Directors who worked for ONLY ONE FILM with IR

Offshoot of a discussion on Director Vasanth in another thread, with V_Sji 

Let's try to focus mainly on those who did only one film with IR but also had films with other MDs. 

We can definitely also talk about those pAvams who managed only one film in their entire career and that happened to be with IR. That's OK but not very interesting  

OTOH, the more interesting part will be those who did ONE film with IR but didn't continue. 

The reasons / dynamics around such decision making (or just mere happening) should be quite interesting to talk about.

Thanks Appji. I wanted you to start this thread as you would have lot of insights regarding these directors and the way you present them would be interesting to read.

As I said, I started collecting few details, but it may not be sufficient. Please add your inputs anytime. With his let me start with this relatively unknown/unheard film.

I hope you all know Mr. Chandramouli of Mounaraagam. It is quite an interesting story of him on how he ended up acting.



It was a surprise that he even was associate for some great directors. He even directed few films before taking up acting. I really like his acting too. Please go through this link to get more details about his film association.
http://www.thehindu.com/arts/father-figure/article3527829.ece

It was even more surprise that he directed Then sindhuthe Vaanam where IR's mentor, G.K Venkates was the music director. That film also had V.Kumar as another music director. V.Kumar also composed vaazhvil sowbagiyam vanthathu for his Thoondil meen. Who can forget thEn sinthuthe vaanam & Unnidam MayangugiRen? Obviously there lies the connection on how he could have known and approached Raja for his own direction.

I guess Durga Devi should have been his last film,  which was released in December 1977. After that didn't direct films because he plunged into acting on numerous films as stated in the link.

He got a stunning beauty in kEttaal kEtta varam (by Vaani Jayaram) and lilting beauty in Devi Senthoora kOlam (by PJ & SJ) both written by Kannadasan. Aayiram kaN kaaLi was a thrilling surprise (by P Susheela) written by Vaali in his last film.

Just three songs, but one of them was added as a pathos as well, but truly a marvelous little filmography for Ra. Sankaran and a beautiful little playlist to remember for life time.

Ra Sankaran is an interesting case as "one-film-only-with-IR", nanRi V_Sji!

As he had not (possibly) directed any movie after Durga Devi (I say possibly because he could have tried some and they ended up incomplete / in cans etc, considering the failure of that film), there is no "post-IR" story  At the minimum, it is not "juicy"

One minor observation - the movie 'thEn sindhudhE vAnam' possibly had only V Kumar as MD.

wikipedia includes GKV but then it also includes the famous 'thEn sindhudhE vAnam' SPB-SJ song by GKV. 

That was not part of this movie, it came in an earlier movie, poNNukkuththanga manasu which was directed by Devaraj-Mohan (who later directed annakkiLi).

Actually, there's an interesting "sequence"

Movie                             Song

Lakshmi Kalyanam            Raman eththanai ramanadi (this song's first line became a movie title and that way started a chain)
R E Ramanadi                  (ammAdi) poNNukku thanga manasau
P T manasu                     thEn sindhudhE vAnam
T S vAnam                      unnidam mayangugiREn
unnidam mayangukiREn    (don't know what songs & whether any made into another film title)

In any case, V Kumar gave those great numbers (unnidam mayangukiREn & vAzhvil sowbAgyam) in association with this director (turned actor). 

Excellent!

Thanks for the correction. No doubt you are our wiki And what a movie-song train that was! Very interesting!!

On Director Vasanth (who worked with IR for his first film, kELadi kaNmaNi, starring SPB and having such evergreens as kaRpoora mullai onRu, maNNil indhakkAdhal, nee pAthi nAn pAthi), these comments should hold good :

https://ilayaraja.forumms.net/t116p200-why-ir-is-not-simply-someone-between-msv-time-arr-time#21609

a_e, referring to the jannal youtube on IR-1000, wrote:
This Vasanth guy talks so much now about IR but IMHO he is not someone to be taken seriously, w.r.t. IR-appreciation. Why - whether willingly or not, he was an active part of the "anti-IR-gumbal" in the early 90's that heavily maligned IR in the industry.

As you can see, even in an IR-1000 interview, he wants to project KB-pic. 

He is a KB-loyalist who switched to Maragathamani in 1991 for his second film (nee pAthi nAn pAthi, that even had the title from an IR song, after the terrific kELadi kaNmaNi album that IR gave him).

And later, he was active with the KB-MR-VM ghOshti, promoting Deva-ARR in the mid / late 90's also. 

Either he didn't have a choice or was just an opportunist...may be when he sensed that KB was "losing it", he "courageously"  did a U turn and came to YSR. (He didn't go back to IR, however...or, may be tried IR and got kicked out).

