ராசா இசையமைத்த வணிக வெற்றிப்படங்கள் (கடந்த பதிப்பு: #41 விடியும் வரை காத்திரு)

I have a feeling that 'chittukkuruvi' was BO success (may be a 50 day / 100 day kind of movie and not the silver jubilees that we've talked about from that year in the previous posts). However, I'm not very sure - though I know for a fact that all the songs, including that pathos 'onna nambi neththiyilE pottu vachchEn maththiyilE' were patti-thotti hits.

We'll have to request Saravanan sir about that movie

Also, 'avaL appadiththAn', while not a huge BO hit, did have its 100th day run at least in some theater in TN I think. Also, being made in a possibly 5 figure budget (ok, that is too low - but something very low), the movie did get money to those involved. I remember reading an article by the cinematographer who talked about this aspect in detail in an article somewhere (even posted that link in one of the threads).

At the minimum, it gave opportunity for a film-institute'l-padichcha-start-up director Rudraiyah to get another oppportunity! That he totally wasted it, despite 4 terrific songs by rAsA is a different 'nagaraththu aththiyAyam'

Because of the BO doubt cloud around the above two, I'm not "counting" them in this thread

Other 1978 releases of rAsA that possibly didn't make it big in BO but had one or more hit songs were:
-kaNNan oru kaikkuzhandhai
-sonnadhu nee dhAnA
-thiripura sundhari
-vattaththukkuL sadhuram
-avaL oru pachchaikkuzhandhai
-achchANi
-kAtRinilE varum geetham
-thirukkalyANam
-vAzha ninaiththAL vAzhalAm
-mAriyamman thiruvizhA
-idhu eppadi irukku

In any case, what an enviable BO record of  ~ 6 silver jubilee level movies and another 2/3 100 day movies in a single calendar year!

All those who are crying about the current BO hit business please answer this question : WHICH CURRENT MD CAN EVEN DREAM OF SUCH?

Wait a minute, I'm not done with 1978 yet

I was looking at a wrong movie in our famous spreadsheet, a Kannada dubbed version of a famous Thamizh movie and thinking it was a 1979-er.

Well, the "original" Thamizh movie, based on a kumudam thodarkadhai by Sujatha, supposedly came out in Dec-1978.

So, we have one more mega BO hit for the year 1978. Possibly the seventh silver jubilee movie of that year.

And, #13 of our thread - Priya.

The stereo album was a craze those years (despite being tainted with inspiration / copy stuff for some songs).

Well, I enjoy the songs often even now during my drives. Even the infamous 'dArling dArling dArling' sounds so nice with exotic arrangements on the car audio!

Rajini-Sridevi-Panju Arunachalam- SP Muthuraman - Sujatha Rangarajan - Ganesh - Vasanth 

There's this mistaken notion that rAsA means "glorious 80's".

While it's true that he ruled the 80's music scene, his prolificity in late 70's had to be seen (well, studied) to be believed!

We've just seen how many BO hits of 1978 had his music. 1979 is as dumbfounding as well!

It was like a Bradman / Lara / Tendulkar form for rAsA who hit boundaries and sixers in ALL directions, hitting out EVERY kind of bowling attack, on EVERY kind of pitch / venue etc.

Let me start cataloging them...

#14  nAn vAzha vaippEn (1979)
Sivaji-Rajini film where Rajini supposedly stole the show and Sivaji magnanimously let him do such a role (movie was produced by KR Vijaya).

As was the case with many Sivaji movies of 70's, this was a 'kalaichchelvam' aka indhi import

Obviously, rAsA was not the main cause for the success of this movie but his score / songs made sure there were "repeat audiences to theater" (which was one of the main functions of songs those days, when satellite TV didn't steal such revenue from theaters)...

app_engine wrote:

#14  nAn vAzha vaippEn (1979)
Sivaji-Rajini film where Rajini supposedly stole the show and Sivaji magnanimously let him do such a role (movie was produced by KR Vijaya).

