A Walk Down Rahman Lane by Rekha Bala

 If you are here for the first time, please read this post.

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It was August 1992. I was hosting a walk-in music talent show as part of some youth group (whose name I don’t remember now). The show had started at 6pm and even though it was 8pm already, there was no sign of people backing off. Most of the talent was good, with an interesting array of songs I loved.

I didn’t have to do much, just announce the name of the singer/performer, name of the song/composition and say some encouraging words at the end. But beyond 8pm was getting a bit too much for me. I would have to ask one of the boys to walk me home. It was small-town Kochi after all, broken streetlights at most places, with incessant rain, and even though I had called home to say I would be late, there would be some displeasure at the end of it.

 

Before I would let the organisers know I was not staying on until eternity (which was where the show was heading), I was thrust a chit of paper by a young man. It said, “Kaadhal Rojave, A R Rahman”.

“Eh, What is this, Who is this? Why have I never heard of this song and music director before?” I thought. After all, my neighbourhood cassette shop would always alert my brother and I, the moment something new released. “Wait till I get to that Gujju tomorrow!” was my first reaction.

 

I had no choice but to let that young man go on stage. Didn’t have to blabber much as I had no clue who ARR was, or how colourful his Kaadhal was. When he went on stage, I stood by in the wings, and waited till the end, mesmerised.

 

“Thendral ennai theendinaal selai theendum nyaabagam

China pookkal paarkaiyil dhegam paartha nyaabagam

Velli odai pesinaal sonna vaarthai nyaabagam

Megam rendum sergaiyil mogam konda nyaabagam…”

 

Wait, what was this magic. And why can’t I move? When the song finished, there was an uproar. They had all become ARR fan-actics like me.

 

The next day, I went to the cassette shop, berated Sunilbhai and proceeded to play Roja on loop on our Philips Powerhouse till the entire neighbourhood started playing along. In college, where I was doing my second-year degree, we were humming either Chinna Chinna Aasai or Kaadhal Rojave in the corridors or the lawns and very often, groups would break out into ‘Sol, Sol’. By the time, the movie had released, and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

The only regret I have is my bff pipping me to interview ARR during a show in Muscat. I was in India during that time, missed both an interview and a show. But as they say, if it’s GOAT, good things will be come to those who wait.

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About Rekha Bala

Rekha is a journalist who moved from Kochi to Bengaluru via Muscat. A huge music buff, Rekha reached out to me on twitter and shared her MemoiARR.
Thank you, Rekha and I hope the fellow ARR fan-atic in your family, your son, writes his MemoiARRs as well. Oh yes, Rekha, please do say Hello to ARR when you interview him soon.

Say hello to Rekha here.

A Walk Down Rahman Lane by Latha

 If you are here for the first time, please read this post.

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Chinna Chinna Aasai .. Siragadikkum Aasai.. Muthu Muthu Aasai ..

 

When we listen to this song, Arvindswamy, Madhu, that beautiful village and everything beautiful about that song will run in our minds.  Isaippuyal’s first movie and this song was a chartbuster for a very long time.

For me this song is not just a song.  It was HOPE for me.  Whenever I was feeling a bit low in life, I used to listen to this song and it gave me a streak of positivity and made me wait for the next sun rise. 

Don’t know if it was the music or lyrics or the colourful picturization it just gave me hope to keep me afloat.  Thanks a lot A R R for this and every other awesome song you have given us.

(images are from the song's video on YouTube)
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About Latha

A Kalakkal copywriter, an Asatthal Actor and a Mega Model - Latha a.k.a Ji is an Ideas Sironmani when it comes to advertising and copywriting. Ideating campaigns exclusively for the Tamizh market is her forte and she is the brain behind some of the excellent local ads and characters, on Radio.

According to grapevine, KJo, after watching a.k.a Latha's impressive performance in Pushpavalli as the 'Amma' , is signing her opposite the Big B in a mega budget multi-lingual film. You heard it first here.
I'd strongly urge Netflix to consider casting Latha for the Tamizh version of 'Sima Didi from Mumbai'. Audition ready .

Please queue up and get your autographs here before she parandufyes to some foreign country filming for Dharma Productions.

