film-scores on S Anand

A R Rahman songs

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:04:19 +0000

A tribute to our Academy Award winner, A R Rahman. Here are interludes from 25 Tamil songs of A R Rahman. Can you guess which movie they are from?

Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green.

Comments

Steve 12 Mar 2009 7:07 pm: Got 25/25!!! Thanks Anand, enjoyed it very much!!!
Vijay Anand 12 Mar 2009 3:11 pm: I got 24/25. not able to recollect the movie name of July Matham song Only May madham came to my mind
anantha 2 Mar 2009 6:40 pm: Got 22 without struggling. The last three (5, 17, 25) gave me trouble. Got 5 after some humming along and for 17, somehow was stuck on a dubbed version of a hindi soundtrack till I got it. 25 was purely round robin :)
Sriram 2 Mar 2009 7:09 pm: Hi anand, I am one of the big fan of ur site. I scored 21/25. please send me the answers.
srini 2 Mar 2009 10:37 am: Hi thanks again for a good one. I scored more in Raja test than this one.. so you know my age group. Please send me the answers. Can’t bang myself anymore… thanks
S Anand 2 Mar 2009 3:34 pm: Have sent the answers by e-mail.
Akbar 2 Mar 2009 6:23 pm: I scored 20. Really nice one …. thanks.
yeshwanth 10 Mar 2009 4:50 pm: I got 25/25…was struggling for 17..but got it in the end….based on your clue that its a rajini film
Nivi 2 Mar 2009 9:11 pm: 23/25!! and i pride myself that of the things i got, i got everything within the first 5 seconds :)
Hari 6 Mar 2009 4:42 pm: Awesome compilation. I didn’t get 4, 16, 17, 19 and 21. I was kicked when I got 25 :)
subbu 11 Mar 2009 1:41 pm: 23/25 - got 23 and 24 woooo hooooooo
Barath 7 Mar 2009 7:33 pm: Give me clues for 6 and 25
Arun Ganesh 10 Mar 2009 6:02 pm: 25/25 …. had to refer no clues thankfully… this is good stuff.. keep posting more. thank you
Arjun 7 Mar 2009 8:30 pm: Hey, Great man. Thanks for the quiz. We had a lot of fun doing it. By the way, the score is 23! :) What are 17 and 25? I’m totally stumped (but, most probably, I’ve never heard these pieces).
S Anand 7 Mar 2009 8:38 pm: Clues: 6 is a Vineeth film 17 is a Rajni film 25 is a Prabhu film
Dinesh 11 Mar 2009 2:00 pm: i got a 25/25….. hardcore ARRfan…. thank u thanku…. :)
Priya 11 Mar 2009 12:57 pm: I scored 24….But i couldn;t guess which one is the 17th…..
subbu 11 Mar 2009 1:34 pm: 21/25 - didn’t get 16, 23,24,25 :)
Ganesh.V 10 Mar 2009 6:15 pm: HA ha i got 25\25…….pretty much easy……even 25 and 17 Nice compilation……
Vivek 10 Mar 2009 6:45 pm: 25/25, in one go! I’m proud to be a hardcore ARR fan
Rajith Ramnivas 10 Mar 2009 6:51 pm: 25/25 i can answer whatever related to rahman sir.
chetan 10 Mar 2009 10:24 pm: 24/25 !! damn missed the #13 ……….. Guys pls help me out … Which Movie is it?? @S Anand- Superb Man quiz is. thanks for it…..
sanjay shankar 10 Mar 2009 8:25 pm: 25/25 !!! Like Yeshwanth, # 17 took about a min, but got the others within seconds. Thanks for the nice quiz!
AMEER SALEHA 11 Mar 2009 8:04 am: it was quite interesting and as well as it made me to find out some songs of arr which i didnt hear
Vinodh 11 Mar 2009 9:20 am: I got 24/25… I couldnt get the 25th song… someone pls help… :(
amjath 11 Mar 2009 3:00 am: Score: 25 / 25 i got i done it i made it very very gud choice of songs
Ashwin Krish 11 Mar 2009 3:05 am: 25/25! 5 was the toughest for me! Interludes are pretty easy… what is challenging is a BGM quiz. You should post that
Krishna 11 Mar 2009 4:00 am: scored 100%. Great quiz
Mehrun Shiraz 11 Mar 2009 11:19 am: its damn good..scored 24..but dont know number 17..pls send me the answer.
rama krishna 10 Mar 2009 4:36 pm: hi, i score 21/25
musicar 10 Mar 2009 4:43 pm: I GOT 25/25!!! It was an easy test!!! Just the 25th one took a couple of extra seconds! Enjoyed it!!!Thanks for creating it
Prakash 10 Mar 2009 4:28 pm: Bingo. I got 25. Needless to say I am a Rahmaniac! :)
Anil 10 Mar 2009 4:31 pm: Wow ….got 24 on 25 ….all except 25 (but the clues in your comments) got that one as well .. Good one this. My ARR quotient is pretty high :-) -A
Siva 11 Mar 2009 2:07 pm: Got 22/25. Couldn’t find 5, 17, 25. Then found 17 and 25 using the clues. And finally, 5 after many guesses. :(
viji 11 Mar 2009 2:25 pm: hey hi.. gr8 work.. superb.. :) gt al 25 rite.. :) keep posting more :)
Appu 11 Mar 2009 2:49 pm: woow,16 was tough.i got no.6 listening to the rhythm pattern. did it anyway. 25/25 all the way. Jai ho!!! Appu
Anu 11 Mar 2009 3:27 pm: I got 25/25, was thinking hard for 17 but then your clue on Rajni movie helped….very interesting and easy quiz!!!!