As was the case with many Sivaji movies of 70's, this was a 'kalaichchelvam' aka indhi import

Obviously, rAsA was not the main cause for the success of this movie but his score / songs made sure there were "repeat audiences to theater" (which was one of the main functions of songs those days, when satellite TV didn't steal such revenue from theaters)...

app,
oru vishayam. epo Raja vandharo.... Raja paatukaga padam parkaradhu enbadhu  katyamana ondru...

Radio...   naan irundhadhu village... so padam ellam late aga than varum enga ooruku..adhilum.. Sivaji MGR padam dhan  vaarakanaga,. masakanakaga odum.. odanam......   sila nalla padam ellam enga ooruku apodhu ellam varadhu. vandhalum
oru naal vandhu vittu poi vidum.......

Indha soozhnilaiyil dhan Raja vandhar....  Raja Music..... yar padam endralum.. Theater il vanga arambithargal... padam niraiya varam oda arambithadhu..........

RADIO....  Raja songs  vaithargal....   Engal ooruku padam varuvadharku munnal.. radio vil raja songs kaetpom.. Padam
per nyabagam vaithu kondu....  Theater ku padam vandhadhum....  povom.....

Sila samayam....  Adikadi  padam parpadhu pola.. oru Guilty vera varum............ 

indha padam time il... Tilte Score kaga padam arambikum podhae parka vendum.. endru munneri irundhen....  

enaku amma than thunaiku.... amma ku kashtamaga irukum.. theater ku vara.. enakga varuvanga....... padam arambithadhum pogalam.. idhu en amma. arambikaradhuku munnadi poganam. idhu naan. analum.. niriaya padam.. late aga than poi iruken.
Tiltle score miss panni iruken...........

UshakkA wrote:
indha padam time il... Tilte Score kaga padam arambikum podhae parka vendum.. endru munneri irundhen....

Please continue sharing your thoughts in this thread

#15 azhagE unnai ArAdhikkiREn (1979)
(Sridhar direction...Jai Ganesh / "MGR" Latha acting)

Per my memory this movie was a hit, though not to the levels of IO. However, when I googled and checked AUA wiki , that said it was a flop, unlike most of its Thamizh articles that do not talk about BO :

முன்னணி நட்சத்திரங்களான ரஜினிகாந்த், கமலஹாசன் மற்றும் ஸ்ரீபிரியா ஆகியோரை வைத்து இளமை ஊஞ்சலாடுகிறது என்னும் மிகப் பெரும் வெற்றித் திரைப்படம் அளித்த பிறகு, ஸ்ரீதரிடமிருந்து வந்த அடுத்த படமான அழகே உன்னை ஆராதிக்கிறேன் அவ்வளவாக வெற்றி அடையவில்லை.

ஜெயசுதாவின் சகோதரி சுபாஷிணி மற்றும் பிரகாஷ் என்னும் இளைஞர் ஆகியோர் இப்படத்தின் மூலம் அறிமுகமாயினர். ஆயினும், ஸ்ரீதரால் அறிமுகமாகும் நட்சத்திர மரபுக்கு மாறாக, இவ்விருவருமே புகழ் பெற்ற நட்சத்திர நிலையை அடையவில்லை.

இருப்பினும், இளையராஜாவின் இசையில் இப்படத்தின் பாடல்கள் பெரும் பிரபலமாயின. 'நானே நானா' மற்றும் 'என் கல்யாண வைபோகம்' போன்ற பாடல்கள் வாணி ஜெயராமின் குரலில் உருவாகி அவருக்கு மேலும் புகழூட்டின.

Well, sometimes wiki is not totally correct and I wanted to make sure if my memory is bad...

