Raja Paarvai

'80s oLiyum Oliyum (OO) was very special. This was the era when the only one thing we had to worry was about whether we were allowed to switch on TV at the right time on Fridays. We had a slogam session on Fridays at home, in Madras where slogams would be recited by the entire family and at the end of it there was Kalpooram - Arathi.  If we were lucky, the slogam recital would begin at 7.00 and end just in time for oLiyum Oliyum. If we were not, oLiyum Oliyum was missed. The starting time was not in our hands because it depended on the convenience of many makkals.  

The '70s OO playlist featured epic songs viz. Vasantha Kaala NadigaLile with a scary Rajini, Kannan Oru Kaikuzhandai with Sivakumar being Sivakumar, Kaadhal Vandiruchi with a Sridevi as we knew her minus the Bollywood Dhoom Dhaam.

The '80s OO playlist was ruled by Azhagiye Kanne, Oru Thanga Radathil, Kanmaniye Kaadhal Enbadhu etc. There was this one song that was on super high rotate and the one I would eagerly wait for. And the OO version always started with this Chorus "..Panivizhum pozhidinil..." (which unfortunately is missing from the ones available on streaming platforms) and move into the 'Dum Dum Dum.. Dinchak Dinchak' beats and the chorus  'Woh Woh Woh Woh..." would begin. Thalaivan SPB would come on screen to sing "Andhi Mazhai...". Ahaa! The inexplicable feeling of listening to the song!

Andhi Mazhai is my go-to Ilaiyaraaja song for everything, anything. In college when one had to prepare for Antakshari  with songs beginning from 'A', this topped the list. 

A few years later, when I had to create a question bank for a TV Game show as a director, one of the entry level questions was to name the Carnatic Vocalist in this song. Decades later, as a professional music curator, this song was a permanent fixture in all playlists possible - Ilaiyaraaja's, '80s, Songs shot in Madras, SPB's, All time Classics etc. Recently as part of Lockdown Vettiness, I'd put one Karaoke almost everyday and send it to immediate family and close friends (no escape, paavam). Andhi Mazhai was the first to be recorded there as well. I'm also vetti-ly curating a few playlists as part of the 'Lockdownil....' series. The latest is 'Lockdowinil Vasantha' with songs based on Vasantha. Do check it out before I mention the obvious.

Yesterday, popular media personality and producer, Subhashree Thanikachalam, as part of her rare songs series presented the Instrumental Piece from Raja Paarvai. I remember watching the film in '81-'82 with cousins, one late evening. I haven't seen this film being telecast on satellite channels nor on OTT platforms. Thought I must watch the film, after 39 years.

In the '70s and '80s, we knew him as Kamalahaasan or Kamal the handsome, talented, award-winning hero. Not as Kamal Saar or Kamal Haasan. In Raja Paarvai he also credits himself as Haasan.K. Raja Paarvai was an '81 release and this talented hero was already starring in his 100th film, as the blind violinist Raghu. He wore the very 'retro' type shirt-pant and taught us accented Englees. He didn't put over acting like Sivaji nor there were action scenes like Rajini padams. This was pure Kamal Gold padam.

And the heroine Nancy was the Oh-so-beautiful Madhavi with lovely eyes. She was one of those naturally beautiful actors who has die-hard fan boyz Thaathas even now.

Some of the scenes were set in a rich Besant Nagar - Adayar makkal's house of the '80s with wallpaper through and through that we had seen only in films including Thillu Mullu.

Some '80s elements like 'Thadangaluku Varundugirom' with the pazhaya Ro.  Green PTC & empty roads....

The strict (and quite relatable) Nancy's Appa played by Dhanushkodi taught me the first posh English word "Ridiculous". One knew all the trivia connected to Raja Paarvai viz. Kamal's father was played by Chandrahaasan, the film was Kamal's100th, the Thaatha was someone called L.V.Prasad who we were told was a big producer / director / actor, the kid was Kamal's nephew (was he?) and the singer in 'Andhi Mazhai' was SPB himself and the alapanai voice in Andhi Mazhai was Ilaiyaraaja's Guru,T.V.Gopalakrishnan.

