8 Magical Moments by Mani Ratnam-Illayaraja

Film making is a not a single man task and that’s why everyone gets excited when two creators join together for a film. This article is about the best moments of a director- music director combo who share their birthday on same day (Today).

This director’s film made me realize that a movie can impact you  in a way that you don’t sleep or think about anything else. All these I realized at the age of 12 when I watched ‘Kannathil Muthamittal’ on the television. Years later I came to know about the brain behind the film, Mani Ratnam.

If one writes a book about music in India or music around the world, he is inevitable. Many music directors can be claimed as king of background music, he was the one who used background music to narrate the film. Back in 1960s Hindi music was predominantly heard in Tamil Nadu. Annakilli, his film, changed everything from the type of songs to the musical sense of people. Illayaraja, as his name personifies he is the king (raja) of music.

Mani Ratnam and Illayaraja have worked together in 10 films. When Mani Ratnam started his career with a Kannada film ‘Pallavi Anu Pallavi’, Illayaraja accepted to compose music for one third of his salary he normally use to get. They have created magical moments in all their films as follows

1. Pallavi Anu Pallavi Background music:

The guitars in Illayaraja’s music is inevitable. This BGM starts with a solo guitar followed my flute and finally the vocals. This BGM was used by his son, Yuvan Shankar Raja, in the movie ‘Sarvam’. Even Illayaraja used this music and composed a song in Tamil.

2. Mouna Ragam Backgound music:

When all movies had title track with names against some color background, Mani Ratnam showed his cast and crew details along with the pictures of Revathy (Actress of the film) backed by Illayaraja’s mesmerizing BGM.

3. Mandram Vantha song:

When the film released, this song unofficially announced that these two are going to give a peculiar audio-visual experience. When Illayaraja-SPB hypnotizing you, Mani-PC Sreeram enthralls you on with visuals.

4. Thenpandi Cheemaiyile song:

Nayakan is one among the TIME magazine’s “All time 100 best films”. This song will be used as title track and throughout the film. It has a iconic dialogue “Neenga nallavara? Kettavara?” and the BGM after the dialogue still remains in the heart of a movie buff.

5. Nayakan fight background:
When Velu’s adopted father is killed in a police station, he searches for the police who arrested his father. The background score during the fight is a marvelous.

6. Oru poonkavanam song:

This song from agni natchathiram is sung by S.Janaki is a bliss to hear. Another song from the same film, ‘Raja naan rajathi’ is a visual treat which has a unique cinematography and the song looks refreshing.

7. Rakkamma song:

‘Thalapathi’ was the last film from this legendry combo. The whole film is magical, either the songs or the background music. An exclusive article could be written on this film. But ‘Rakkamma’ song is one of the finest composition by Illayaraja. The song starts with a heavy violin and towards the end he adds a classical song making it a unique song. This song is placed in BBC’s top ten music poll. The song give you hair rising moments.

8. Background score during the breakup:

This scene set against a yellowish sky with sun at the background. Rajnikanth asks Shobana to go away, Illayaraja’s BGM starts speaking. The violin playing ‘Sundari’ song and later progress to flute along with Santhosh Sivan’s frame is something that cannot be put into words.