A Walk Down Rahman Lane by Shashaa Tirupati

If you are here for the first time, please read this post .

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One personal favourite (this was next to impossible to choose and thou art a sinner for making me hahaha!) would be the song "Jaage Hain Der Tak" from Guru. I remember consuming the soundtrack of Guru to the point that all the songs started sounding distorted in my ears (I may've begun hallucinating as it played EVEN while I slept); that was perhaps when I realised I should give the album (and my ears) a break! "Jaage Hair Der Tak" would be one song that would tear me up in the most unexpected situations..

I'd be laying in bed or on the bus to university at the time, or sitting in our lawn and begin wailing for no reason I could particularly put a finger on besides the music itself. It was one of the catalysts towards dropping out and deciding to pursue music as a career, without an iota of a clue as to how. A lot of people are aware of this background story, but there grew an even deeper connection over the years.

I had begun touring extensively with AR Sir at the time and there was one particular show, I suppose it was in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where this very song was performed for the first time with the entourage. The day before the show, in my hotel room, I received news of my grandfather's demise.

"Jaage hain der tak, humein kuch der sone do"

He had gone to sleep after almost a decade of taking me to music classes, standing in line to pay my school fees, and accompanying me to every nook of the country to endless performances, competitions and musical musings. The significance of the song went from being my reason towards becoming a singer to an uncanny tribute to my grandfather's irreplaceable stature in my life. 

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About Shashaa Tirupati

Shashaa needs no introduction but I had to link her wiki page only for those who misspell her name, repeatedly (yes, I'm looking at you, metadata folks).
Apart from singing songs for all leading composers including A.R.Rahman, Amit Trivedi, M.Jayachandran, D Imman, Gopi Sunder and Anirudh, Shashaa has also been singing, writing, and composing independent songs. I hope to meet Shashaa someday and listen to Vaan Varuvaan, Naane Varugiren, Raasali , Un Koodave and ofcourse, KhulKe, live!

Thank you, Shashaa for writing this poignant post, remembering your Grandpa. 

Folks, do head to Shashaa's YouTube channel to listen to her latest work and share your feedback here and here. 

A Walk Down Rahman Lane by Vinitha Vijayakumar

If you are here for the first time, please read this post.
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Not so long ago, a Saturday evening turned horrendous because I had to watch this disaster called 'Imaikka Nodigal' in cinemas. Uff! Even now my body and mind is aching thinking about it. The next morning I was in that hangover and so I did this and that to get out of the “meh” feeling. 

Thankfully, when I was browsing through my library in Apple Music I landed up at 'New' one among the most famous albums of ARR. It was an instant energy booster and I felt so fresh after listening to the entire album. I wrote the below as an fb post as well. 

“Imagine yourself on a drive on a highway! The car is moving at 120 and suddenly a song of full energy starts playing to give you the indescribable energy that you were craving the most! To get over my Imaikka Nodigal hangover,  I am doing all I can, and this album 'New' is super helpful in the process! A 2005 release still as fresh as any contemporary album. ARR is timeless! I think this was the era, we got the best Intro songs. And this album was unique in its own way to comprise of songs those were stand-alone hits! Irrespective of the content of the movie, I think 'New' as an album is quite a good one! "If you wanna" song broke the stereotype of heroine character intro songs sung by Aparna, Anupama, and Chinmayi. Some Girl power there, you know!

  

Nobody expected Nithyashree would pull off a "Markandeya"! An experiment that clicked big time! 'Sakkarai..' became the best addition in the list of Rahman's folkish dance duets like "Nee kattum selai", "Usilampatty" "Anjadhe jeeva" and "Gopala Gopala"! 'Thottal Poo Malarum' created a new formula for remixes! "Kalayil dhinamum" for all the melody lovers, 'Spiderman', a definition of seductive ecstasy and "NEW NEW", is a powerhouse! Blaaze, Karthik, Vijay Prakash, Sunitha Sarathy and Tanvi Sha - What a combination! The rap portion is out of the world! And our own Vaalee Sir innovating the lyrical part with titles of MGR movies. If possible listen to the song and find them out! :)”

I grew up listening to ARR, so all my stories have all his songs. Thought of sharing the above as it happened recently 😀
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About Vinitha Vijayakumar
(that's an 'i' after the first 'V' not 'a' for those startled ;-))

RJ, Copywriter, Travel enthusiast...Vinitha Vijayakumar is your true Tamizh music buff who has all the metadata and information on TMU aka our Tamizh Music Universe. It's said that people with good work ethic are worth their weight in gold, and Vinitha is one such dependable, enthusiastic and dedicated professional. I had the good fortune of working with her briefly. Thank you, Vinitha for sharing your MemoiARRs.