Latha said to mAlai malar that it was a silver jubilee :

"அழகே உன்னை ஆராதிக்கிறேன்" என்று ஒரு படம் எடுக்கிறேன். நடிக்க வாய்ப்புள்ள கேரக்டர். தவிர, தமிழ், தெலுங்கு, கன்னடம் ஆகிய மூன்று மொழிகளில் ஒரே சமயத்தில் தயார் ஆகிறது. மூன்று மொழிகளுக்கும் நீங்கள்தான் கதாநாயகி" என்றார். மகிழ்ச்சியுடன் ஒப்புக்கொண்டேன்.

தமிழில் விஜயகுமார், ஜெய்கணேஷ் ஆகியோர் என்னுடன் நடித்தார்கள். தெலுங்கில் சரத்பாபு, முரளி மோகன். கன்னடத்தில் ஸ்ரீநாத் நடித்தார். மூன்று மொழி கதாநாயகர்களுடனும் ஒரே நேரத்தில் மாறி மாறி நடித்தது வித்தியாசமான அனுபவமாக இருந்தது.

எனக்கு தெலுங்கு சரளமாக பேச வரும். கன்னட வசனங்களை மட்டும் தமிழில் எழுதி வைத்து பேசினேன்.

தமிழில் வெள்ளி விழா கொண்டாடிய இந்தப்படம், மற்ற 2 மொழிகளிலும் 100 நாட்கள் ஓடியது.

Well, it then occured to me that I should check dhool.com (as to if there was any post by Saravanan sir)

I got two links from there:

http://tfmpage.com/forum/14335.20880.03.21.22.html
&
http://www.dhool.com/sotd2/842.html

The first one had the following post and the second one quoted it

From: Saravanan (@ 213.42.1.172) on: Sat Aug 31 01:54:17 EDT 2002

bb- a classic song that suits the festive occasion-thank you.

Reg. Azhagey Unnai Aarathikkiren, yes, it was a hit- I think I have seen a shield for the 'Velli Vizha' in one of the Abirami theatres-Chennai. Sridhar had turned to Illayaraja in 1978, and gave the super hit-Ilamai Oonjalaadugirathu and all the lyrics were by Vaali for the first time in an IR film. This Sridhar-IR-Vaali combo continued in AUA.
In spite of the stupendous success of the songs of these two flms, Srdhar went to Vijabhaskar for his next film-Soundaryamey Varuga Varuga-1980. Though the songs were great, the film crashed.

That way, AUA is a certified hit film from 1979!

app_engine wrote:

UshakkA wrote:
indha padam time il... Tilte Score kaga padam arambikum podhae parka vendum.. endru munneri irundhen....  

Please continue sharing your thoughts in this thread

Thank u app.. padathuku padam.. neraiya vishayam irukum enaku....... Ellam Feelings dhan... adhanala dhanae IR Fan naan......

True Feelings ... ipadi sollanam. IR music patri............

#16 pudhiya vArppugaL (1979)
The fourth BR movie that had KBR / Rathi Agnihothri in the lead, both intro's as hero / heroini.

And, the fourth consecutive silver jubilee hit for BR, with terrific support by rAsA in both songs & BGM department.

Certain things need to be reminded at this time, to people who often try to overemphasize VM & SPB in the IR success story, especially in the BR context.

1. There had been no SPB song in the first four silver jubilee hits of BR
2. VM was not even in the scene until the fag end of 1980 and thus had NO role to play in the first four biggies of BR

I know most people who frequent our forum are aware of this (and I've posted this a number of times in the appropriate places).

However, certain things need to REPEATED FROM TIME TO TIME, to correct years of false propaganda

#17 kalyANarAman (1979)

Another "dual-role" movie for Kamal. Sridevi the 'malargaLil Adum iLamai pudhumaiyE' heroini. The movie was a big hit and so were the songs. 'AhA vandhuruchchu' and its serious version 'kAdhal deepamonRu' were on radio all the time. (Oh, those were the IOKS days! sigh)

Well, obviously the sEshtais of the 'pallu' Kamal was the main USP of the movie that made it a biggie at BO but the rAsA songs, esp. 'AhA vandhuruchchu' did a tremendous job in reaching the movie name to patti-thotti.

