happiness, etc and all sorts out emotions overcame me. My tongue was tied for few minutes. I kept seeing him and he kept seeing both of us.

In the meantime, he gestured to somebody and we received a glass of drinks in our hand. It was some cold orange juice. We sipped it in silence.

I tried to get back to some sense and asked him about Ajanta songs and his Hey Ram BGM album. He just smiled at me and nodded positively. Then, I told him about singer Manjari who was born and brought up in Muscat became she came to filmdom. He nodded his head in affirmation.

He asked me where I was working, how many years in Gulf, etc. I told him briefly about my family background. The choice of words were not occuring for me and I knew I was blabbering. Before going there, I had many questions in mind to ask him but nothing came to me at that instance. Also, I felt awkward to speak to him in the presence of another man whom I didn’t know. It looked like they were talking something important and we interfered.

I took out my note to request him for an autograph and I gave him my pen. After that, I asked him for a photo and he graciously agreed. My wife took out the digital camera and shot a snap. Then Maestro pointed my wife to me and the other person and said ‘avangalum nikkattum, innoru photo edunga’ (let her also join us for another photo). The safari man took the camera from me and asked how to operate the flash. My wife stood next to Maestro and the photo was taken. Now, Maestro saw the flash and asked me ‘avange eduthappo flash varalaye, innonnu venumna eduthukkalam’ (when she took there was no flash, so let us take another one). So, the safari man took another snap with only me and Raja. I immediately tried to check the camera and saw that the snap that my wife took was shaky and not come out well. I mentally thanked Maestro at that time for his presence of mind.

I asked him if I could come to one of his recordings (he nodded ok) and when would it be. He said nothing for the next few days. I said I will be in town till 10th November and would try my luck again.

We apologized to him once again for disturbing him and left from his house.

Whole of that evening, my mind was reeling from the effect of the meeting. I couldn’t believe my luck that I had seen one of the great composers in the history of music.

After a week or so, I casually went to Prasad Studios to check if any recordings were happening, but there was nothing. I just went to the back entrance of his studio (I guess this gate is used by his musicians), where there are couple of sofas and the wall is adorned with a Maestro’s photo gifted by Parthiban (isai alias raja) and two big portraits of Maestro by Maniam Selvan, which you would have seen on the covers of Venpa Malai and Gnana Ganga books. I could just look at the deserted recording hall and sigh.

I wanted to know when is the next recording scheduled to be held. I was told to contact his manager Mr Subbiah but could not find him anywhere. Some fellow tipped me to go to Kalasa recording theatre (which is nearby) where he can be found. I took an auto and went there to see him. Subbiah also said there is nothing planned and most probably after 15th November only.

Kalasa is relatively new studio and is regularly used by Yuvan, Karthik, Devi Sri Prasad and others. There were two short recordings scheduled by Karthik and Yuvan that evening. I didn’t feel interested and also had to go elsewhere, so I left the place after spending few minutes in seeing the recording console, etc.

The pen I gifted to Maestro was a theme built on his favourite composer JS Bach. It had a fountation pen with gold plated nib with Bach’s image and his signature engraved on the pen. It also had a small booklet on the composer and reprint of the original manuscript of his magnum opus Brandenburg Concerto No.5. This pen came to me few years back through some of my sources and seems to be very expensive. I am glad that I could get it, preserve it and then reach it to the right hands.

54. Hrudaya Ragangalude Raja - 3

Here is Episode 2 in 4 parts.

53. TIO Release Meeting

This is another interesting video covering the 'all Tamil MDs meet' before the release of Thiruvasakam CDs. Madhan has covered the same in Vijay TV.

52. Hrudaya Ragangalude Raja - 2

Here are the balance 2 parts of Episode 1.

51. Hrudaya Ragangalude Raja - 1

Happy Diwali to you all!

I am happy to share with you all the video recording of Hrudaya Ragangalude Raja which was telecast in Amrita TV around June 2004. Here is the 1st Episode in 2 parts. This is really a treasure and a must watch for all Maestro fans.

I have about 7 episodes with me (I missed to record 3 episodes). Further updates will be done soon.

50. A True Leader

This BGM from the movie Kamaraj is a crucial one, which establishes Kamaraj as a true King Maker at the Centre. He helps Indira Gandhi to be elected as Congress President. However, he is insulted by Indira at another stage, by kicking the ladder after she comes up. The score is minimal but poignant and patriotic, revolving around Nadu Parthadhunda song which is repeated in the movie at many places. It makes one yearn for such leaders - will those times ever come again?

49. Another Sandham as BGM

I wondered many times, how it would be to rescore his melodies with refined orchestrations / instrumentals. In one of the scenes in Aanpaavam, he has used his melody from Annakkili ‘sutha samba pacharisi kuthathan venum’ as a BGM. This comes where Revathy’s students help her father with Revathy’s marriage arrangements.

Aanpavam - Marriag...

Incidentally, this tune is also from a Nattuppura sandham, as he explains it here.

Italy concert - Ar...

