70 களில் A.M. ராஜா பாடிய பாடல்களின் தொகுப்பு.. 💖💖
It is the birth anniversary today of the maverick genius Aemala Manmadharaju Rajah- the singer whose voice filled the airwaves of the 50s with a dreamy, wistful enchantment and a composer whose uncanny understanding of the film medium set the tone of ‘light music’- music that, even being moored to the classical base, rose up as an edifice of elegance and euphony…
When Rajah proposed marriage to his co-singer Jikki in a sentence written on a song note -sheet while the recording of ‘Maheshwari’ was going on, the startled Jikki, after a few days of demurring, gave her acceptance with tremulous love. And the entire film world joined joyously in the celebrations, for weren’t AMR and Jikki the uncrowned King and Queen of Tamil Film Music at the time?
The early years of marriage were happy ones, both personally and professionally. Sadly, the hugely gifted Rajah was always a person with attitude problems, highly sensitive, deep-rooted eccentricities, insecurities and given to hallucinations of imaginary slights and unfounded suspicions. He made himself unpopular when he did not hesitate to put forth his forthright opinions on the mediocrity (as he perceived it) of the works of other composers that he was asked to sing. He gradually allowed these complexes to take over his better senses. As a fallout, Sridhar turned to Viswanathan –Ramamoorthy for Nenjil Or Alayam. PBS secured acceptance as the singing voice of Gemini Ganesh The rest was taken care of gleefully by the cunning machinations of the unscrupulous elements in the tinsel town.. And thus not only his metier both as a mellifluous singer and as a talented composer came to an abrupt untimely halt, the pitiable Jikki had to sacrifice her soaring career as well.
Much has been written everywhere about the meteoric rise and fall of Rajah and his glittering career in the 50s. Today, let us look at few seldom turned pages of his chronicle- the marvelous second innings that Rajah returned to play in the 70s…
All through the 60s, Rajah, even while being forgotten in Tamil Cinema, basked in an extended stay in Malayalam Cinema, well after the arrival of Yesudas. And it was V. Kumar who coaxed him to come out of his self-imposed exile in Tamil and sing the lilting ‘Mutharame un oodal ennavo’ with the bubbly L.R. Easwary. The movie was Rangaraattinam, produced by Sowcar Janaki and the duet was filmed on Gemini Ganesh and Sowcar. In an album that had 2 wonderful solos by the young SPB, the veteran Rajah proved that he was more than a match to the new players in the arena. Old-timers were filled with joy on hearing the voice of their beloved Rajah again…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_34ryLuB0A
Pugundha Veedu (1972), a successful movie produced by Subramaniya Reddiar and directed by Pattu. The album seemed all set to be another monopoly of TMS and P.Susheela, when, in a flash of brilliance, Shankar-Ganesh roped in Rajah and Jikki to render a breezy duet to be filmed on AVM.Rajan and Chandrakala. ‘Senthamaraiye senthen ithazhe’ turned out to become a chart-buster and remains popular to this day…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIJgMsoGUu8
In the same year, Rajah rendered another popular song for Shankar-Ganesh, filmed again on AVM Rajan. ‘Chinna kannane’ from Thaikku Oru Pillai. Rajah aced the beautiful composition with his evocative mellifluousness, tinged with a patina of poignancy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7n35LmbRSg
1973 brought in its wake an opportunity for the composer Rajah to assert himself, and in the album ‘Veettu Mapillai’, Rajah showed that he was in sync with the changing trends of the early 70s and his compositions enjoyed abundant airtime.
The emotionally surcharged ‘Malare o Malare’ composed and sung by Rajah:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIYiDrIvCFc
The joyful Rajah- Jikki duet ‘Rasi nalla rasi’ composed by Rajah:
https://youtu.be/ZANZFSdxyao?feature=shared
Shankar-Ganesh continued to invite Rajah and Jikki to be part of their ensemble, and in Veetukku Vandha Marumagal ( 1973), in which Vani Jairam was introduced in Tamil Cinema, the duo gave Rajah and Jikki a lovely duet ‘Oruvan oruthi thunai serndhu vittal’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obW_r4u1l38
2008. We had gone on a holiday to Singapore. One morning after worshiping at the temples on Serangoon Road and looking at the wares in Mustafa, we were making our way back to the hotel, when we came across an aged gentleman setting up his shelves of cassettes in the crowded passage of the row of shops. As he was arranging them, I heard him sing ‘எதை கேட்பதோ.... எதை சொல்வதோ.... நான் அறியாத பெண்ணல்லவோ...’. My wife looked on bemusedly as I countered him with ‘நீ கேட்கலாம், நானும் சொல்லலாம்...அது புரியாத ஒன்றல்லவோ!’ We ended up laughing….The song is an exquisite Rajah-Jikki duet composed by Shankar-Ganesh for the 1974 movie Paththu Madha Bandham:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyfpgpaFe5I
1975 saw Rajah securing another opportunity to compose music, and this was for ‘Enakkoru Magan Pirappan’. Rajah saved for himself 2 beautiful duets in the album-
A young couple singing happily about their impending parenthood- ‘Roja malarai pole’ with P. Susheela:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1htd75VdCg
The other is this lovely Rajah- Jikki duet ‘Manathukkum theriyum ennai’:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l0fQQRBOlI
The same year, Rajah teamed with Susheela to sing this Radio Ceylon favourite, again for Shankar-Ganesh- ‘Yenada kanna indha pollathanam’ for the movie Anbu Roja. The song was so popular that it overshadowed even the lovely SPB- Susheela duet ‘Paal nilavu neram’ from the same album.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CcKN_p5Qgo
1976 followed, with the grand arrival of Ilaiyaraja. That year, A.M. Rajah got to sing 2 songs for V. Kumar in the forgotten movie ‘Idhu Ivargalin Kathai’.
‘Ananda illam’ with P. Susheela:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVt_ssgKGX8
The other is the ruminative ‘En devane unnidan ondru ketpen’. A brooding, pensive Rajah unleashes his caressing flourishes to this wondrous composition:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTQU4LvOgEI
And this turned out be the last song by Rajah in Tamil Cinema. The beautiful second innings that started and ended with compositions of V. Kumar, with Shankar-Ganesh filling in the middle. This Rajah never got to sing for Ilaiyaraja (How I wish Ilaiyaraja could have got Rajah to sing ‘Neeyoru Kaadhal sangeetham’ in Nayakan!)
Rajah continued to conduct light music concerts with Jikki and his troupe until demise in a gruesome mishap in 1989 when he slipped and fell under the wheels of a moving train.
Rajah- the quirky nightingale who inexplicably decided to still his song when spring was beckoning and who stepped out to sing late in autumn..... Few lingering numbers until the onset of inexorable winter…..
- Saravanan Natarajan
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