Loved watching Raja Paarvai  yesterday, after 39 years. The film still looks so so good. The ad-film lover and former ad-film professional in me was over joyed when Wiki Akka mentioned Barun Mukherjee / Barun da as the cinematographer of this film. I thought it was Balu Mahendra until then.

If you're vetti (and I know you are), I'd urge you to watch this Classic and moozhgify in a bit of nostalgia with me. Even in the '80s, was quite disappointed to know that it was a commercial failure for Kamal & his brothers. And ya, we were also to blame for it for we as a family saw it on 'Thiruttu' VCR.

PS - Since now every film has this 'What after 20 years/ 40 years?' articles, here's my contribution for 39 years after Raja Paarvai.
If Raghu (Kamal) and Nancy (Madhavi) had a daughter then, she would be one of those Rich Ezhais  in her late 30s living in her own independent house in R.A.Puram, Terracotta tiles on the walls, Aathangudi tiles on the floor, hosting Christmas and Diwali parties in her p0sh house.

Oh yes, she'd definitely have close to 60-70k followers on instagramam, all thanks to her one-new-saree-Or-Dress-a-day and match match jewelry all bought from over-priced Instagramam stores.
Raghu continues to be a regular in Super Singer, Subhashree Thanikachalam's shows, Indiaglitz, Behindwoods video interviews as the one who played Violin for epic songs. Nancy runs one JFW type magazine and is a regular at film parties, writing about Vignesh Shivn's latest whatsapp status, for Sify.

Film-making: The madness : LOCATION -2

My obsession to spot similar locations across various films continues...

Karaikudi & around

The Chettinad Mansions and Palaces with wooden pillars, long corridors, beautiful windows and doors provide a superb backdrop to films featuring 'rich' families. Kanadugathan also has a temple and lake (if I remember right).The shooting permissions can be easily obtained to shoot anywhere thanks to the local production manager who also acts in most films shot there, as 'taragar', 'village man pottufying aamam in Panchayat' and other important roles.

Prabhu's house in his 100th film Rajakumaran was shot in one such mansion (Chettinad palace?), some bits of the songs Idhu daana from Saamy and Davani poatta Deepavali from Sandakozhi .

Cheran's house in Pirivoam Sandippoam was also shot in one of the huge Chettinad houses.

Have you watched this particular song in this film? The Dining hall is one of the several several several rooms in the house. Just look at the pillars and the flooring...

Kandukondein Kandukondein was shot inside this palace. Look at the Muttram. Simply wow it is, isn't it?

If you are looking for a place to travel to on your next weekend break or a mini holiday, do travel to Karaikudi and do a mini tour around these palaces and Chettinad houses. They are beauttttiful ! A lot of old Chettinad houses are now Heritage resorts. You can also visit the Sandai (local market) every Monday and shop for antiques of Chettinad.

Pondicherry

Puducherry is one hot destination for feature films. A lot of advertisement films also have been shot there. The architecture, beach , French roads and streets have made Pondicherry, a favourite shooting location.

Recently, Pondicherry featured in the bike chasing sequence in Ko. I see the French quarter in a lot of songs. Kaatril eeram from Veppam...

Happy from Bale Pandiya

Vizhi moodi from Ayan

One of the main reasons, films are shot in Puducherry is probably because it is not as crowded as Chennai is especially on the roads and it is a lot cheaper. Shooting in Puducherry is most cost effective for producers compared to Chennai.

Talking about Chennai, I had this major query on one location in Chennai where Moondru mudichu was shot. It is the house where Balaji (Kamal), Prasad (Rajni) and Selvi (Sridevi) live as tenants. A huge house, big terrace, Ice-house (Vivekandar Illam) like architecture. Also, located bang in the middle of main road junction. Have been asking quite a few Tamizh movie enthusiasts if they knew where this place is.

Watched the film two days ago on television and guess what the credits said? "Thank you Mrs. Rajalakshmi Srinivasan for giving us a (your) location at 39, Eldams Road, Chennai -18 for shooting"

Ah, it is Ulaga Nayagan Kamalahassan's house at the Eldams Road -TTK Road junction! Wow, whattee veedu!

The name board outside the house - S.Charuhasan, Advocate (Kamal's brother)

The view from Ulaga Nayagan's house - A bus coming out of C.P Ramaswamy road and you can also see the road parallel to it (Ethiraj Kalyana Mandapam road).