You can listen to Vinitha's thought bubbles here and share your thoughts with her, here

A Walk Down Rahman Lane by Sachu

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ARR (not Suganda Paaku😂) brings not just memories of people to me, he brings back situations and all that happened right before my eyes. Be it the song that my first boyfriend played for me (though I have forgotten the BF but still remember the song😂)....

...or the song that I sang to my children ...

....or the song I wanted my husband to dedicate to me. ARR has touched every part of my life. 

I started my fan journey listening to Roja songs, a little doubtful about its success. But the songs just grew on me and before I knew it, I was humming them. What is even more astonishing about ARR part from his music is his modesty and generosity. He was always grounded and put India on the Oscar map🙏🙏 

May he continue to spread cheer with his music and get more accolades for India and her people 🥰🥰🥰

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About Sachu

Sara née Sachu a.k.a Sach is a Singer, Fashionista and a Saree influenza who is yet to utilise her "influenzaness" fully. With Kollywood in her blood and now Korean Series in her naadi narambu, Sachu is one element in her truest element that I miss, from the '90s world of mine. Half of my college life was spent at her house, listening to May Maadham and watching Sun Music.
A wonderful mother and a superb human being, Sach intends to resume her higher education to equip herself to work with children with Special needs.
I truly wish she takes up singing full time, after finishing her jewellery design and sareefication duties.
Meet my dearest fashionista  here. 

A Walk Down Rahman Lane by Unni

If you are here for the first time, please read this post.

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My first memory of A R Rahman (of course, at that time I had no clue) was Kadhalan. I still remember getting the cassette and listening to this one song over and over again - Pettai Rap. 

I discovered the album quite late, probably in my 7th standard, by which time the movie was maybe 3 years old. It was a hand-me-down tape from my sister and I remember rewinding back after the song and trying to write down all the lyrics. Of course, I still remember most of the song lyrics even now (I had to show off). 

But once I was done with that song, the rest of the music captivated me. It was like nothing I had heard before; granted I was 11 years old but how this music could be so unique and yet sound complete as an album baffled me.

Image courtesy - Arvind on twitter

Every time I hear this song, I remember that trusted old Sony cassette player that was passed on from my grandfather to my father and then to my sister and me. It had a CD playing option as well, quite rare in those days.  That player introduced me to the world of Rahman and of course, Prabhu Deva.

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About Unni

Unni and I (Blogeswari), were the Kadhalan Prabhudeva and Vadivelu (Yes, respectively) at office where we sang Pettai Rap and other vetti Tamizh songs together when not working.

Unni, when not singing or belting Venu Biriyani, or watching TR videos... produces wonderful podcasts for a streaming platform.

You can ask him for recommendations on good podcasts, music and biriyani , here 

A Walk Down Rahman Lane

Isaippuyal A.R.Rahman completes 28 yeARRs in the film industry on the 15th of August 2020.

To celebrate the Legend's Work Anniversary in the film industry, presenting 'A Walk Down Rahman Lane', a series on the blog where avid music lovers share that one personal memory associated with a particular track of ARR's.

I'm inviting music lovers to write about one strong personal memory associated with one A.R.Rahman song. I know what you’re thinking... “...but we have so many!”

I understand. Just that this series is likely to have quite a few friends writing about it (hopefully) and hence that "one song".

Image courtesy - A.R.Rahman's instagram 

I've written my favourite memories of Rahman's songs here, here and here. 

• Did you sing an ARR song at a college culturals where He was one of the judges(Ahem)? 
• Did you spend an entire day/ week/ month listening to one ARR song?
• Did you dedicate an ARR song on Pepsi Ungal Choice as a surprise for your favourite person?
• Was there an ARR favourite song of someone in your family who is no longer around? And you remember them every time you hear it?