sriraman vk 11 Mar 2009 3:44 pm: i got 24/25. what is the answer for song 14?
Sriram 11 Mar 2009 4:20 pm: Awesome! Can you do the same for AR’s Hindi and also the BGM?! Please man!
santhosh 11 Mar 2009 5:36 pm: Hi, really a nice quiz….. Got 25/25 Keep posting :)
Madhavan R 11 Mar 2009 6:16 pm: Cool! Got 25 out of 25 in the first go!!! 17 was tricky but after repeated listens for some 5 or 6 times, I found it…Great stuff; thoroughly enjoyed!
suriya 12 Mar 2009 11:47 am: super songs anand! 5,13,19,24 known BGM.. any clues?
Karthik 12 Mar 2009 7:04 am: Got all right :)
Asuthosh 12 Mar 2009 7:08 am: 25/25 - some old Tamil ones were tricky. The trick is to continue the interlude forward in your mind and it will segue into the pallavi/charanam. Great stuff, thanks!
Rivjot 12 Mar 2009 8:20 am: Please make such quiz for Hindi interludes of Rahman as well. Enjoyed taking this one :)
Amit 11 Mar 2009 8:41 pm: Got 22. (After a lot of hair pulling!). Being a non-tamilian rahmaniac, I am happy. Please send me the answers. (#5, 14 &16) I cannot take these tunes out of my head now…
Prashanth Dappula 12 Mar 2009 2:54 am: Coooooooool, thanks for the quiz. 25/25, had a bit trouble for few seconds recognizing 25th :-), but got it. Thank you once again.
gowrishankar 11 Mar 2009 11:39 pm: got 25/25, nice work
S.Vijai Ananth 12 Mar 2009 12:29 am: Rahmaniac from Malaysian ARR fan club(Rahmania)…..25 definitely……all these interludes sat in the subconscious for too long already……
Rams 13 Mar 2009 5:37 pm: Yippeee…. 25/25 again… for a rahmaniac, it feels good to get them all….
Siddharth 14 Mar 2009 5:53 am: awesome..i’ve got 25/25..thanks anand…great compilation man…
Chandra 14 Mar 2009 5:48 pm: Hi… I too got 25/25. The last one was tough (had to listen to it 4 times), the 13th one was a bit tricky, and I was slightly lucky with the 16th (but caught it even as I was typing it)! Great compilation!! Thanks a lot!
ANANDA CHETANA 15 Mar 2009 5:56 am: I am submitting my answers and I would like to know my score. Please put this in a file that can be downloaded by us and used for quizzing over here. It is a fantastic compilation. Jai Ho gopal
sambasivam 15 Mar 2009 11:32 am: good collections,anand.
Niranjan 18 Mar 2009 10:10 am: Hurray!!!! 25/25 awesome It took some time for song 24 and 25!!! but i got it atlast……
Rajeev 18 Mar 2009 11:29 pm: Hey Anand, Nice work. Even though getting a full score is easy, it makes you feel good to feel proud about the fact that u can identify any song of ARR in a jiffy…..
Muhthar 24 Mar 2009 7:57 pm: Great compilation. and great selection of songs.
rajkumar 4 Apr 2009 5:32 pm: amazing . which song is last one
Akshaiy 9 Apr 2009 11:42 am: Can you email the answers?
arun 15 Apr 2009 7:35 am: good one…feels proud
Muruganandham k 11 May 2009 6:39 am: Me too got 25/25 though 25th is trial & error
priya 15 May 2009 10:07 am: ejoyed alot
Arun 28 May 2009 1:16 pm: Good work dude
Venkata 6 Apr 2009 10:01 pm: Good work. I got an inspiration from this blog and planning to have a game for one of my daughter’s birthday party. Keep up the good work. Can you suggest any tools to cut the interludes from the songs ?Thanks
Chinna 31 Aug 2010 5:16 am: nice compositions of our maestro…… got 25/25 hurray…….. :)
nirmala 26 Dec 2010 1:22 pm: got all correct:)
MICHAEL JACKSON 27 Dec 2010 7:24 am: SCORED JUST 20….:-( …………………..
chirp 1 Jan 2011 1:02 am: Good ones
ravindra babu hyderabad 18 Dec 2010 1:35 pm: konchamkastam telugu ayitei nice pa
Sudhakar Dhanapal 19 Jan 2011 11:09 am: wowww. got 25/25
ramya 12 Dec 2011 6:57 am: plz mail the answers… i got oly 19 :(
priya 31 Dec 2011 12:59 pm: only 23/25 :( … answers for 17th and 25th pls…
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janu 16 Jun 2012 1:39 am: Managed to get 25/25! I should coz I’m a crazy ARR fan. Had a tough time on 17 coz honestly I haven’t heard it before. Your clue “Rajini” helped doing the gueswork :-)
Ranjani 7 Aug 2011 12:55 pm: Scored 16/25
Suganya 29 May 2012 9:11 am: Hurrayyyyyyyyy… 25 found..
ramya saranya 1 Sep 2012 11:31 am: 16th kizhakku cheemaiyile ,17th baba and 25th is uzhavan…. i got 25/25 :):):)
Sai Lakshmi 18 Sep 2012 6:22 am: makes me feel on top of the world to get a 25 on 25… LOVE YOU ARR <3 <3 <3 <3 YOU ARE MY GOD FOREVER <3 GOD OF MUSIC :*
Akila 12 Dec 2012 10:35 am: I couldn’t nail down 3 and 4 though they sound very familiar…. answer pls?
hbqdb 27 Apr 2013 6:52 am: Hoooooooooooooo!!!! 25/25 awesome