The only thing that has not changed from then to now is the petrol bunk at the junction.

Have been planning to write this post on locations forever now and it's a mere coincidence that I managed to do it today as I celebrate the 10th Anniversary of my debut in feature films as a production & locations manager. Though I have moved on to do other things in life those 4 years were simply the best in my career.

My earlier post on locations here. Other film-making links from the blog - Click here and here.

Film-making: The madness : LOCATION

LOCATION - A department very close to my heart 'coz that's where and how I started my career in films - hunting for the best suited locations the script demanded.

Slumdog millionaire, Satya, Maqbool, A Wednesday are few of the films shot extensively in Mumbai and around. It's a great thrill when you watch the film and identify the locations. Slumdog millionaire is one film I would have loved to be on location. The slums, the railway stations, Chawls, old bungalows ... would have been quite a challenge matching and getting permissions for locations as per the script.

In films, once the script is ready, the location manager is the first guy to be summoned to identify, shoot pictures of the locations in the script. The location manager does an exhaustive search, uses his/her contacts to get all the locales that match the director's vision and comes back to the director with his pictures. The director does his shortlist, joins the location manager along with his team and cinematographer for a reccee` and post his approval necessary permissions and payments are done.

Ad films are equally challenging. My friend and I once went hunting for a lonely tree all the way till Karjat for an adfilm. A hunt for a housing society with lots of space and narrow roads landed me at Dahisar's Dahiwali society. Where will you find a sea-facing apartment with lots of artefacts? Ask me. But you will get an eccentric Parsi couple free, along with the location. Theek hai? Want a sea facing terrace? Gujju family + loads of veggie thaali food free!

It is indeed a tough job to get the location the director has in mind. The director would want an old bhoot bungalow bang in the middle of the main road with a side lane next to the bungalow... with one tea shop on the lane, a small room outside the bungalow and so on. And the location guy's job doesn't stop with taking permissions and making payments. Arrangements for parking generator vehicles, makeup vans and cars and permissions to park them if they need parked in the middle of the road need to be taken. Then comes permissions from neighbours and their dogs. The cinematographer, right in the middle of his shot may want the light at a distance of 1 km in someone's house to be switched off. The location manager has to RUN ,convince, beg and plead with the neighbours to switch off the light.

Oh yes, how can I forget location owners' eccentricities? If you are shooting at a particular location for the first time, you are bound to face a whole lot of problems. The owners don't understand, don't know anything about film shoots. Can’t blame them really 'coz no one tells them that a shoot involves a bare minimum of 50 people at any point at the location, paan chewing-spitting production guys, caterers who lack the basic civic sense using your place like a dump yard for their paper cups and Bisleri bottles and annoying location managers who apologize to you time and again for the mess.

But ofcourse there are regular bungalows and shooting locales that you will find in every other film. S S Vasan [Gemini] house in Mylapore was a regular shooting place till it was replaced by this building, a few years ago.

There was an article in the Mid day on Sunday [Jul 26 '09- can't find link] about Mumbai locations in films. It recalled all major scenes shot in the Mumbai background of CST, Bandstand and the famous Marine Drive.

Want to rewind and go back and see how Madras looked? Watch this clip. I am sure the location manager didn't shell out a penny to shoot at any of these locales. These days, the under-the-table monies to the Police guys, Corporation officials is more than the cost of hiring the location.

Express estate and Binny mills are the most sought after locations in Madras for songs and fights. Athiradee from Sivaji was shot in Binny mills. Alaipayuthey, Bombay were shot in Express estates. Besant Nagar beach was an eternal 'lauvv point' or 'chase-fight location' in films from the 90s. Maniratnam loves Chalakkudi falls. Check out the collage from his songs that were shot in Chalakkudi falls in Kerala.

And guess who or which film made this location famous before it started becoming a Maniratnam regular? 1....2.....3... juuuummmmppppp!

A few films shot at Hampi - Guru, Padaiyappa and Iruvar

Tirumalai nayakkar mahal, Madurai - In Bombay, Guru and Iruvar

Like I said earlier, its a major thrill for me to spot locations from different films and say "Isn't it this familiar?" or "Weren't these two films shot at the same locations?" like this one....The picture on top is from a film released in 1980 and the one at the bottom is from a '97 film.

