Nayagan – Thenpaandi Cheemayile

Singers: Ilayaraja and Kamal Haasan

This has to be the most iconic song in Tamil cinema over the last three decades. There has not been another composition that has haunted and followed the minds of Tamil cinema viewers for such a long period of time. The film in itself was an exquisite creation, earning a place in the top 100 films of all-time list. The grip the film had on the audience, the perfection of the portrayal and the situation where the song broke out got it an everlasting impact. The heavy and emotion laden voices of Kamal and Ilayaraja made the song an indelible experience. There is no count to the number of times the song, or bits of it, have been used in other films, nowadays it is even being used for a bit of comic relief. One can go on writing about this song; this is perhaps the pinnacle of mastery that the Kamal-Mani Ratnam-Ilaiyraja attained. The crescendo of this composition is perhaps the violin piece interspersing the two stanzas. One wonders whether violins have ever been used in a more poignant manner.