Classical Ilayaraja 9

Tue, 02 Jan 2007 12:00:00 +0000

This is the 9th of 15 articles titled Classical Ilayaraja appeared on Usenet in the 90s.
I’ve added links to the songs, so you can listen as you read.
You could also try my Tamil song search.

There was a great furore in the Indian parliment a couple of years ago. Since the daily scene there is pretty much so, does this furore need any special mention? Yes. This furore was a meaningful one! It happened when the Indian government signed the GATT agreement. No wonder, the stupid “swadeshi” oriented parties like the Bharathiya Janata party opposed the selling of India to the “videshi” through GATT. But as an aftermath, signing the GATT agreement had a terrible effect on the interest of India in certain areas. For example, the medical value of neem oil has been well known in India for centuries. It seems some of the western pharmaceutical companies re-discovered the medical value of neem oil and started proceeding to claim patent for the product! In that case, any Indian company which tries to “manufacture” neem oil and tries to market it has to pay money to these western companies! Is it not funny and outrageous at the same time? Patenting is a powerful tool to protect ownership. It seems that it will be better if we patented both of our meaningful and meaningless traditional techniques to protect our interests. You may not know what will be re-discovered (and patent claimed) in the western hemisphere in days to come! Maybe, some scientist here will discover that giving unboiled rice with its hard covering (husk) to new born babies will result in the immediate death of those babies within few hours and secure patent for this finding! Conisder how this will affect the interest of our Indian mothers in the far south, who have been using this traditional technique to “close the chapter” of their unwelcomed, stigmatic female children! Poor mommas!

Saint Thyagaraja was one poor man who totally did not know anything about patenting or copyrighting one’s invention or literary work! He probably did not even know that his krithis were worth anything! If he had known that his krithis were going to draw international attention in the subsequent centuries, would he have copyrighted his works? Nay! He was such a naive sadhu, the word meaning in its strictest sense. He was a perfect example of a brahman, getting up early in the morning, much before “sandhya poorva pravarthathE”, and doing all the routine daily religious chores like the thrikaala sandhyavandhanam regularly. A brahman is supposed to eat only “moonu kavalam choru” (the amount of metabolic fuel necessary to keep the body and mind functioning), and he should not succumb to the pleasure of eating. I can see that Saint Thyagaraja didn’t, from the way he looks so thin, like a freshly fleeced goat, in his portraits. A brahman should only indulge in priestly and teaching duties. He should have no malice for others. He should only think of “lokha kshemam”. Thyagaraja had all these qualities. He was such a sharp contrast to those brahmin scoundrels like Selvi Jayalalitha, Subramaniam Swamy etc in the political scene now, who are the incarnation of corruption, greed and evil. Thyagaraja obtained his food by doing “unchivrithi” daily, ie., going around the temple, singing bhajans etc and accepting the rice that people had to offer as a matter of voluntary donation. He was a Telugu brought up in Thiruvaiyaru in Thanjavoor jilla. He probably knew Thamizh well. But he chose to write his compositions in his mother tongue Telugu. Valmiki, the creator of “Rama” character, would not have anticipated that his fictitious “hero” was going to have such a profound influence on people to be born later in the time window, like Thyagaraja (and of course, BJP, for political reasons!). Thyagaraja was literally in love with Rama, like Meera was with Krishna. He had such a powerful theoritical understanding and practical mastery over carnatic music that he could compose in any raagam. He chose to appeal to his Lord Rama through “bhava” margam, ie., tackling the God, through emotional appeals. This was in sharp contrast to his contemporaries like Muthuswamy Dikshitar, who used “bhakthi” margam. His compositions were never a verbal diarrhoea! Just a few lines, thats all. He never tried to project his knowledge in his krithis. He was so simple and such a wonderful vagheyakara, that nature would take another millenium to ordain such a man be born again in this world!

Thyagabrahmam’s compositions have often been ridiculed in the cinema arena. Nobody has the right to change anything in another persons belongings, even though the person might be dead. Thyagaraja’s compositions are his belongings. He used them to reach heavenly abode. He left his compositions for the world to cherish and enjoy, as they were written and sung by him. Nobody can tamper with his treasure, which are ours now. We have to protect them as he had it! K.V. Mahadevan opened the gateway to the free musical society where anybody could do anything to anbody’s compositions! What kind of arrogance was that, in changing the Thyagaraja form of Dhorakuna in the movie Sankarabaranam without his consent? Having been shown the way of ridiculing Thyarajaja, Ilayaraja too embarked on that task. That was his technically first innovative adventure of presenting a raagam in the light form and then in the classical form. He knowingly insulted the uncopyrighted work of the greatest saint composer the world has ever given birth to.

That song came in the movie Sindhu Bhairavi. The song is paadariyEn padippariyEn. The heroine Suhasini has terrific interest in carnatic music. She is one of those proponants of the so called thamizhisai. She feels that one has to sing krithis in local language so that the local mass also understands the krithis. She busts into one of J.K.B’s (Shivakumar) katcheri and sings this song. She starts the song like an ordinary folk song with a simple rhythm and finally ends the song in a classic Thyagaraja krithi. Throughout the song the grammer of the raagam is maintained, with a light music type of rendition in the beginning and then culminating in carnatic type of ending. She starts the song all alone. Later the accompaniests of J.K.B start admiring the tune and then accompany her.

The raagam of that song is Saramathi. It is a major janyam of the 20th mela raagam, Nadabhairavi. Its arohanam and avarohanam are Sa Ri2 Ga2 Ma1 Pa Da1 Ni2 Sa and Sa Ni2 Da1 Ma1 Ga2 Sa. Saramathi evokes a gloomy mood. There is a fantastic Thyaraja keerthanai in this raagam. That is mOkshamu galadha. Whenever some VIP puts down his head (may I translate ‘mandaya poataan’ like this!) B grade and C grade TV artists appear in the screen and play mOkshamu galadha with a pretentious sad face (feeling very happy inside regarding the unexpected death of the VIP and hence the sudden TV chance)! Ilayaraja’s selection of this raagam for that situation is very appropriate. Because a major proportion of cinema songs are set in Nadabhairavi scale. What you need to do is to avoid Ga Ri Sa and Da Pa Ma prayogam, thats all! When you end the song in a keerthanai, give a little gamaka touch here and there to make it classical (after all, strictly following the swara grammer, using specific prayogams, and appropriate gamaka soaked swaras are the essential ingredients of classicism).

