A post about a song...

Micheal Madana Kama Rajan is probably one of the most under rated film ever. If you think that this is an exaggeration, pause this post, go and watch the movie on Youtube. You can come back to me with your opinion. The chances of you not having seen this gem is almost nil if:

-         You are fan of good comedy movies (&/)

-         You are a fan of Kamal Hassan (&/)

-         You are a fan of Kamal Hassan & Crazy Mohan movies

So now that you have seen the movie let me celebrate with you one of the most enjoyable songs of the movie, a song that tells you many stories in one, a song that will bring a smile to your face, a song that will make you remember the movie all over again.

You would have guessed the song already but before I proceed any further let me state a few disclaimers:

1.     I am not a big fan of Kamal Hassan, read on

2.     Point No 1 is because I always feel that he is over bearing with his prodigious talent and tends to overshadow everyone else in the scenes

3.     Kamal Hassan tends to over indulge himself in his movies again to his prodigious talent that sometimes it becomes a little nauseating

4.     Nobody does comedy better, sly comedy is unparalleled, overdosed as we are with slapstick our new generation comedians need to watch and learn from the master Kamal Hassan, be it body langiage or voice modulation. Kamal with Crazy Mohan is legend levels but the other movies seem to pale in comparison

So let us come to the song, Vechalum vekkama ponalum…What a brilliant song! The choreography and visualization of this song are simply amazing, the song by itself is a short movie and is immensely enjoyable. I will leave the musical description to the experts and the purists but what I will discuss is the visual and the effect on the viewers.

You will know from the disclaimers above that Kamal tends to overshadow others but here there is not one Kamal but 4, there are 4 roles played by him and yet they do not overshadow anyone, sometimes the hero and heroine merge into the back ground while the supporting actors take over.

The number of characters in the song is more than a handful and each of them get their moments in the limelight (from Wikipedia):

·         Kamal Haasan as Michael (petty criminal), Madhanagopal (businessman), Kameshwaran (wedding and special events cook) and Subramaniam Raju (firefighter).

·         R. N. Krishna Prasad as Venugopal, a rich businessman and father of the quadruplets who abandons them.

·         Jayabharathi as Sushila, wife of Venugopal.

·         Urvashi as Thiripurasundari . Thiripurasundari marries Kameshwaran.

·         (An incredibly cute)Kushboo as Shalini Shivaraman. Shalini is a painter who falls in love with Raju.

·         Venniradai Moorthy as Shivaraman. Shalini's father.

·         S. N. Lakshmi as Thiripurasundari's grandmother

·         Nagesh as Avinashi, Madhan's manager

·         Praveen Kumar as Bheem, Madhan's bodyguard

·         Santhana Bharathi as Michael's foster father

·          RS Sivaji

Each of the above characters get their moment and the main characters of the song Raju and Shalini gracefully fade out. The music is good but may not stand out as a typical Ilayaraja gem but what shines are the little quirks for the scenes that unfold including the use of percussion.

I will not explain the song because it has to be seen to be enjoyed but watch out for the different body languages exhibited by Kamal at times in the same shot, the little interludes by the supporting actors including RS Sivaji.

Yes, much has been said about the other songs in the movie but for me this is my personal favourite simply because it gives me the movie in its 4 and odd minutes.

Go ahead, watch and have a smile on your face.

Vocals: Malaysia Vasudevan, S Janaki

Lyrics: Vaali

Music: Ilayaraja

Director: Singeetham Srinivasa Rao

Sadly I could not track the choreographer online, but I would believe that Kamal and the director had a big role in the making of the song)