Directed by G N Rangarajan.
(BTW, I didn't like the movie when I watched for the first time -on internet- during the recent years)

App, I understand this thread is more about the success of the movies, but wish you would at least mention the songs and some trivia as well. For instance both IO and AOA were very rare instances where IR gave VJ prominence. 'En kalyaana vaibogam' fetched VJ the TN state Award that year. 'Naane naana' was hugely popular . The opening tune, incidentally, was originally composed by IR for DD's Vayalum Vaazhvum'!

Saravanan wrote: wish you would at least mention the songs and some trivia as well

Did some of that stuff when collecting the LP covers in this thread:
https://ilayaraja.forumms.net/t63-vinyl-lp-record-covers-speak-about-ir-pictures-details-thamizh

Of course, in this thread too, I'll attempt to do in the upcoming posts

One of the things that strikes you when you look at IR's earliest years is how much Sivakumar was a beneficiary of it. He starred in the first few movies of IR as well as  a lot of later day movies many of which had hit songs. Many of his so-so films gained prominence because of music, not the other way around. Recently Karthi, Yuvan had reminisced on how that connection still continues in the family in the form of Yuvan composing for Sivakumar's son and his 100th film as a MD being Karthi's film and so on. Even one of IR's national award winning films SB, had Sivakumar as the hero.  But I do not recall reading (m)any quotes by Sivakumar on this collaboration or on the kind of impact IR's music had on his 70s films.Except for some stage function held recently where he mentioned about this. He should be  thankful that IR's music happened upon some of his films even though he himself might have made his film debut much earlier than 1976 and hence might consider himself to be a "senior".

I would say more than Kamal/Rajni it was Sivakumar who benefitted the most in the late 70s(and even in the 80s). Who will remember Kavikuyil or Kadavul amaitha medai but for the songs?

Is the purpose of this thread  about the success of movies which ALSO happened to have IR as the MD
 or is it specifically about IR's contribution to the financial success of the movies? These are two slightly different things.And I believe the latter question is more relevant. Especially if the movie in question , without IR's music would have flopped(because of poor sotryline/acting whatever) in our opinion and was saved in most part by his music. Those kind of soundtracks could be discussed in detail.

Because if the point is being made that IR fans are'nt indifferent to a movie's commercial success, then it should also be elaborated on how IR contributed to that movie's success, right? I may not be interested in just knowing about a movie which ran well but which had so-so songs by IR. And one cannot also claim that all BO film successes that had music by IR had great songs/BGM as well. That would be a dubious claim. For instance Magalir mattum might have been a hit. But its soundtrack is eminently forgettable. Especially when compared with the quality of other soundtracks that IR typically delivers for Rajkamal films.

Counterpoint,

very true.........   list podalam..........  Annakili .. adhu dhanae first........

Unakagave vaazhgiren, Naan padum padal, pasa paravaigal...  paatu ellam Super.............

counterpoint,
IMHO, none of the movies of 70's / 80's / early 90's that had IR's music & a BO hit happened to have so-so songs  

Not a single one!

So, it's probably a question of whether IR was the #1 contributor for the BO success or #2 / #3 etc. There had been no movie that I've listed so far that failed to have solid contribution by IR for the movie's BO run.

Thinking more about the 70's / 80's and early 90's, when sat TV network was not a factor to enable people watching song sequences AWAY from theater, I can strongly say that songs were a major contributor in the TF context in pushing, say, a 25-day-run movie to 100-days / silver jubilee and such! That was because, apart from luring many non-fans to theater, songs were also the reason for drawing a significant % of the "repeat" audiences there (regardless of how nice / bad the videos happened to be).

Well, in the RARE case of a BO hit that didn't have much of a contribution by rAsA, I will definitely mention in this thread

Apart from nAn vAzha vaippEn, Rajini had 3 major hit movies in 1979, for which IR was the MD.