Ilayaraja starts that song like: Ri Ri Ri Ri, Ri Ri Ri Ri, Ri Ga Sa Sa, Ri Ri Ri Ri. Then for EdariyEn EzhuthariyEn Ezhuthuvagai naanariyEn, he goes a little further like: Ri Ri Ri Ri, Ri Ri Ri Ri, Ri Ga Ma Ga, Sa Sa Sa Sa. Thus he starts following the grammer of Saramathi perfectly right from the start, but with a light music like technical approach initially. There is lot of “thamizhisai” preaching by thiruvaalar Vairamuthu in that song. He says

paadariyEn padippariyEn paLLikkoodam dhaanariyEn
EdariyEn ezhuththariyEn Ezhuththuvagai naanariyEn
Ettula Ezhudhavilla Ezhudhi vachchu pazhakkamilla
elakkaNam padikkavilla thalakkanamum ennaku illa

In the charanam he refers to the katcheri rasikas as ignoramus crowd who nodd their heads without understanding anything (thalaya aatum puriyaadha kootam). Then he goes ahead and suggests a remedy to this deplorable state.

chErikum sEra vENum adhukkum paattu padi
enniyE paaru eththanai pEru
thangamE neeyum Thamizh paattum paadu
sonnadhu thappaa thappaa? sonnadhu thappaadhu appa!

Though the obvious matter of controversy in this is the language, there is much more in the issue. Nobody can deny the fact that the enjoyment of music becomes supreme if we can also understand the sahithyam. But is it not also equally true that music and emotional feelings transcend petty barriers like language etc.. When you see a hidden sadness in the portrait of Mona Lisa, it is that sadness that matters. You have to look at that piece of art as it is! You cannot try to find a replacement to that Leonardo Da Vince’s monumental work by having a thamizhan draw an equivalent with a thamizhachchi’s face with a sad look! When Thyagaraja’s reckless brother Jalpesan throws away his pooja idol (Rama vigraham), and when Thyagaraja sings a keerthanai in that situation of utter frustration, mental turmoil and agitation of not finding his favourite idol, what matters there is the emotion that is packed in the sahityam, and not the language of the sahityam!

I heard recently that many people in the Hindi belt above have actually started listening to A. R. Rahman’s original Thamizh version of songs rather than the dubbed Hindi version. Would not Vairamuthu be extremely happy to see his “mukkaala mukkaabula” Thamizh version being such a popular song even in northern India? What would his reaction be if all his songs were translated and in due course the original writer of the songs, ie., he, forgotten by the people. I think that the mature way of dealing with this issue is to agree to learn the translated meaning of a krithi and then continue to sing the krithi in the language the composer made it. In this way we can get involved with the emotional framework of a krithi and enjoy it thoroughly. If the slum dwelling population of Thamizhnadu can understand “choli kE peechE kya hai” and enjoy the untranslated version of the song with a “kick”, then, they can also understand “Thyagaraja’s Telugu krithis kE peechE kya hai”. People only have to come out of their narrow minded caccoon that they have built for themselves.

Ilayaraja had to end this “padariyEn” song in some classical krithi to boost the character of Suhasini in the movie. He could have ended it in Thayagaraja’s “mokshamu galadha” or in some other original Saramathi krithi. But instead, look what he did! He chose Thyagaraja’s marimari ninnE which had been originally composed in Kamboji raagam. He changed the raagam of that krithi to Saramathi and annexed it to his “padariyEn”! Can anyone be more disrespectful to the innocuous, innocent and pious athma of the dead saint? Ilayaraja is a present composer. He should tune his songs to fit the previously written ones. He has no right to tailor the previously written krithis to suit his thalam, and ganam. After shooting the film “Veedu” director Balumahendra used some portion of Ilayaraja’s “How To Name It” as background score to the film (anyway, the music director was Ilayaraja). But, there were reports that Ilayaraja got furious at Balumahendra for not getting his consent for using his music album. When he is so sensitive to the way his musical works are used by his own friends like Balumahendra, how could he ruthlessly lay his hands on the Thyagabrahmam’s krithi? He writes in one of his own songs (idhayam oru kOvil in the movie Idhaya Kovil):

naadha thiyaagaraajarum ooNai urukki
uyiril kalandhu iyatrinaarammaa
avar paadalil jeevan adhuvE avaraanaar
en paadalin jeevan edhuvO adhu neeyE

So he knows about the greatness of Thyagaraja and his compositions. Yet he has commited the disgraceful deed in Sindhu Bhairavi.

Saramathi is technically called as sampoorna oudhava raagam, ie., sampoornam in the arohanam (having all the seven swaras of its parent raagam, Nadabhairavi), and oudhavam in the avarohanam (five swaras). There is a raagam that has the same avarohanam as Saramathi, and the same avarohana swaras in arohanam too. That is Hindholam. Sa Ga2 Ma1 Da1 Ni2 Sa; Sa Ni2 Da1 Ma1 Ga2 Sa. It is a great “light” raagam. Ilayaraja has used it several times in his music. Subu’s raaga based database has a good list of the songs in this raagam. As far as I know his first Hindholam came in the movie Ilamai Kolam. The song is sreedEvi en vaazhvil sung by K.J.Yesudoss. It is a very slow tempo song. One of his another early Hindholam came in Alaigal Oivadhillai. The song is dharisanam kidaikkaadha. He has himself sung that song. Oh, it is terrible! While su-swara rendition of even a simple tune can make the listening experience magical, abha-swara rendition of even a complex tune can give a real harrowing experience! The later has happened in the above song. His unconditioned fledgling vocal cords have worked very hard like a powerful gravitational force pulling his voice down when he desperately tries to reach the upper shadjam in one instance. But the tune is good though. His other songs are Om namachchivaaya (Salangai Oli), naanaaga naan illai (Thoongadhe Thambi Thoongadhe), poththi vachcha malligai mottu (Mann Vasanai), unnaal mudiyum thambi thambi (Unnal Mudiyum Thambi), naan thEdum sevvandhi poovidhu (Dharmapathini), kannaa unai thEdugirEn vaa (Unakkagave Vazhgiren), O janani en suram nee (Pudhiya Raagam), viLakku vaippOm viLakku vaippOm (Athma). naan thEdum sevvandhi poovidhu is a terrific piece with a wonderful rhythm (very novel at that time). It is a good westernised Hindholam. A. R. Rahman has given one very pure classical Hindholam too. The song comes in May Madham (maargazhi poovE maargazhi poovE). It is very good. I was told that it was sung by some Houston based new singer.

