?I am sorry for writing this review? ?Yes I mean it. Even though I know that most of the members in this forum are non-tamilians and don?t hear any Tamil albums, I couldn?t stop writing reviews on Tamil music albums. It is because of my desire to share my experience to someone and also I want to just explore the kind of music that emerges from my part of the world. I know pretty well that my opinions on the music album ?Thillana Mohanambal? released in 1968 will not be an interesting piece to read but anyway I walk in the path of Ram Gopal Varma who makes movies for himself of his own taste without worrying much about the public acceptance. Now after wasting quite a lot of words let us get into the review
Movie
?Thillana Mohanambal? is an epic musical love story starring Sivaji Ganesan, Padmini and many other legendary actors of yester years and A.P.Nagarajan directed it. Music is by K.V.Mahadevan and Kannadasan pens https://lyrics. This movie brings in two most worshipped art forms of tamilnadu viz., Nadhaswaram music and Bharathanatyam. It is a love story between music (Nadhaswara Vidhwan) and dance (Bharathanatyam Dancer). With a subject like this, composer gets allocated with the most challenging job and in that era, none in the film industry would have done justice to this album as much as K.V.Mahadevan did.
Trend and Composer
In initial era of Tamil cinema, songs in the movies were pure classical ones as the subjects of the movies are mostly mythological and when the slowly social and political subjects started to emerge, the music form also had a shift from pure classical to semi classical songs and then down the period it became light music (Songs fairly based on classical ragas) and traditional folk and finally western music which we are listening now. In this trend, this album falls under both pure classical and semi classical genre and K.V.Mahadevan is the most promising composer in those days to deliver such stuffs.
Nadhaswaram
Nadhaswaram is a traditional south Indian wind instrument that can be heard mostly in marriage functions and festivals in temples of Tamilnadu. It is also used extensively in Tamil folk music. The divine sound of Nadhaswaram is a close relative to Shehnai (North Indian instrument) and a distant relative to Saxophone (Western Instrument). As the movie itself is about a Nadhaswara Vidhwan, it dominates all the tracks in the album that includes 4 instrumental tracks and 3 songs.
I am a novice when it comes to classical music so don?t expect in-depth music from me on this album. Neither I know what raag they have used for the songs nor do I know the extent of experimentation and innovation gone in making of these songs but I can just say that this album is purely divine and also has a mass appeal. I still wonder how those days? composers were able to convince both classes and masses when I see composers these days are struggling a lot for the same. The major plus point of these songs are
~ All the songs are situational numbers and every song had a story in it unlike present situation in which almost the songs are compelled into the movies unnecessarily
~ Lyrics are of high standards that blend well with the situation of the songs
~ Of course usage of our own traditional instruments and classic tunes
Insturumentals
Nadhaswaram with Thavil playing traditional thyagaraja keerthana ?Nagumoo? is the title music for the movie. It is a refreshing piece, which you can hear in any concerts in marriage functions, and there can be any better way to start this movie.
?Thillana based on Kapi raag? is the next instrumental that is used for a tug off war between two art forms music and dance. The entire piece goes in a gradually raising tempo building the tension in the competition. This track is a treat to watch on screen along with the dance and excellent performance by lead actors.
?Tamil Music Vs Western Music? is the most stunning instrumental track of the album. It starts with a pure western music, rock and roll kind of stuff leading to heavy drum beats which is suddenly taken over by the banging Thavil beats with Nadhaswaram playing Maruthakasi?s ?Ayiram kan pothathu? song in the lead. The best part comes at the end when pure western notes for waltz is played in Nadhaswaran backed by Thavil beat replacing western percussion. You will just get goose bumps when you hear this cross-cultural piece. There is another brief Nadhaswaram piece with it playing folk music now and it is too short to comment on.
Songs
?Marainthrunthu? song is partly devotional cum a situational number that explores the hidden love in the hearts of the lead characters. P.Susheela?s younger voice is very sweet and her singing is perfect with right expressions in the song. It is a semi classical song with an authentic katcheri style of orchestration. The best part of the song is brief veena piece that sounds for ?Navarasas? i.e. nine human emotions.
?Nalamthana? is a pathos song, which is also a semi classical number doped with a bit of folksy rhythm in the background. P.Susheela again at her emotive best. The tune delivers the level of emotions needed in the song and the Nadhaswaram repeating the notes of every line along with the vocals gives a different dimension to the song.
?Pandiyan Nanirukka? sung by L.R.Eswari and S.C.Krishnan is an authentic stage drama song with foot tapping folk beats.
On the whole, the music of this album is much more worth than what I paid (125/-) to buy the recent CD version released by Saregama audios.
Wish You all a Happy and Prosperous New Year