I invite you, dear readers, to tell me your favourite memory of a Rahman song, in a paragraph or two along with a song - Hindi, Tamil, English, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam...It’s your choice!

Do mail your memories to blogeswari(at)gmail(dot)com. I'd prefer it if you could write a separate post than sharing your memory in the comments section. You could reach out to me on instagram or on twitter. Join me on this beautiful walk down Rahman lane.

Edited to add, on 15th August 2020: We've stopped accepting guest posts due to the overwhelming response. Thank you.

PS - Comments are moderated.

 A Walk Down Rahman Lane: September Madham

I am a Kannadiga and it was hard for us in the 90s and early 2000s to even get hold of Tamil songs. The only way ARR songs reached us was when those Tamil movies were dubbed to Hindi. Sometime in the year 2000, my brother had come to know through his friend, that “the new Mani Rathnam – AR Rahman movie” had good songs. Our parents had planned a week long pilgrimage and we did not have any new cassettes to play in the car during the travel.  When dad gave us an opportunity to buy 1 or 2 cassettes, my brother and me rushed to a small cassette shop in Bangalore and asked the shop owner to give us “the latest Mani Rathnam – AR Rahman movie cassette”. Luckily, he instantly identified our query like today’s Google and gave us the Alaipayuthey cassette.

All through the travel, we played Alaipayuthey songs from A side to B side. My sanskaari parents immensely loved the Snehithane track which probably appeared on both sides. We willfully kept “fast forwarding” the fast paced September Madham since we feared our parents may not like it. My brother warned me that “fast forwarding” will damage the tape. Also, if we changed the side, we would miss one good song on the other side. So, we allowed September Madham to play and that’s when my parents started a grand lecture on the topic - “Music, Melody, Decency and Old Hindi Songs”.  My dad started, “there are so many good old Hindi songs. But you people choose to play such indecent songs here. The melodious songs of Mohammad Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Latha Mangeshkar…” Mom continued, “and Asha Bhonsle…”

At this point, I found a good opportunity and said, “mom, this song is sung by Asha Bhonsle only”. Both dad and mom were instantly angry on me and asked me to stop the music and my speaking. For about an hour, there was dead silence and no songs played. I then played a cassette compilation of old, sad Hindi songs. After a while, dad got bored and asked me to stop playing it. I immediately went back to playing Snehithane and parents did not complain. We however kept skipping September Madham to keep them happy. For the next two months, we played mostly Alaipayuthey songs in our car. Every time I listen to the songs of Alaipayuthey, I get reminded of the greenery, hills, mist and water falls on the roads of Western Ghats. Twenty years later, Alaipayuthey songs sound like they were recorded recently. But due to non-listening of September Madham, this is the only song in this album I am not fond of.

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About the author: Dr. Gagan K is a lawyer by qualification and a law lecturer by profession. His initial connection to Tamil music was through AR Rahman. And now he listens to Ilayaraaja, Harris Jayaraj, Anirudh, Yuvan and others. Link to his blog.

That '70s show - Ungalil Oruthi

I love '70s, particularly when it comes to Tamizh films.
This is the decade of epic films by Sivakumar, Lakshmi, Jai Ganesh, Sujatha, Muthuraman, Jai Sangar, Thengai Srinivasan, K.R.Vijaya, AVM Rajan, Suruli Rajan, Ennatha Kannayya etc.
Also this is a decade, where one could see a glimpse of Madras of the '70s - the occasional car that would drive past Mount Road or the occasional human who'd be walking along in one familiar Madras road.

As a true fan of '70s films, I've decided to watch some epic padams and write about them. Today's film is 'Ungalil Oruthi'

Kya Re... Setting a?

Sujatha whose parents died off long ago, lives with her uncle, aunt, cousin.

They don't want her to get married, reject all proposals. But.. but…take money from ‘Ennatha Kannaiya’ and try one setup with Sujatha at their house only.

She beats ‘Ennatha’ who runs away. Sujatha moves out.

3 Idiots

Randomly, 3 men - Suruli Rajan, Thangavelu, R.S. Manohar make unwelcome advances at Sujatha and she invites them home, calls the police to teach them a lesson.

But after cop comes… she decides to lets them go.

But these men being villains hold a grudge against her.