If you changed the Ni in Hindholam from Ni2 to Ni3 then we get Chandrakauns raagam. Ilayaraja has got a couple of songs in this raagam too. His first Chandrakauns came in Kaadhal Oviyam (veLLichchalangaigaL). It is a fantastic song. Great job by S. P. B. What a great change does this small alteration in the location of Ni in Hindholam makes to the mood quality! The tail piece of this song is in Sriranjani raagam. His second Chandrakauns came in Thai Mookaambigai (isaiyarasi). My brother tells me that it was called by a different raagam in one TV program in Doordarshan. Anyway it should be very close to Chandrakauns. The best of his Chandrakauns is azhagu malaraada abinayangaL soozha in Vaidehi Kaathirundhaal. Oh, what a song! Vaali has done a great job writing the status of an unconsumated young celibate widow. In his short story “siluvai” master writer Jayakanthan daringly writes about the cruelty of being a celibate just in the last line of the story narrating a nun’s short bus travel. Vaali has written about the same terrible celibacy from a young widow’s point of view. In Varusham Padhinaaru there is another Chandrakauns karaiyaadha manamum undo. Lately we got two more idhunaaL varume in Chembaruthi, and unnai ninachu urugum in Rasaiyya. A. R. Rahman has also tried Chandrakauns in his Bombay. The Hindi version goes like “ruk jao, ruk jao”. I don’t know the Thamizh version.

Lakshminarayanan Srirangam Ramakrishnan,
Internal Medicine Department,
Brackenridge Hospital,
Austin, Tx 78701.

Comments

jayendran 8 Jan 2007 9:03 am: darisanam kidaikkadha Om namashivaya ragavane ramana Oru jeevan azhaithathu Naan thedum sevvanthi Sridevi ennai paarthu Kannamma kadhal enum Anandha then katru Velli salangaigal konda Kanna unai theudgiren vaa Oh Janani Vilakku veppom vilakku veppom Pothi vecha malligai mottu Nanaga naan illai Azhagu Malar aada Unnal mudiyum thambi
venkat 2 Jan 2007 12:00 pm: ILAYAYARAJA’S HOW TO NAME IT & NOTHING BUT WIND, HOW TO DOWN LOAD THIS FREE. PLS ANYBONY CAN TELL ME?
Ajit 13 Mar 2012 5:22 pm: Hello, Thanks for these fascinating write-ups. I was listening to Sreedevi en Vaazhvil. While the song is largely in HindoLam (Malkauns), there are portions where I thought it branches out quite beautifully into Chandrakauns by switching to the Shuddha Nishaad, as opposed to the Komal Nishad. In fact, I think this happens at the end of every stanza. Would you agree?
Narasimhan 11 Jan 2011 6:17 am: L S Ramakrishnan, You disrepcted Thyagaraja more than Ilayaraja or anybody could by calling Rama a fictional hero.
shantha S Raju 1 Mar 2020 12:13 pm: Very neat presentation and informative.

Tamil Songs - 2000s

Mon, 08 May 2006 12:00:00 +0000

The 2000s saw the proliferation of music directors like Vidyasagar, Harris Jayaraj and Yuvan Shankar Raja, while Rahman still continued strong.

Here is the background music from some hit songs from the 2000s. Can you guess which movie they are from?

Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green.

Comments

Kaps 8 May 2006 7:33 am: Anand, All of them were pretty easy. scored 25/25. Can we have some tough / old ones please?
S Anand 8 May 2006 8:33 am: Gosh, I honestly thought no one would get 25/25! Well, 1970s is next, and I’ll making that as tough as I can.
RDX 8 May 2006 1:46 pm: when ar u postin e ans???
S Anand 8 May 2006 4:01 pm: No plans to post answers. You can always mail me, though.
Anonymous 8 May 2006 7:09 pm: 23/25. isai inban. 17 & 19 :-( clue its there on the tip of the finger not able to type
S Anand 8 May 2006 7:29 pm: 17: Madhavan, 19: Ajit
riggy 8 May 2006 8:14 pm: aww…i’m pulling my hair out on this!! 12/25….good one anand..do post more of these!!
aneetaa 9 May 2006 12:38 am: cudn’t find the last one alone….
gayathri 9 May 2006 12:52 am: any clues on the 15th? I cracked the rest … but no idea on the 15th!
kummy 9 May 2006 1:41 am: hurrah i got 25/25
gayathri, its thotti jaya
S Anand 9 May 2006 7:21 am: Actor for the last one: SJ Suryah
Anonymous 9 May 2006 7:53 am: thanks. looks like i missed a particular md s in this and the previous quiz. I am happy i didnt miss any of gods creations ;-) isai inban
zero 9 May 2006 10:20 am: 20/25 :(. I didn’t get 10, 15, 16, 19, 21. and I came dangerously close to getting it right only for 16. Damn this too ;)
sudheer 9 May 2006 1:54 pm: Awesome quiz.. cos its awesome fun.. i scored 16/25… need to sharpen my memory more!!
Ashwin 9 May 2006 3:10 pm: 15/25(that too cheated by typing some popular trash vijay movies).. I am definitely a 80s tamil hippie :)
balaji 11 May 2006 8:50 pm: and i thought i knew tamil songs… sigh got only 15/25
vidhya 12 May 2006 11:29 am: great one! when i started out, i thought i wld nail them.. but then had to be satisfied with 20/25. super fun, it was. thanks
shri 17 May 2006 9:24 am: cudnt find out 10,19,25,15 and 16.any clues pl.?wasnt tht bad.its really enjoyable and u feel so bad wen unable to find out the movie name
PAPPU 1 Oct 2006 7:11 pm: I TS LITTLE THOUGH.CAN U GIVE ANSWERS FOR UNKNOWN ONE?
Ranganathan 25 Oct 2006 11:03 am: Hi Anand… ! Ranga here… Tried this one too… 25/ 25… Great Quiz… ! Thanks…
punitha 16 Nov 2006 10:41 am: great….now i know, i am not that bad…..25/25…….
suresh 2 Dec 2006 4:56 pm: tried hard but could get only 15/25 …. any way i enjoyed
Prin 11 Dec 2006 10:37 am: Got 22 out of 25 - 9, 12, 16 Help with these. Just can’t remember 16 although I can sense it
Anonymous 24 Feb 2007 11:07 am: 25/25.15th was tough though
Senthilkumar.S 24 Mar 2009 9:10 am: nice quiz… got 21/25. very close to the missed out songs…
nazreen 9 Jun 2010 9:39 am: nice all quiz……really enjoyed……
nirmala 16 Dec 2010 10:13 pm: 24 out of 25 coulnt find 19…pls help…gr8 quiz though
Sudhakar Dhanapal 19 Jan 2011 12:14 pm: 25 / 25 .. yahhhhhhhhh ohhhhhhh :)
ramya 16 Dec 2011 5:41 pm: plz tell the ans for 19 plzzzz :{
Ranjani 7 Aug 2011 2:22 pm: 19/25
B.Manivannan 26 Feb 2017 5:05 pm: nice to listen