48. Guru BGMs

Here are some BGMs from my most favourite movie Guru (Malayalam). It’s a pity that the film flopped and also it didn’t make it to Oscars. As you are aware, the themes were rescored as a private album ‘The Music Messiah’.

Guru - BGM 1

Mohanlal is saving his blind friend from the opposite camp, in the valley of blind people.



Guru - BGM 2

Mohanlal gets a divine vision about restoring eyesight for all blinds in the valley. He asks everybody to drink the milk of a plant (which all of them think poisonous) to get the sight. They obey him and get the vision. If you follow the instructions of a Guru with faith in him, you will see the path.

47. Same Sandham

Raja has used the sandhams from folk songs in many of his songs. This is one such sandham used in Avar Enakke Sondham and Annanukku Jey. Please listen to both the song pallavis here.

Kudhirayile naan amarndhen (pathos) – Avar Enakke Sondham
Solai Ilankuyile (happy) – Annanukku Jey

You can easily notice that the mood of the songs is opposite from one another. Going forward, even the charanams and interludes are different in both the songs.

Same sandham songs...

Note: Both songs play in the same file.

46. A spine-chiller!

When I saw this movie Paadum Paravaigal (dubbing of Anveshana – Telugu) during my schoolhood days, I was scared to death with the BGM. I had never seen a scarier movie before that. Later, I have seen the movie in TV / video couple of times. The BGM should be a study piece in Thriller genre, of how to use the silence to create the fear in you. This piece is one of the excellent ones from the movie. There are few others too, notably a long sequence in the climax, where Maestro has experimented with only the voices in the BGM.



This piece also has stunning silence in many places, which enhances the effect. In many places, you can her only the rustling sound of leaves under Bhanu’s legs and her heavy breathing only. It starts with foot steps kind of rhythm with guitar chords. Then comes birds chirping and other eerie forest sounds. Suddenly you hear a solo violin when the heroine steps on a bed of flowers. There are many menacing moments in the bursting strings section which will take you through in search of this mystery man.

45. Annakkili Titles

Isai: Ilaiyaraaja (Arimugam) !!! Do I need to say more on this?



100% natural, village music.

44. Same scene, different BGMs

Have you ever come across Raja scoring two different BGMs for the same scene? I recently noticed once such occasion. I am not talking about the remake movies here like Unnal Mudiyum Thambi vs. Rudraveena. Even they almost had the same BGM. I am talking about My Dear Kuttichathan which was first released in 1983/84 and re-released again in 1996 in DTS. The background score was rewritten by our Maestro. I wanted to highlight the introduction scene of Kuttichathan, where the two BGM versions are entirely different. First see the original version of 1983.



Now, this is the score for the new DTS version.



Scenes to be enjoyed in particular:

1) Piano plays by itself – brilliant one! The same keys are played. New version is more modern sounding (around 1:12).
2) Kuttichathan descending in a basket – The new version sounds mature, reminds of the score he has done for Guru (starting at 3:15). The orchestration and chorus are out of world.
3) Children going around & touching Kuttichathan – the original version is amazing, with carnatic violin score (around 4:45) - what a way to show the innocence of the children! The new version is also equally good.

Even the music for Kathakali dance is different.

In closing, I feel the original has a raw WCM feel, but the revised version is modern and matured in orchestration.

Readers are encouraged to analyze this more in detail and arrive at their favourite version for each cue.

43. Soulful BGMs

I recently watched Sooryan (Malayalam). The film failed due to bad screenplay and is uninspiring to watch. However, Maestro shines as usual, in couple of scenes, though the BGM is minimal throughout the movie. He has given carnatic music (violin and mrudangam) for couple of fight scenes as the hero is a trained classical musician. He has also given a small solo carnatic violin score for one of the scenes where police chases the hero after a killing (a la Mounaragam Karthik police chase scene). Here, I have posted the title score of the movie, which is very soulful and to the core of the movie theme.

Sooryan - Title sc...

Kizhakke Pogum Rayil had a soulful theme for the lovers, which was very famous those days. This is a long female alaap, sinuating up and down. Bharathiraja has beautifully woven the train as a motif into this love story. The lovers stay apart (Radhika in village and Sudhakar in Chennai) but keep communicating through the last compartment (LV) of the train, by writing on chalks. Due to rains, once the message gets erased and Radhika feel very sad for not hearing anything from Sudhakar. This cue starts with a short keyboard piece with counter harmonies provided by WCM violins to show her mental agony and ends with the theme motif.

KPR - Rail messagi...

42. Godly BGMs

I have uploaded two BGMs from Aathma and Thai Mookambigai which has a similar theme.

In Thai Mookambigai, the Goddess disguises as an untouchable woman helping Major Sunderrajan. When Major knows about it, wow, the WCM chorus by Maestro gives us goosebumps, followed by the poignant Malarena Kadhiroli chant (in Hayagiri Nandhini sandham).



In Aathma climax scene, God appears as light, in a certain temple atop the mountain – at a designated time. She destroys the evil spirits and saves a devotee from his cancer. Here also Maestro plays a beautiful WCM violin and flutes section for the blooming flowers on the mountain in the background. This is again followed by Vedic chants and a short temple piece on Nagaswaram.