When Sujatha became Sowcar

In the meantime, for some 1 hour, Sujatha cries.. and cries about.. what…I don’t know. Her neighbour Mr. hideous wig and Kannadi, Sivakumar falls in love with her and goes around calling himself her purusan. Sujatha is thrown out of her job thanks to him, but she falls in love with him. Wow, surprise!

Remember the 3 villains? They’re back and now they hatch a plot and convince Sivakumar that Sujatha is a sex worker.

Here's a pic of the louly Sivakumar from the film, for all of you.

I'm a Baaaaadddd Cousin

She is arrested and is thrown into a Remand home. She meets a lot of other "bad" women singing a song… She also meets her cousin! Vogaad, her cousin is a cigarette smoking-drinking bad girl who was also a sex worker. Sujatha escapes the home and hides in Jai Ganesh’s house. 

Wiggypedia

Forgot to say, this Jai Ganesh made his appearance in the first scene I don’t know why. Cops are on the lookout for Sujatha. She vows to ‘serthuvechify’ her cousin and Jai Ganesh. She vows to prove to the world is not ‘Vibaccchaaareeeee’. She hatches a plot with Mr.hideous wig, her lover Sivakumar. Yeah she is back with Sivakumar although he got her arrested calling her a ‘Vibachareeee’.

Pure Tamizh Ponnu

After long, tiring scenes, the three villains are exposed at her wedding where she calls the entire town. Ofcourse one old man had to call her ‘Vibachareeee’ and she puts one long dialogue that she is not one and she is ‘Pure’.

Oh that "bad" cousin doesn't smoke-drink and is a "good cousin" now & is in lou with Jai Ganesh.

There is also Manorama for kaamedy.

Final Verdict

Excellent, must-watch film for Tamizh pen-ness, empty Madras roads and Sivakumar's wig.

Subham.

Lockdown 2013

It was Deepavali 2012. A few months earlier I had quit my job after working for 17 years because I had wanted to take a break to... just sit at home for sometime and not worry about clients, concepts or currency. I was trying to put together a dish in the kitchen, for the festival.

Amidst all the not-so-hectic celebrations at home, the husband whispered "Er... wanted to tell you something..". He added, "... Things are not going good at work... nothing final yet.. Just thought I'd tell you". 

"What.. What. Wha..?" I didn't quite get what he said because my mind was mentally prepared for..."I'm planning to book their tickets for...". He sat me down to explain that things were not looking good at his organisation and well.. he may not have a job in the next few months repeating the "nothing final yet" a few times. At that point, honestly, I just thought "Poga Poga Seriaayidum..(We'll turn out okay)" in Stand up Comedian Alex's words, and was just not prepared for a traumatic year ahead of us.
It was only when he came home one day, in the next year, to say that it was his last month at work and he'd paid for the next 3 months, did it strike me that life was not going to be the same.

So - I didn't have a job and so did he. For the next few months, we just sat at home and did nothing but browse job sites all day. Sometimes if we were lucky, a consultant or two would call, once a month. His former colleagues and associates disappeared in no time not even wanting to take a call including a gentleman who lived in the same apartment complex as ours.

A few months later, thanks to a kind gentleman on twitter who had put out a tweet on a possible job opportunity, I landed myself a consulting assignment. Working from home made it less stressful... but only for a bit. With a huge EMI, our savings were saying tata bye bye to us , fast.

For the next many many months, we would be in two different rooms and meet or talk to, once or twice a day. For everyone's sake, let me add that I acknowledge the privilege of having two different rooms in the house before folks pounce and point out this fact.(happy?)
I would work from mine and he'd read / watch some series on TV (No Netflix then!) from his. I had stopped running / working out and would sulk all day long. We had stopped stepping out for movies, occasional restaurant visits or even that monthly parlour visit. We had to cook up different excuses for not visiting our parents in two different cities. "Busy with Work (Lol!)" was what parents heard from us every time they'd ask us about our next trip.