Tamil Songs - 1990s

Sun, 07 May 2006 12:00:00 +0000

In 1992, A R Rahman emerged. Ilayaraja may have scored more tunes until the first 3 years of the decade than Rahman did the whole decade. But the decade belonged to Rahman.

Here is the background music from some hit songs from the 1990s. Can you guess which movie they are from?

Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green.

Comments

Blogeswari 7 May 2006 5:10 pm: hi , posting all my entries..
prakash 7 May 2006 6:29 pm: 21/25
thennavan 7 May 2006 6:40 pm: 14/25; actually I know two or three more too but it is like at the proverbial tip of the tongue but am unable to spit it out :)
lazygeek 7 May 2006 6:50 pm: again 25/25
anantha 7 May 2006 7:12 pm: 24/25 with my roomie blurting out the other even before i could try. Honestly i couldnt have got it, i think!
Cipher 7 May 2006 7:38 pm: 22/25 - 1,5,16 theriyalaba :-(
S Anand 7 May 2006 8:16 pm: Cipher, these are the actors who sang 1, 5 and 16. Lots of kids, Kamal (sort-of) and Arvind Swamy. Does that help?
lazygeek 8 May 2006 2:09 am: cipher, semma easyba !!
Bala 8 May 2006 7:00 am: Superb quizes! Thanks.
Arun 8 May 2006 10:38 am: only 12/25. But knew 22-23 of the songs. If you had played a bit more, would have done better, methinks :-) Great stuff!!
Priya 8 May 2006 4:32 pm: Hey, excellent quiz, I know I got all 25 right in the 1990s quiz and all 10 in the 1980s. But how do I confirm, my box deosnt turn green or anything. Is there any other way to track the score?
Ashwin 8 May 2006 4:48 pm: 24/25. I could identify some songs in about .75 seconds. :)Same as priya. Box does not turn green though!
Anonymous 8 May 2006 6:01 pm: 24/25. isai inban. i think its no.18 i am stuck on. Music is familiar was racking my brains for some ilayaraja number then thought maybe its arr by some strange chance. But cant figure. clue pls
S Anand 8 May 2006 7:23 pm: No. 18 is not Ilayaraja, actually.
S Anand 8 May 2006 7:24 pm: Priya, Ashwin: what browser & version are you using?
S Anand 8 May 2006 7:28 pm: Clue for No. 18: the actor is Arjun.
Aravind 8 May 2006 11:04 pm: 24/25. Couldn’t remember the movie for the 25th.
zero 9 May 2006 10:12 am: Anand, The 16th is not playing. Couldn’t get the 6th. Damn! 23/25 :(
Priya 9 May 2006 2:28 pm: I got 25/25….this section was quite easy
Ashwin 9 May 2006 3:15 pm: Anand, I was stupid. I was typing song names
Ashwin 9 May 2006 3:21 pm: one giveaway was that all clips were chronological
P 9 May 2006 4:46 pm: Hi, I am stuck on 14….any clue plz
Ashwin 9 May 2006 6:48 pm: 14 had Nasser in it
zero 10 May 2006 5:07 am: Song no. 16 is still not playing for me.
kummy 10 May 2006 8:18 am: got 24/25 any clue for 10th one
S Anand 10 May 2006 2:55 pm: 10: Vineeth is the actor
Karthik 10 May 2006 5:35 pm: stuck on 25th.. any clues
S Anand 10 May 2006 9:19 pm: 25: Sung by Shankar Mahadevan
SuperStarFritz 12 May 2006 3:20 pm: Got 23/25. Have no idea about 10. 23 I know the song, but can’t proceed from that tune onwards. Thoughts?
S Anand 12 May 2006 9:07 pm: 23: Arjun song.
janani 15 May 2006 2:24 pm: hey again, 18/25 on this one. am getting a tad better.
shri 16 May 2006 3:00 pm: wow.got 25/25.cool.its so nice to play ths one.
Anonymous 26 Jul 2006 2:24 am: couple of songs dont register..especially bombay and kaathalukku mariyaathai
Ranganathan 25 Oct 2006 10:53 am: Hi Anand… Ranga here… How are you ? Came to know about this site… Quite Interesting… I am trying some of the quizzes here… This one I got 25 / 25
karthika 10 Dec 2006 3:44 pm: This site quite is interesting
Prin 11 Dec 2006 10:19 am: Please help Anand, i have done everything from 1, 10-25. Others I need help considering i’m 14 and am a Londoner. Thanks
sorna 31 Dec 2006 5:29 pm: 14 has nasar and revathi
Seetha 4 May 2007 5:52 am: Not able to listen to the 19th one..it says not supported by the s/w :)
Seetha 4 May 2007 6:21 am: Got 24 except for 19 :-)not able to lsiten to t :)
kiran 16 Feb 2009 4:20 am: 25/25. Pretty easy though. (6 was a tricky one, common tune used by Raja in a couple of other movies)
suriya 16 Mar 2009 3:25 am: 23/25…. help me with 6 and 10 plz…
Senthilkumar.S 24 Mar 2009 7:28 am: got 23/25. couldn’t find 1 and 10.
Gopi 27 Feb 2010 6:50 pm: Acheived 25/25
Sujatha 2 Oct 2009 12:17 am: Got 30/30.
Selvam S 7 Feb 2010 6:09 pm: Got 24/25… can any one give clue for No. 1….
Archana 1 Mar 2010 5:12 pm: i got 23/25
ilayaraja 17 Jun 2010 2:40 pm: i got 22/25
Vijay 24 Jun 2010 1:07 am: Nice quiz. Got all right, but needed a bit of help on 18.
Manoj 28 Sep 2010 6:53 pm: Very nice.. 24/25.. 6 theriyala..
TRG 8 Apr 2011 12:15 pm: GOOD I GOT 25/25
Charan 16 Jan 2011 1:03 am: 25 out of 25
ravindra babu hyderabad 18 Dec 2010 1:50 pm: nice quiz romba naalachi tamil songs kettu really superb quiz
Sudhakar Dhanapal 19 Jan 2011 12:03 pm: i got 25/25… yeahhhhhhhhhhhh…. :)
Kannan 24 Oct 2011 11:35 am: Yes. Got 25/25. It’s like cake walk for me.
Shobhana 17 Oct 2011 12:03 pm: hi.. i got 23/25.. missed on 6th and the 3rd.. the rest were quite easy.. can you please help with 3 and 6? thanks
Srikan 11 Mar 2011 10:43 pm: Which name of the song from titel 12?
das 17 Aug 2011 5:23 am: nan 22/25 than
Ranjani 7 Aug 2011 1:56 pm: 22/25
Shobhana 20 May 2012 5:25 am: Yay!!! I got 25/25… nice quizzes Mr. Anand. It passes time very effectively..