Quite a significant one considering today's state of affairs - when fans of some MD, who has the only BO hit in 3-4 years as a Rajini movie, asking "what was the last BO hit for rAsA"

(ஒரு ஹீரோவோட மட்டுமே) வருஷத்துக்கு நாலு (+ many more with others) v/s நாலு வருஷத்துக்கு ஒன்னு / அரை  / கால்!

Let me list those three others one by one...

#18 dharma yudhdham (1979)

Interesting to see that the first major hit for Kamal's close buddy R C Sakthi (as a director) was a Rajini movie

Sridevi did a reporter role "ada pOyyA pOyya ulagam perusu nee oru podi dappA"...AgAya gangai & oru thanga radhaththil were two lovely MV numbers that are evergreen.

I like the picturization of the 'AgAya gangai' song very much!

Janaki's humming in the interlude of Aagaya Gangai ..... Ethereal!

#19 ARilirundhu aRubadhu varai (1979)

Panju A - SPM - Rajinikanth movie that had the lovely "kaNmaNiyE kAdhal enbadhu" sweetie!

The movie was both a success and name earner for Rajini IIRC.

Around this time Rajinikanth became my cousin's favourite, overtaking Kamal...
(Me not watching movies during those years, as mentioned in the SPB-IR thread...I don't remember watching this movie afterwards too...)

#20 annai Or Alayam (1979)
This is the fourth Rajini hit of that year with glorious rAsA music.

Actually, for sometime, I didn't even know it was a Rajini movie

All I knew was 'appanE appanE' and 'nadhiyOram' songs that I frequently heard on radio / bus / teakkadai (yes, those forms of music listening have already got established by now).

Of course I knew it had to have something to do with yAnai (Pillaiyarappan reference & the trumpet sounds) and kind of guessed it got to be a Devar films movie (and it was )

Movie was a hit because of Rajini & yAnai mainly but rAsA had his solid contribution as well.

And for many years, nilavu nEram / nandhavanaththil & ammA nee sumandha piLLai songs were regulars at IOKS. The first two too became my favourites (besides appanE appanE & nadhiyOram) while I didn't warm up much to the TMS number

There's also a sweet SPS number (malaiyaruvi maNikkuruvi )...

At the same time when IR was composing for kalyANarAman / annai Or Alayam kind of movies, see what came along :

#21 uthirippookkaL
(One of the most praised movies from TF field by average movie watchers and critics alike)

Mahendran / Aswini / Vijayan / Sarathbabu / Charuhasan colloborating with rAsA.

That such a movie was a BO success is a testimony to the taste of the TN public in 70's

Another 'rAsA title song' movie
(Should we even mention the most famous song of this movie, azhagiya kannE?)

Title song : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JS66Dny0xk

Lovely, lovely songs!

IR/Kannadasan/Janaki come together to weave a magical tapestry of varied hues... melancholic ruminating over the loveless marriage, the balm for the pain in the form of the loving children... every bit of the song tugs at one's heart strings!

Naan paada varuvaai...what a classical carnival! Only Janaki could have carried it off with this nonchalant aplomb! Poda Poda pokke... what challenges IR dangled , and how enthusiastically Jankai lapped them up! Might have a Janaki monopoly, had it not been for Shailaja's kalyanam paaru, another sweet song.

and this film marked a new era in film making, film score composing and most of all how to make it a best movie watching experience ever.
Thanks app ji for highlighting this movie. Yes, it was the most talked about movie that time, especially climax and the end. You rightly pointed out the quality of audience that time. No mass entertainer, no masala, no cheap tricks, straight from the heart movie which audience appreciated and welcomed.

Saravanan sir, Great that you mentioned the rare gems with a nice write-up.

Yes, it was a landmark film with sweet songs!

nanRi for the comments Saravanan sir & V_Sji!

In the same year, there was a movie by IR's "debut combo" (Devaraj-Mohan / Sivakumar) with an adult theme; it had a decent run all around the state.