But one thing was clear. Except for, may be one or two persons known to us, we were not going to tell anyone about our tough times. Not family definitely, at least to avoid the "Did you get a job?" or for that matter "Do you need money?", every time they'd call. Ofcourse it was only obvious to expect them to be concerned, yet, we were exhausted.
As for others - I was definitely not in a frame of mind to fix appointments with friends / people I have known for decades, to call and discuss possible job opportunities. I detested (still do!) the idea of fixing up appointment with friends to call. Like what are you? Some dentist? Sure, not all of us can take calls 24*7. One would simply expect people to disconnect incase they're unable to take a call, text back with a time that they'd return calls. Anyway, when people were not a call away, too bad. Simply not worth adding to my pain.

Not blaming anyone, I guess everyone's so busy or wanting to pack their day with whatever they're doing , including liking instagram posts or watching whatever-the-downloadable-series-that-was-hot-then, that it was rare to find that one person who you could CALL AND SPEAK TO, to help you find a job, then. Things were going downhill. For those wondering why I didn't seek professional help, honestly, I found it extremely boring to meet a therapist when I had reached out to one 15 odd years ago. The drudgery of going to a therapist was more painful than the pain itself. Yeah, there I said it.

Back to Lockdown 2013 - It was traumatic to say the least, sitting at home, all day, for the next 9 months. Stepping out for anything would mean spending money. We had to be frugal. My Consulting assignments didn't fetch great money but kept me busy on calls and on online, all day.

Finally one of us found a job. One had to take a huge pay cut because one was desperate. It was the most boring job of my career in a television channel but I had to go through the stress. I'd cry every single day riding to work because I had to sit thru' insipid ideas and bum nakkis. But as a couple, we started enjoying the daily routine. At work, I'd look forward to a text at 5 pm from the husband to choose between Red and Green Pasta. For the next one hour, I'd dream of coming back home by 6 for a steaming bowl of pasta that he'd have prepared before heading for a walk. There was medical emergencies in the family and he could devote time being the care-giver, for a few months. We were both waiting for that good news of the job market bouncing back. I was working in a Business News Channel and the only question I'd ask the Editor of the channel repeatedly was when he expected the job market to be active again.

Things started looking good in the second half of 2014. Though the husband and I lived in two different cities, we managed fairly well because we finally had full-time jobs! We had a repeat of the same situation of just one of us with a job, again, in 2016, 2017** but we were better prepared this time. It didn't hit us suddenly because the two years had taught us to be prepared all the frikkin' time for a layoff, stress, anxiety and so on. Everything was in control except for my health. Things had taken a beating with all the stress in 2013 and 2014 and it took a good 3 years and several doctor visits to get back to normalcy. And I'd smirk every single time someone from a family or friends' circle ask me about my weight gain wondering where all this concern went 3 years ago.

Oflate, (in 2020) as we're going through the most stressful time of our lives - I have been reading about folks going thru' a lot of stress sitting at home, reading about rising Covid 19 cases. Ofcourse one needs to seek professional help whenever one needs.
The point of my post is that if you're reading this - Please be there for your friends and family. A lot of people out there don't have jobs. They have been laid off. Please reach out to them and give them a call. No, don't expect them to tell you. Please ask how they're doing at work and how the situation is. Don't be a Thumbsup idiot*. Don't whatsapp them giving them a time to call and expect them to share their anxiety between 3-3.25 pm on Tuesday because it's Ragukaalam or that's the time you'll be free when not liking instagram posts. Do let them know they can call you whenever they want to, specifically to address issues. for eg discuss possible job opportunities. Actively search for job opportunities for your friends and share it with them. Yes, all of us are going through a hard time, but some are suffering more than you and I are. And above all, please let not their political leanings decide your support. Some months ago, there was a huge campaign against a set of people by a social media gang, and folks were urged to unfollow, mute and shame people. I was wondering - what if one of them was your friend and someone who you could've helped professionally as an advisor, mentor?And you as an idiot, chose to unfollow, mute, disconnect from them because of some social media thugs. Will the same thugs or a Modi or Shah help your friend get back to normalcy?
NO! Don't be an idiot.

I repeat - Please be there for your friends and family.

*Persons who reply with a Thumbsup on 1-1 message. What are you? Some Salman Khan-Akshay Kumar-Ranveer Singh type Ambassador for Thumbsup?

**I realised I had mentioned the year as 2016 when I wrote it initially. Corrected to 2017, just incase those reading again noticed this.