Meendum kokila and Iruvar [2:17 onwards] were shot at the same location. Does anyone know where this bungalow is?

The next time you watch a tamizh film, look closer. It just might have been shot in your neighbourhood.

Other film-making links from the blog - Click here and here

Shamiana is Six!

Wikipedia describes short films as a contemporary non-commercial motion picture that is substantially shorter than the average commercial feature film. There is no clear definition of the maximum length of a short film, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences classify it as 40 minutes, while the Internet Movie Database refer to any film lasting less than 45 minutes as a short subject. The short-film form is to the full-length film what the short story is to a full-fledged novel.

Theatre personality Cyrus Dastur's (pic) SHAMIANA showcases select short films every second Wednesday at Not Just Jazz by the Bay.

The masala cinema fan in me decided to be a part of its 6 month anniversary celebrations where silent short films were screened last evening at the same venue. Ten short films were screened and the duration of the films ranged from 1.5 minutes to 14 minutes. The cast and crew part of a few films were invited to the dias after their films were screened for a Q&A which was very interesting.

The films that were screened and my little note on each of them.

1. Revelations: A three minute animation film from Ireland. A simple love story of hopes raised and hopes dashed... the animation was neat and simple which is what made it stand out.
Directed by Jane Lee.

2. Bhaichara : The shortest film I have ever seen. Made at a shoe-string budget of Rs.500 this one and a half minuter had actor Vrijesh Hirjee in a double role. Two look alikes meet and realise that they have the same mole, same tattoo ("Mera Baap chor hai" & "Mera bhi"), same pendant etc. Just when they are about to hug each other with a "Bhai Bhai" they ask for each others’ names. “Krishna” and “Mahmood”! “We can’t be brothers!” is what they tell each other and go ahead with their lives. Lovely!
I am embarrassed to admit that I missed the last 5 seconds of the clippings, 'coz I got busy checking my phone’s network soon after the end credits started rolling and I am still thinking about the last shot after the credits that had the look alikes hugging each other. Arrgh! I missed a subtitle or a frame between the credits and this shot.
Director: Karan Anshuman

3. Color blind: Shamiana is a platform not just for award winning, acclaimed-all-over-the-world films. College students whose project films and short films made just for fun are showcased, encouraging young talent. Color blind was made by the students of Jai Hind College at a budget that they describe as “five packet of chips and pizza… a mini pizza". Colorblind, as the name suggests talks about racism. Very well executed with white and black gloves! Good effort by the students.
Directors: Sneh, Sanchi, Diksha, Prakriti

4. Birju: This short film was nominated for the Oscars in the student film category. Birju has no sentiment, comedy, action, drama, dialogues, plot, SFX. Yet quite endearing with the camera following the life of a cute little kid in the gullies of Pushkar, Rajasthan.
Directed by Heeraz Marfatiya

5. Innocent Mischief: Jai Hind college students’ film of a street kid and his ‘mischief’. Don’t look for production values, great lighting or wonderful cinematography in this film. Its the idea and the execution that matters.
Directors: Gauri, Milan, Pooja, Dipti

6. Mochi: Can an eleven-minute short film put together a story that romance, amma sentiment, passion … and no dialogues? Yes, says director Praveen Bhamre with his film Mochi that features some of the finest actors in Marathi cinema – Usha Nadkarni, Nilu Phule and Upendar. Mochi had the potential to be made into a full length feature film… and the beauty was that he chose to make a short film with the story.
Director: Praveen Bhamre

7. Road rage: A humorous take on the road rages, which are a common occurrence in India. With the efforts of the Pune Municipal Corporation, this film will be be showcased across all leading cinema theatres in Pune.
Directed by : Dr.Swaroop Savanur

8. Cum Pleanos Feliz: Seven minutes of pure 2-D animation of a little boy’s beautiful birthday celebrations suddenly disappearing into thin air.
Director: Em illio Lujan (Spain)

9. Jade Necklace: Was simply amazed by the thought and the use of sound in a silent film. Filmed by the students of HR college for their college project where they had to submit a film with ‘Robbery’ at the central theme.
Directors: Abhishek Singh, Priyen Sangoi and Suveer Bajaj

10. Little Sivaji: Tired of all the bad spoofs of Tamizh films that made fun of South Indian actors and their accents, I had told myself that I would not laugh at anything that says “Ayyo.. wateeejeee?” kinda nonsense. I was very sure that Little Sivaji belonged to that category. Yes it was- it was a spoof on Sivaji but quite a cute one, I must admit. Hugely popular in the Shamiana screenings , Little Sivaji is a five minute spoof on Sivaji: The Boss that was filmed and edited in six hours flat. And yes, I was ROFL-ing.
Director: Krishnan Nallappa

Special feature:

11. Trailer of Oceans of an old man: A trailer of a full length feature film by the FTII students featuring Tom Alter who was the special guest last evening.

