Today, The Lok Sabha held a two minute silence honoring the memory of victims of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki on its 80th anniversary.
One thought led to another, and (you know me well!) it came about to this recall.
During World War II, Indian film producers were forced by the British Authorities to produce war propaganda movies in support of the allies. Burma Rani (1945) was one such Tamil movie produced by The Modern Theaters that revolved around a spy network operating in Japan-occupied Burma and the rescue of two British Indian Air Force Pilots.
Presenting here the song 'Eppodhum polirundhu' from Burma Rani featuring the vocals of the sadly forgotten comedienne C.T. Rajakantham, who had formed a hugely successful comic partnership with Kali N. Rathinam in the 40s.
The titles of the movie do not mention the names of the lyricists or the music composer. Modern Theaters generally had a team of composers ( G. Ramanathan/ Susarala Dakshinamoorthy & others)...hence one or more of them could have worked on the score of Burma Rani.
The song commences at around 1.08 in the video. The Japanese police come to know that the head of the spy network is a woman named Miss. Mangalam and all women having the said name are investigated. One of them happens to be a teacher in Rangoon, and the sequence shown is a police officer entering her classroom and watching the proceedings...The strict Miss Mangalam takes the attendance, enforces discipline and teaches her students, all in the course of this short hilarious song...
Then, when the clearly smitten Police Officer wishes to interrogate Miss. Mangalam, she dismisses the class and sets about diverting his questions and playing to his amorous glances with subtle coquetry and cunning. When she hears the signal from her co-conspirators, she sends away the police officer with a promise of a future rendezvous and goes down a secret staircase...
So, here then is this 80 year old film sequence and song...
Song: Eppodhum Polirundhu
Film: Burma Rani (1945)
Vocals: C.T. Rajakantham & Chorus
Lyrics & Music: The Modern Theaters Team
https://youtu.be/iQ2a9kGb_7o?feature=shared
- Saravanan Natarajan
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