#22 rOsAppoo ravikkaikkAri (1979)
Advertised as Sivakumar's 100th movie. Unni Mary (Deepa) acted as the "ennuLLil engO Engum geetham" singing adulterous wife. Accordingly, Sivakumar did the role of "uchchi vagundheduththu...mEyudhunnu sonnAnga" singing EmAndha sONagiri husband. (Never had a chance to watch the movie but got this story from a keetRu article ).

While these two were top-notch numbers, the other two rustic songs, veththala veththala & mAmEn oru nA malliyappoo koduththAn were patti-thotti hits as well.

I simply love this album!

I chanced upon this article  today about the last years of Devaraj-Mohan and felt "ayyO pAvam"

இதில் தேவராஜ் பத்து வருடங்களுக்கு முன்பு சென்னை அம்பத்தூர் பகுதியில் சைக்கிள்களுக்குக் காற்றடித்து, பஞ்சர் ஒட்டும் ஒரு கடையை நடத்தி அதன் மூலம் வாழ்க்கையை ஓட்டியதாகக் கூறுகிறார்கள்.

வாழ்வாதாரத்துக்காக சைக்கிள்களுக்குக் காற்றடிக்கும்போது வலியுடன் அவர் விட்ட பெரு மூச்சு இந்த வளி மண்டலத்தில் கலந்திருக்கும். சோகம் சுமந்த அந்த மெüனக் காற்று எத்தகைய வேதனையை வெளிப்படுத்தியிருக்கும் என்பதை எடுத்துச் சொல்ல உலகின் எந்த மொழியிலாவது வார்த்தைகள் வசப்படுமா?

மோகனைப் பொருத்தவரை பெரிய அளவில் வசதி வாய்ப்புடன் இல்லாவிட்டாலும் மகன் பாபு, மகள்கள் ராஜலட்சுமி, பிரபாவதி, உமா மகேஸ்வரி ஆகியோரின் அரவணைப்பால் அவர் பொழுது கழிந்துள்ளது.

பொதுவாகப் பார்க்குமிடத்து இந்த இருவரும் தங்களது கடைசிக் காலத்தில் பெயர் சொல்லும் அளவுக்கு இல்லாததற்கு பணமும் ஒரு காரணம்.

This one was a moderately successful film (and definitely not a match to the first four by the same director that had phenomenal runs).

#23 niRam mARAdha pookkaL (1979)
BR - Vijayan - Sudhakar - Radhika -Rathi

The songs were phenomenal! Ayiram malargaLE malarungaL - one lost count as to how many times IOKS would have broadcasted this those days. Then there were iru paRavaigaL & mudhal mudhalAga kAdhal duet which were both superb numbers.

BTW, to repeat - this is the first BR movie where SPB had sung

Radiospathy has a detailed article on Niram Maaradha Pookkal

http://www.radiospathy.com/2008/11/blog-post.html

"முதன் முதலாக காதல் டூயட்", "இரு பறவைகள் மலை முழுவதும்", "ஆயிரம் மலர்களே" போன்ற இனிமையான பாடல்களை எஸ்.பி.பாலசுப்ரமணியம், எஸ்.ஜானகி, ஜென்ஸி, சைலஜா ஆகியோர் பாடியிருக்கின்றார்கள். கூடவே "இரு பறவைகள் மலை முழுவதும்" பாடலின் சோக மெட்டை சசிரேகாவும், "காதலிலே" என்ற சின்னஞ்சிறு பாட்டை இளையராஜாவும் பாடியிருக்கின்றார்கள் என்றாலும் இவர்களை பாடியவர்கள் பட்டியலில் டைட்டில் கார்ட்டில் போடவே இல்லை. இந்த இரண்டு பாடல்களும் இசைத்தட்டில் கிடையாது. படத்துக்காக மேலதிகமாகப் போடப்பட்டவை.


Above Link also has these two songs along with the Background Score for the Film