K.Chandrabose directed a film ThirukkalyaaNam released in 1978. Another relatively unknown film. I could not find any information over the net about him, nor about the film. Definitely Anbu sir's spreadsheet comes to rescue in terms of lyricst, release dates and director information. This film had Vijaykumar and Srividya as lead pair. It has 4 beautiful songs with alaiyE kadal alaiyE was popular during radio days. Even though I have listened to the song several times since childhood, I didn't bother to associate the director and other details till recently.

Female duet dEvathaigal vaazhthuvathu by PS and SJ. PS singing the first pallavi and charaNam while SJ takes over from second charaNam. thaali ondru thevaiyenna by VJ is another serious melody. Nee mOhiniyaa by MV and L R Eeswari is the biggest surprise with MV aNNan changing his voice beautifully while LRE giving able company to MV's vocal gymnastics. This is one of 4 songs sung by LRE for IR (the other three are from idhayathil Or idam, nallathoru kudumbam & Odi viLaiyaadu thaaththaa) . This song takes away the gloomy mood of the previous song and brings the jovial mood. Obviously not to miss the orchestration on all these songs with generous flute, guitar, veena, strings and ear-friendly percussion.

V_Sji, thank you for sharing this interesting, unknown info about Ra.Shankaran, the yester year director. I have a "Big" request to you. In "Thirukalyanam", I have heard ONLY the popular PJ-SJ duet "alaiyE kadal alaiyE".
Could you pls point me to where I can listen to the other songs you have mentioned?
Thank you.

No issues

There are couple of links, but some songs are cut short in between, quality not that good. 
http://tamiltunes.com/thiru-kalyanam.html
http://shakthi.fm/ta/album/show/bae01b6e

I have PM'ed you the songs, not great quality, but decent ones. If anyone else is interested, please PM me.

The breezy yet short and sweet humming phrases by B.S Sasirekha with K J Yesudas in maalaichchaaralil iLam poonguyil (oru kudumbaththin kathai-1975) marks her (non-striking) debut. The more interesting fact is that Salil Chowdhury (IR took the musical sensibilities where SC left off especially in terms of WCM) composed for this film, which might have struck IR for Sasirekha's voice.  May be he kept all these ideas within him until he got a breakthrough. The rest is history when he employed her singing in vaazhvE maayamaa (Gayathri - 1977). She almost sang 50 songs for IR, each one of them is memorable.

ammammaa pasikkuthamma is Sasirekha's second song (with another debutant singer Neeraja). This is for ThuNaiyiruppaaL Meenaatchi directed by Valampuri Somanathan.

As I read in wiki, he was a poet and scholar who slowly started his film career as screen writer for some classic films like vaanambadi, paar magaLE paar which tells a lot about his talent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valampuri_Somanathan

He even directed few films, Lalitha in 1976 being his first. It had some great songs by MSV, especially sorgaththilE mudivaanathu by SPB and VJ. VJ and Sujatha's ascending film careers brought more movies for them by directors. VasanthangaL varum munbE and kalyaanamE oru pennOduthaan are stealers, yet the former was more popular those days.

For the films he wrote screenplay and dialogues, music was mostly by MSV-TKR or MSV. It was a surprising decision for him to come to Maestro for his second film ThuNaiyiruppaaL Meenaatchi. Just at the name of the film and title score no one could forget the classic; SugamO aayiram by P Susheela. I can say clearly that she sang one her best in her career. For any singer, that would seal their career. My eyes get welled up whenever I hear the song. I wrote briefly about it here. Don't forget plum's wonderful post in that thread.

Vaarthaiyillaamal oru kavi paadavaa is a another stunner from the film but as usual not much recognized. And there is one amusing drama/play song. TMS and SJ sang a beautiful sEtril oru sengkazhuneer.

May be Valampuri Somanathan wants to have a glimpse of what IR can contribute having heard about him in AnnakkiLi, Kavikkuyil and so on. Not sure what he thought of after Thunai iruppaaL Meenatchi, but he again went back to MSV for his next two films. Thunaivi had some couple of good songs, but I am not sure about Sigappukkal mookkuththi.
I believe Thunai iruppaL Meenatchi should have been a good film. Anyway the films he directed didn't go well. Nothing to blame here. Thanks to him, we got some classics!

ithu eppadi irukku is our next film. Directed by R. Pattabhiraman. Unfortunately I could not find any information about him over the net. The film was a Jaishankar, Sridevi starrer. Even in this obscure movie, it had some great songs, especially the very popular engum niraintha by KJY and SJ. It was not just popular, it is a very memorable song. Oh My Love by SJ is my bet. SJ solo singing, club dance, IR, imagine the song. Dhinam dhinam oru naadagam is also quite good. There is one more song, kai rEgai paarthu by Kovai Murali.