Both the pieces are awe-inspiring (WCM) and devotional (chants) at the same time. Thank you Maestro, for the invaluable pokkisham you have given us.

41. Raaja in my Life (Blog Tag Game)

My thanks to Vicky for giving me a chance to relive those moments once again. My sincere thanks to Kamal for tagging and for nagging me to write something on the blog after a long time. Here goes my tortoise / kosuvarthi posting (read flashback).

Me & Raaja - The 5 things I should tell you:

1) The moment that introduced you to Raaja:

As far as my memory goes, it was the film Naan Paadum Paadal (1984). I was emotionally affected at that age by the song Paadava Un Paadalai and the BGM of the movie.

Naan Paadum Paadal...

So I can say 1984-85 is the time of Raaja-awareness in me. Before this, I used to hear many of the popular songs from radio, but I didn't know about the MD's role. I was humming Vellai Roja songs (I was a Sivaji fan) without Maestro's contribution in it. I have seen people going crazy with Ninaivellam Nithya songs, but didn't know the composer behind it.

My father, who was an ardent fan of yesteryear MDs like KVM, MSV, etc started liking Raaja for his BGM skills and the songs, with the densely crafted orchestration. He always used to tell me to note the various instruments used in his songs and how He didn't leave even a second of the song unorchestrated. I slowly used to pick up interest from there and started hearing songs with more care.

My father appreciated His BGM scores also which I picked up from him. I still remember discussing the BGM of movies like Aan Paavam, Unnal Mudiyum Thambi, etc with him. The moment we leave the theatre, we used to hum the BGM themes from the movie but alas! next day morning we would have forgotten the intricate BGM themes and there was no way of hearing it again!

My father and I used to jointly hear the songs and appreciate the tune and orchestration. We have many favourites from this period which is a futile exercise listing here.

We had a rickety radio in house which used to entertain us all the time. Accidentally, one day we heard Telugu version of Anandha Kummi songs from a Telugu station (I don’t remember the station now) and our joy knew no bounds. The reception was so feeble that we had to keep the radio to our ears like a headphone to hear it.


2) Name one occasion where Raaja's music directly / indirectly influenced your life.
This is not one, but many occasions. In fact, Raaja has touched our lives, the every other minute.

As I said earlier, Raaja's music became a part and parcel of our life. We used to watch many movies those days - some on the screen and some on the video. Rs.10 video rental was famous those days, which I used to watch in friend's house / neighborhood. Thus, I was in constant touch with Maestro's songs. We especially loved Ramarajan movies for great songs and BGMs. I also used to like T. Rajendar's movies and songs which were super hit those days with good lyrics and grand picturization of songs. Between 1985-89, I would have seen almost 80-90% of His Tamil movies.

Those days, it was a very special enjoyment and favourite pastime to browse the newspaper cinema ads. Dinathanthi was replete with ads for new launches, which invariably had Maestro's photos within a circle, proclaiming Isaignani Ilaiyaraajavin Innisai Mazhayil, Ragadevanin Geetha Mazhayil, Isai Chakravarthiyin Innisayil, etc. Same was the case with posters on the street. No wall was left without his photo. All this created euphoria. We used to derive great satisfaction, as if His achievements were our own.

In school also, we had discussed songs from Mann Vaasanai, Mundhanai Mudichu, Moondram Pirai, etc.

By 1989, I started working. Those were the days of pirated Cony (duplicate Sony?) 60/90 cassettes which used to be played in all private buses in our place (Coimbatore). I used to wait for additional 15-30 minutes to get the bus which plays songs in the bus. Thus my 30-45 minutes ride was brightened by Maestro every day, while going and coming. With my earning, I purchased a cassette player and even managed to record couple of cassettes with my favourite Raaja songs.

Between 2004 and 2006, I was back to bachelorhood again for some family reasons. Again, Maestro was with me every minute of the day. I used to collect BGMs from many of his movies.


3) Lets take Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi into account. Assuming that one of this is either your mother tongue or native language, name a favorite song in each of the other 4 languages that immediately comes to your mind.

Until I was exposed to Internet, which was around 1996, my knowledge of Raaja's songs in other languages was almost zero, though I have heard Telugu version of some of His songs. After the proliferation of the Net, I gained knowledge on His masterpieces in other languages. I went on exploring those songs with my collecting mp3s from all over the Net.

My native language is Tamil. So here I name 4 songs that immediately come to my mind from the rest 4.

Telugu : Karigipoyanu (Marana Mrudangam)
Malayalam : Janmangal Varum Tharum (Kaaveri)
Kannada : Oh Prema Devathe (Gulaabi)
Hindi : Rimjhim (Mahadev)


4) One song of Ilaiyaraaja that you consider rare and think a song that many people should have known but don't.

Kadhalil mattamal (Parvathi Ennai Paaradi) - aaha Saaranga! short but sweet.


5) Lets keep the last one simple. Raaja's number that you are hearing right now/ most recently heard?

Kaaveri aaru (Themmangu Pattukkaran)

Note: All the songs mentioned here are my top of the mind and there are many, many more I can add to each category.