BEHINDWOODS CELEBRITY COLUMN

Dear readers and viewers of Tamil cinema

I may not be old enough to bless him, but I think I’m relatively equipped to wish a ‘jewel in the crown’ director on (t)his special day, just because he was the man who gave me  24x7x365 moments of awe, embellished my teenage crushes and made me feel proud to be a Tamil speaking Indian in Tamil Nadu. I’m pretty sure 1000000s (or more) of you will agree with me on this count.

I am talking about none other than Shri K.Balachander fondly referred to as ‘KB sir’. He needs no introduction whatsoever. He fuelled the imagination of many, inspired a whole bunch of directors to think in a totally different perspective altogether.

On top of all this he gave us 2 gems we can be proud of in our casket of memories, Shri Kamal Hassan (world hero) and Shri Rajinikanth (Superstar).

I would like the world to understand the beauty of our lyrics and enjoy these 2 songs from Thillumullu (1981) and Punnagai mannan (1986). I feel proper subtitles can take our films to a higher level with worldwide viewership. Let me take this opportunity to thank every single person who is walking this journey with me sharing the same dream.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuePbCQhUdI

The song from Thillumullu is composed by the legendary icon Shri M S Viswanathan, lyrics by the King of poetry Shri Kannadasan, who incidentally reached God’s abode 6 months after this film was released.

The song from Punnagai mannan is composed by maestro Ilaiyaraja who stole hearts by the zillion and the lyrics were penned by Shri Vairamuthu. He is a National Film Award recipient 6 times, the most by any Indian lyricist! (Courtesy Wikipedia)

Both songs of course have been sung by my all time favorite Shri S.P.Balasubrahmanyam  who has also won  the national award 6 times besides having the pride  of place in the Guinness World Records for recording the highest number of songs by an individual.

On behalf of all the fans of Shri K.Balachander, wishing KB sir goodness of health and gladness of heart today and all the years to come.

I apologize profusely for the silent weeks (or is it months?) in between, see you next week, same spot, hopefully on the dot!

rekhs

09-07-2014

PS

Special thanks to Mohan, my ‘Ilaiyaraja-KBpedia’