Bombay Ravi classics in MFM - #3 manjaLprasAdavum (nakhakshadhangaL)

Few days back my sleep got disturbed because of one 1986 song playing in the mind for hours non-stop in the middle of the night 

I was thinking of starting a thread and collecting the fantastic Malayalam songs MD-ed by "Bombay Ravi" in a separate thread at that time. 

While these songs are frequently in youtube playlists / web lists / tweet storms etc, it doesn't hurt to have them organized here. Who knows, this thread could introduce such gems to someone for the first time

Let me start with my personal starter song of this fantastic MD in the next post.

#1 
A rAthri mAnju pOyi
(panchAgni, 1986)

ആ രാത്രി മാഞ്ഞു പോയി 
(പഞ്ചാഗ്നി)

Well, from his wikipedia page, it looks like this was his first MF album. So, I've practically followed him right from his debut in MFM (even though he was a veteran in HFM).

This was the second Malayalam movie I saw after moving to Palakkad - fresh from college, yet to get final results and already working some 10+ hours daily as a trainee engineer   Since my sensibilities w.r.t. MF was not developed yet, and couldn't understand clearly much of the dialogs also, it was a terrible experience for me in theater. (Though this movie is considered classic by most Keralites, to me it was a torture at that time. Never revisited it ever after, unfortunately. I might like if I watch now but there are lot other priorities).

One dialog I still remember from this movie is the nephew asking the lead character (played by Geetha) : വലിയമ്മ ആളുകളെക്ക്കൊല്ലുവോ? (valiyaama ALukaLa kolluvO? Meaning, Aunty, do you kill people?)

I'll write some more about the movie in the post on next song. For now, let us hear the fantastic, superb Chithra song (I don't mean the sesame oil Chithra on screen, it is KSC  )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5a58aRvORE


For the first time in decades, among the public of Kerala, KJY has found someone who can compete with him for musical fame. This young girl started making waves in that time period. 

Of course, she was already very popular in TN as well (poovE poochchooda vA / sindhu bhairavi / mudhal mariyAdhai)...

Palakkad is somewhat unique among Kerala towns those days - that almost all private buses had cassette players and were playing music, much like the neighboring Coimbatore / Pollachi towns of TN. And this song was heard almost daily by me  When I  got my personal "walk man" and found a recording center in that town (of course, run by a Thamizh guy who mainly recorded IR songs on cassettes), my first ever MFM collection had to obviously have this song.

To this day, this song is so dear to me. Especially the "AhAram" - the Aa-A-A-A-A-A humming - in the end of the saraNam that connects back to pallavi - is in my rating one of the best ever in IFM

#2 
sAgarangaLE
(panchAgni, 1986)

സാഗരങ്ങളെ
(പഞ്ചാഗ്നി)

One can hear a decent quality audio of this cult classic in Kerala in the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcrPWybq9VI

And the young Mohanlal romancing 'vAn pOlE vaNNam koNdu' dancer can be seen in the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIBt4m5xGL8


I probably posted this song and wrote about it in other places and hence skip talking about the song itself   Just want to add that both these super-hit songs from that movie got penned by none other than ONV Kurup who wrote so poetic film songs in MFM for years and recently passed away. (Including the sweet kunnaththE and Adhi ushus sandhya pooththadhividE in pazhassi rAjA by the same director but MD-ed by IR).

As mentioned in the post prior, some info related to the movie / time period / swantham kahAni etc follows...

panchAgni was one of the movies from the celebrated Hariharan-MT Vasudevan Nair combo as director-writer pair.  IRFs are definitely very familiar with Hariharan - as the director of pazhassi rAjA and thus needs no intro

MTV was famous in the literary circles as well and he supposedly loved Bharathappuzha and got a lot of inspiration from the river and that area (which I was privileged to visit and enjoy when attending a wedding and reminisced my wonderful experience in one of the posts on the IR-SPB thread in the hub ). He was also known for writing some satirical stories that were his commentaries of purANA / history (we'll probably talk a little bit about this angle in future, for vaishAli and vadakkan veera gAtha).

In this movie, they took up a social theme and it probably resonated well with the pro-left Malayalees and tasted a grand success.

It was the second Mohanlal movie that I ever watched and in both the first and this he was playing what one would call a "guest role"  He plays a reporter / well-wisher / lover of the lead lady in this movie, but the role was more like a cameo. The previous movie of him that I've seen was the first ever MF that I saw in Palakkad. I think I had seen only one Malayalam movie ever before, eenAdu in college audi. That way, kaNdu kaNdarinju was perhaps the 2nd ever MF I've seen and it has Mohanlal playing a cameo.

Interestingly, kaNdu kaNdarinju had Raguman & Mammootty in the main roles and Lal appears only towards the end. I was so surprised in the theater that the crowd went delirious (claps / shouts etc) when he came on screen He was the darling of the Palakkadan crowd already. Not knowing much about him (as he was never featured much in TN media those days, where Prem Nazir / Mammootty got talked about a lot), it was a big surprise for me personally.

Now, when watching panchAgni, I must say I liked the Mohanlal portions (even though the movie was termed a "torture" overall). That's when probably my liking for this actor started

In a way, Bombay Ravi possibly had a small share in promoting Lalettan - i.e. to people like me

#3
manjaL prasAdavum
(nakhakshadhangaL, 1986)

മഞ്ഞള്‍പ്രസാദവും നെറ്റിയില്‍ ചാര്‍ത്തി
(നഖക്ഷതങ്ങൾ)

Be prepared to be transported to the banks of Bharathappuzha once you start listening to this song! 

Terrific treat to anyone who loves the 80's kEraLam - with all its smells, sounds, beauty and what not!

The "generic" cheNdai sounds notwithstanding, the song is such a nice capture of nativity - a tremendous feat for an "outsider" like Bombay Ravi. Perhaps the locally strong team members (Hariharan / MTV / ONV) helped him in that department. However the musical sensibilities cannot be easily explained to such effect to ordinary composers. It must be the extraordinary acumen / skills of Ravi to capture all these and get into such a sweet number that also mildly maintains his own sensitivities. I simply love the santoor / veeNa and percussion sounds that beautifully support the sweet KSC singing. (KSC was in her top form here and one of those very deserving NA's for a singer given).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeYoJYQKrGE


Unfortunately for me, though I was right there in Palakkad when this film came out and was a sensation - missed watching it  (Yet to watch the movie, even on other electronic media  ) It had young Monisha (who too won NA for her role in the movie) who unfortunately died later in an accident  Then there was Vineeth who later did some movies in Thamizh also. Anyways, I don't know anything about the on-screen stuff, except this song's youtube that I've watched. I do plan to watch this movie someday.

I'll be featuring at least 4 songs from this awesome album! This one is obviously the top number! The male numbers were outstanding as well. I don't know how many times I would have listened to these songs on walkman those days! Perfect companions in the bed, after a very tough work day. (I was trainee engineer, fresh from college, spending 10-12 hours in the telecom factory campus - often opening our department early in the morning and closing it at night  )

Sorry, can't help my mind swiftly flying back 30 years and getting overpowered with thoughts of those days!