NAAN IRUKKUM ANDHA NAAL VARAIKKUM - AZHAGIYA KANNE

Saravanan Natarajan writes:

The King’s Treasuries- 1
நான் இருக்கும் அந்த நாள் வரைக்கும்...

Not many today would remember the 1982 Tamil movie அழகிய கண்ணே, a supernatural thriller directed by the revered Mahendran. Sharatbabu, Sumalata, Suhasini and Baby Anju played the lead roles. Perhaps Mahendran set out to make a horror movie in the likes of ‘The Omen’, but his aesthetic sensibilities usurped the reigns midway and the narration strayed into emotional realms that put paid to any hopes of the movie setting the cash boxes jingling.

Bhama is a famed temple dancer. Her grace, her beauty and her nimble steps are a connoisseur’s delight. A young sculptor, Prasanna watches her performance and is so besotted by her ethereal persona that he goes back and works on chiseling her form into a lifelike statue. Bhama happens to see the statue and comes to know of his adoration for her… She requests him for a rendezvous at sunset near the temple at the bank of the river… When they meet, he comes to know of the sorrow behind the smile, of the depression behind the dance… She hails from a ‘devadasi’ family where the female children are trained to become dancers and given away to affluent men who become their ‘patrons’… she is filled with revulsion at this prospect and had warded off such offers until now…but fears that she will be coerced into submission very soon…

She pleads with him to marry her and take her away… he wants to help her but knows not how, for he is already betrothed to another girl… she is shaken by this refusal, yet in her heart she does not give up the hope that they will unite…

Gangai Amaran writes lines filled with forlorn hope tinged with a shade of resignation, his brother the Maestro weaves with characteristic nonchalance a melancholic melody embellished with enchanting musical arrangements… and the nightingale of their nest croons out her best… how much understanding is there in her delineation… she punctuates the lines with a tremulous ache of infinite longings…her tone here is pregnant with hushed whimpers… verily, hers is the wail of the soul!
Another jewel crafted by the Maestro that lies hidden under many other dazzling ornaments in his caskets of priceless treasures…let it be admired, just one last time, before it is banished once again to a cruel oblivion….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KSkqjPKc6g



better audio link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HguDSnt-ag0

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