For a suburbite* like me (Non-Mumbaikars, please excuse!) traveling all the way to town at 6:30pm directly from work was not quite easy. I wondered if Shamiana’s screenings were aimed only at the ‘town’^ies. Thankfully, they have a screening every third Saturday at D Ultimate, in Andheri. The next screening is scheduled on the 15th of November.

If you are a short film lover, do join them every second Wednesday of the month at 6:30 pm at Not Just Jazz by the Bay
Soona Mahal, 143, Marine Drive,

Churchgate, Mumbai
Ph: 22851876/ 22820957/ 883

or on the

Third Saturday of every month at 6.30 pm at

D Ultimate

B/509/510/511, Crystal Plaza,

Oberoi Chambers, New Link Road,

Andheri (W), Mumbai.
Phone 26742515

Entrance fee: Rs.100/-

Join their facebook group or email cyrusdastur {at} rediffmail {dot} com for more details.

Glossary:

*Suburb = Areas that are a part of Mumbai from Bandra till Gujarat border :).

^Town = Bandra - Nariman point includes Worli, Peddar Road, Malabar hills, Walkeshwar, Colaba...

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Bloglines still open for விளம்பர விளையாட்டு 28 . Kollywood Kostan # 2 - Chinna Thambi Periya Thambi. Sud Gopal, Congratulations! Kollywood Kostan # 3 is maha maha easy.

Film-making:The Madness - THE CREDITS

It is a different high seeing one's name on the credits of a feature film. You wait for that one moment when you get to see your name on the credits...on the big screen. In a bit of a perasai, one of the projects that I worked on , I wanted my name to occupy the entire screen - so there was my 7 letter name + my 10 letter surname +my purushan's 6 letter name. Ensured that none who watched the film missed this name with 23 letters!

A close friend worked on this marathon 3 hour film. It was quite an ordeal to sit through the film in the theatre and I did that only to see her name. To my disappointment, the theatre was running against time and hence did not run the entire reel with the end credits. Actually a lot of theatres don't. When I watch Kollywood and Bollywood films, it is my alpa pazhakkam to see the credits till the end and say "Hey, look at XYZ's name on the credits as production boy. He served me suda suda pongal when I went for the shoot to Madras" and pult things like "Oh !they shot on ARRI535??Wow!" types

I was watching Karagaattakaran the other day and was very happy to see not just the names of the technicians but their faces too in the beginning of the film... right from the production driver to the manager to the top actors.











Even Farah Khan's Main Hoo Naa's end credits have the entire crew and cast dancing infront of the camera when their names appear...if not their names, atleast their faces with them holding a placard saying 'Production'.. 'Make up'.. 'assistant directors' etc. Much better than names scrolling upwards against a black background to an empty theatre.

Old films are better in this regard in the sense that the names appeared in the beginning, so there was no chance of the man in-charge at the projector room to shut the machine before the end credits roll. Remember old Tamizh films with credits in the beginning "Sangeetham - Saraswathi stores" " Isai Udavi - Pugazhenthi, Joseph Krishna"?

In most films the assistant directors, production managers, assistant cameraman, assistant art directors - get beginning credits. It is only the pult directors like Maniratnam who give end.. maha end credits to the assistants, like the Hollywood lot. While watching some Mani ratnam film, I felt bad for director Priya [Kanda naal Mudhal, Kannamoochi Yenada], whose name appeared in the end credits. When Mani sir suffered a heart attack during the making of Ayidha ezhuthu, it was his former assistants turned directors like Priya, Shaad Ali and Sivakumar who went to his rescue helping him on the sets. Avangalukkellam front la credit kudutha koranju poiduveengala Mani Sir?