Tamil Songs - 1980s

Sat, 06 May 2006 12:00:00 +0000

Ilayaraja ruled the Tamil music industry in the 1980s. Below are short clips with the background music from his hit songs.

Can you guess which movie they are from?

Don't worry about the spelling. Just spell it like it sounds, and the box will turn green.

Comments

Anonymous 6 May 2006 12:00 pm: 9/10
lazygeek 7 May 2006 9:38 am: 10/10
S Anand 7 May 2006 9:55 am: I should’ve guessed you’d be able to get them all! Well, I’ve got a 1970s one coming up. Will try and make it a little tougher, just for you :-)
prakash 7 May 2006 6:32 pm: 10/10
thennavan 7 May 2006 6:39 pm: 10/10; Compare this to my Rehman score and you’ll be able to reasonable say to which era I belong :)
anantha 7 May 2006 7:12 pm: that anon comment was from me
Cipher 7 May 2006 7:47 pm: 9/10 - 2nd is so familiar that i forgot it ;-)
S Anand 7 May 2006 8:17 pm: Anantha, which did you miss? Cipher, the actor for the second song is Kamal.
Cipher 8 May 2006 12:06 am: Was it tik tik tik or Sigappu rojakkal ?
lazy geek 8 May 2006 5:09 am: cipher, it was andhi mazhai
Anonymous 8 May 2006 5:41 pm: 10/10. isai inban.
Aravind 8 May 2006 11:03 pm: 10/10
zero 9 May 2006 10:08 am: 10/10
kummy 10 May 2006 8:21 am: 10/10
janani 15 May 2006 1:48 pm: hey am pretty terrible at the 80’s music. hmm… does that mean i am ultra modern or just badly informed. nvm.. they’re just as bad. but it was awesome fun. going on to the 90’s one now.
K.Shyam 12 Oct 2006 8:14 pm: 10/10
Peri 14 Oct 2006 4:58 am: hey wat is 5 th. It is verrry familiar but I couldn’t make it.Some Bharathiraja movie. That is sure !!
S Anand 14 Oct 2006 6:54 am: Peri, yes it’s a Bharathiraja film. Hint: Karthik and Radha.
ASHOK KUMAR 18 Oct 2006 12:04 pm: HELLO SIR I’AM ASHOK. I VERY INTREST YOUR ALL MELODY SONGS .SO I want to ilayaraja hit nengil nendra ragam.plese give to this alubm
keyan 28 Nov 2006 11:20 am: not challenging illayrajas music is in blood
sathish 6 Dec 2006 9:12 pm: got all 10.. It was easy one..took 5 minutes
madhu 4 Feb 2007 5:15 pm: got 10/10
Seetha 4 May 2007 6:18 am: Got nine..Wats fifth??s t not alaigal oivadhillai?? its not turning green :-)
sathya 6 May 2006 12:00 pm: i like illiaraja very much his music is something different from other music when i sleep at night fistly i hear illiaraja sir music then i myself sing then sleep
Sridhar 6 May 2006 12:00 pm: 10/10
ASHOK 6 May 2006 12:00 pm: I LIKE THIS COLLECTIONS GOOD,KEEP IT UP.
Ahamed 6 May 2006 12:00 pm: Your site has been one of my favourites.. Uniquely beautiful to see a great site in a web world of obscenity and vulgarity. Keep up the good work
Vinod Tamodharan 15 Aug 2008 11:59 pm: I LIKE THIS COLLECTION
Kavitha 16 Nov 2008 2:28 am: All Songs are nice
Deva 16 Nov 2008 10:22 pm: 3rd one is en iniya pon nilave. i forgot the movie name.
ashok kumar 25 Dec 2008 12:13 am: all songs are very nice and i give 10/10
kiran 16 Feb 2009 3:57 am: 10/10.. but beautiful collection. I am getting to like your site as well :)
Ashokkumar 16 Feb 2009 1:20 pm: Hi Gentelman I am very like & love your all songs I have your music song but i need your old melody song did you send me pl pl pl pl pl …………….
archana 4 Mar 2009 1:08 am: 10/10 beautiful songs evergreen
suriya 16 Mar 2009 3:15 am: 9 th i know the song..(poove sembuve) movie name dont know
why do you need it? 3 Apr 2009 3:01 am: 10/10 for me. I love Ilayaraja songs. There is a torrent with over 4GB of free Ilayaraja mp3 songs. mininova.org. Enjoy…If there is a better site, please post…
Selva 26 May 2009 3:35 pm: its interesting ya and i got all right
Vishnu 5 Jun 2009 2:58 am: ha.. finally scored 10/10 on a quiz.. these are very good brain teasers by the way.. thanks for the effort :-) ..
- Vishnu
Chnadru 13 Sep 2009 12:26 pm: Why is there no Panchu Arunachalam lyrics collection? Like kanmaniya kadhan yenabathu karbanayo……….