I believe Rajini's dialogue ithu eppadi irrukku came from this film

V_S wrote:ithu eppadi irukku is our next film. Directed by R. Pattabhiraman. Unfortunately I could not find any information about him over the net. The film was a Jaishankar, Sridevi starrer. Even in this obscure movie, it had some great songs, especially the very popular engum niraintha by KJY and SJ. It was not just popular, it is a very memorable song. Oh My Love by SJ is my bet. SJ solo singing, club dance, IR, imagine the song. Dhinam dhinam oru naadagam is also quite good. There is one more song, kai rEgai paarthu by Kovai Murali.

I believe Rajini's dialogue ithu eppadi irrukku came from this film

Idhu  Sujatha - writer.. avaroda kadhai.. Anitha ilam manaivi.. think so........ kadhai padichu andha asaiyil padam parthu nondhu ponen.

.....Engum niraindha paatu... Bangalore and Mysure kaatuvanga.... padam parthadhu......79 il.... afater 10 years... kalyanam agi.. Bangalore partha podhu..\
indha paatu manasil varum..

Thanks Ushaji for the insights. Nice to read your nostalgic trip

BTW, how did I miss the famous "parattai" punch line which was source of the film title? Age is getting me

@icarusprakash has posted on twitter that R Pattabhiraman also did Gayathri with IR

So, technically, he did more than one film

(Looks like Anbu sir's spreadsheet has him listed in two different ways - Pattabhiraman & Pattabhi Raman with a space )

Great catch @icarusprakash and app ji Thanks. I can remove it, but don't want to miss Ushaji's comments.

AFAIK KS Ravikumar did only one or two films with IR. Periya kudumbam if I remember right. He even mocked a reporter who asked him as to why he went with ARR/deva and not IR for a Kamal film.

Kadhir did Idhayam with IR and after that only with ARR

PC Sriram directed a few films, but only Meera with IR I think

Hope GVM doesn't join the above list..

V_S wrote:Great catch @icarusprakash and app ji Thanks. I can remove it, but don't want to miss Ushaji's comments.

Thanks for ur kind words V_S... no issues... thevai ilai enral azhithu vidavum..........

Next on our one-time director list is T.K.Mohan. As per the data I collected he did three films; Lakshmi (1979), Karadi (1980) & Sukradesai (1984).

Lakshmi was a Sridevi starrer, has four juicy songs; thennamaraththile thendral adikkuthu, first duet for Raja (with P Susheela) (I remember I wrote few lines about this song in the other forum earlier), vElaayi veerayi vetkamenna poovayi poovayi by S Janaki & Chorus, a very favorite of mine right from my childhood days till date and it was a regular on radio those days, mElam kottaa neram varum poonkodiyE by PSusheela again, a magic spell by Maestro and panthayathile kalanthirukkira singarakkuyilE by Vani Jayaram yet another beauty.

May be because Maestro started keeping himself busy, music of his next film Karadi went to Gangai Amaran. Karadi has MGR's grandson MGC Sukumar as hero. He acted in few films that time. I got three songs from the film; kaththaaduthu by M.C.Balu & Jency, paarthalum aasai idhu theeradhu by P Jayachandran & P Susheela  & iraivan avan  by S P Shailaja (a pathos song). Not big shakers for me, nevertheless a good listen.

His next and last film was Sukradesai (1984) acted by Viji & Pandian, music by Shankar-Ganesh duo. It had koyya koyya by Malaysia Vasudevan, Vani Jayaram & puriyathavan by MV. The songs were written by my school thamizh teacher and poet, Pulavar Chidambaranathan (who wrote Erikkarai poongaatRE from thooral ninnu pOchchu)

Again, nothing in the league of Lakshmi, but we will give benefit of doubt to the batsman (director)

There is this director who directed more than 100 films. But worked with IR in only one film...

Welcome here raagakann

I didn't know T.K.Mohan directed that many movies. Do you have any pointers?

The director who directed more than 100 films is Dasari Narayana Rao.  He however worked with IR for only one film - Kuntiputrudu (Maybe because of the connection of hero Mohanbabu with IR)

One more director who has directed more than 100 films (as per Wikipedia) is K.S.R Das.  He worked with IR in 1979 for Yugandhar.

V_Sji, 
"mELam kotta nEram varum poonkodiyE" is sung by B S Sasireka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9x9vkf6YO5I

tongue slip Thanks for the catch

The Kannada film "Bhoomigeetha" directed by Kesari Haravu was a stunner.  The film with a social message (if you destroy nature, nature will destroy you in due course of time.  We are facing this harsh reality now) was a beauty.  Set in the backdrop of 1950s, the film dealt with the concept of deforestation.  The songs and the BGM deserved a national award.  Picturization of all the songs were excellent.  Particularly, the song "Aa devarilli maaduva" sung by IR himself will bring tears in the viewers' eyes.  But unfortunately the film fared badly at the box office.  SPB Charan was introduced in this film.

https://kannadamoviesinfo.wordpress.com/2013/09/24/bhoomi-geetha-1997/

 

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

Thanks for the information on Bhoomigetha Surely a great soundtrack.