DJ 7 Aug 2009 9:51 pm: beautiful songs brings back my beautiful memories…..its like my soul….Ilayaraja the GREAT!! these songs automatically giving a pleasant feeling to heart, can’t express it…. but i feel to listen listen listen…
Sujatha 15 Sep 2009 8:45 am: 10/10.Very easy one.I enjoy these quizzes alot.
sharanya 16 Jan 2010 6:03 am: It’s very nice & Interesting
Anita 7 Jan 2010 3:40 am: Hey, i wasnt able to recollect even one movie, but all songs are my favs.
Merlin 2 Apr 2010 7:10 am: I got 10/10
kutty 2 Apr 2010 4:27 pm: i got 10/10
mahi 24 Mar 2010 5:25 am: i got 9/10 .. i can’t guess the 6th song …
S.Chandrasekar 2 Jul 2010 10:03 am: I got 10/10. This is just because I have lived with Ilayarajas songs .
Vijay 25 Jun 2010 1:44 am: nice one. got 10/10. You site is quite adictive.
senthil kumar 19 Jul 2010 9:08 am: dear sir, very mush ur musiq and songs so like this ur songs and musiq every body thanks for ur goods music ……
Ramakrishnan 6 Jul 2010 3:34 pm: I LIKE VERY MUCH ILAYARAJA MUSIC Bcase of he is the ONE & ONLY Legend of Music.iam always hear his songs.He reveled the own culture in every songs.
shanthi 24 Sep 2010 3:20 pm: very good collection…i got only 6 correct….its really interesting…I wish I know about this site earlier…
vijayabaskar 20 Nov 2010 12:55 pm: pretty nice collection..its really easy to recollect the songs with the base tune… not realised that it be difficult to guess the movie name….just got 5 out of 10
303 14 Nov 2010 6:39 pm: yay!!!.. naanga pass aagitommmmmm…. :) .. adhuvum 10/10 :)
TRG 8 Apr 2011 12:17 pm: I AM ILAYARAJA THEVARA RASIGAN 10/10
Kartick 14 Feb 2011 12:17 pm: @Sundar - Mella mella from vaazhkai.. guess u must’ve heard it in sarvam.. :)
Sundar 13 Jan 2011 10:44 pm: could some one help me find this song . I can just remember the starting music i think this movie suresh and either nadiya or purnima jayaram or revathy acted . Please listen to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEOOsnLaQPw you might know . Please let me know at rdsundar@yahoo.com
kagithan 1 Jan 2011 3:23 pm: 2m.. 3m.. theriyala
ravindra babu hyderabad 18 Dec 2010 1:27 pm: hi nice to hear and collections
Sudhakar Dhanapal 19 Jan 2011 11:56 am: Easyyyyyy.. 10/10
kuttuvababu 25 Mar 2011 12:27 pm: very easy and popular songs
DINESH 30 Dec 2011 10:16 am: NIZH, R.PARVAI, P.MUDIVATHILAI, M.VASANAI, V.KATHIRUNTHAL, S.BAIRAVI, M.RAGAM, N’GAN, S.T.MANASU, KARA’KARAN 10/10. BUT SONG 3 IS TRICKY
Shriram 14 Jan 2012 4:34 pm: got 10/10
Anamika 12 Feb 2012 10:38 am: Pogum paadhai dhoorame vaazhum kaalam konjame jeeva sugam pera raaga nadhiyinil nee neendhavaa…!
Arulselvam 2 Sep 2011 3:02 pm: 10/10 Nice collections
viji 20 Jan 2012 12:30 pm: 80’s songs are classic, romance, simply superb, its creates magic when v listen those songs people just forget the problems for sometimes enjoy the life, hates off to illayaraja for giving those awesome music, especially kamal + ilayaraja combo is a magic
das 7 Nov 2011 3:06 pm: yehhhhhhhhhhhhh nanum 10/10
das 17 Aug 2011 5:13 am: 9/10
vijay renu 15 Dec 2011 9:52 am: we got 7/10
Ranjani 7 Aug 2011 1:29 pm: 5/10
padmanaban 15 Apr 2012 6:59 am: Nice collection, good to listen best wishes. 9/10
Ulaganathan 5 Mar 2011 3:45 am: Yeah…. Aatha Naan Pass Ayiten. 10 out of 10.
divya 6 Mar 2012 2:41 pm: i just love raja sir
Shobhana 20 May 2012 5:10 am: I got 10/10 in this one too.. :)
madurai mouli 6 Apr 2012 8:15 am: 9 answer than kandupidichen. miss aanathu 9 avathu pattu. gotha ,just’la missu.
Kesava Pillai 20 Jun 2012 7:00 am: 9/10 ,பூவே செம்பூவே …மட்டும் என்ன படம் என்று மறந்து விட்டது …
Malarvannan 8 Sep 2012 1:57 pm: 10/10
Panimalar 16 Jan 2013 6:09 pm: Easy. Got 10/10. Very interesting to guess.
balaji 4 Feb 2016 9:45 am: wow ! 10/10feeling great
Aravindan 7 Apr 2020 6:08 am: It’s ever green songs very easy to identify the movie.so nice