Music director D.Imman is easily one among the top 5 music directors in Kollywood today. But he has not reached the top spot very easily. Basically there have been two kinds of music directors in Tamil films. Some will turn heads towards them with their debut, go on making wonders in the next few films and reach the top spot within three or four films in their career. Another category will be destined to struggle a lot to prove their worth. Many of their tremendous efforts would even go unnoticed in the process of climbing up the ladder.
The followers of Tamil Cinema will easily know under which category Imman will fall. Officially the composer's debut film is Vijay starrer Tamizhan that released in 2002. Prior to Tamilan Imman had worked for the film Kadhale Swasam which never released. Such unfortunate is the start of his success story. However Imman's first album Tamizhan was a chartbuster.
In a span of 12 years Imman has worked in many films and a decent number of them are hit films. His songs for the films Whistle, Giri, Thalai nagaram, Marudhamalai, Kacheri Arrambam made to the ipod track list of many young listeners but the turning point in his career came with the film Mynaa. If the path breaking love story by Prabhu Solomon was a super hit so is the album composed by Imman.
After Mynaa notable offers started flooding in and his work for films like Manam Kothi Paravai and Sattai were appreciated by many. Again a Prabhu Solomon film in Kumki pushed Imman's career to new levels. The film made it to the top of the year 2012 in collections apart from garnering enormous critical acclaim and the songs made wonders in the audio market.
Even after this Imman remains affordable to small budget film producers. If this is a quality that is a rare to be found in a composer at the peak of his career it should be seen as the outcome of his clear understanding of what elevated him to this position today.
Post Kumki, Imman got to work with Suseenthiran directed Vishal flick Pandiyanadu and the composer ensured a musical hit with that action packed flick. This made him join with a star as big as Vijay, after a gap of 11 years in Jilla and the songs for the Nessan directed flick are still topping the charts.
Imman is also a good play back singer.'Kirukka Kirukka' in Whistle, 'Adra Sakka' in Giri, 'Katcheri Katcheri' in Karcheri Arrambam made people speak about his ability to sing peppy numbers; with 'Onnum Puriyala' in Kumki he surprised the listeners with his deftness in singing soulful numbers.
If this is something done by his formers and peers, here comes a unique talent of Imman. He has unearthed the crooning talent of many actors and actresses. All of his songs sung by leading heroes and heroines have been likened by music listeners cutting across sections. This not only warrants the singing talent of the particular actor/actress but also the composer's ability to choose the right song suiting the voice of the actor/actress.
Imman, tried this in Tamizhan itself. There is no surprise in making its lead hero Vijay who was already a well known singer to sing the 'Ullathai Killadhey' number. But having PriyankaChopra a girl entirely new to the Tamil language sing a song is the testimony for the composer's self confidence and earnestness to be unique. For a debut composer, getting the consent from the makers for such a risky idea itself should have been a herculean task. And at the end everyone was happy with the outcome and success of the song.
Imman also identified the singer in Siva Karthikeyan and made him sing the super hit Oodha coloru Ribbon in Varuthapadadha Vaalibar Sangam. The success of the song is evident in the anchor turned actor singing a song composed by Anirudh in his upcoming film Maan Karate as well.
Ramya Nambeesan may be a renowned play back singer in Malayalam but in Tamil she was known only as a actress before Imman made her croon the peppy 'Fy fy' song in Pandianadu.
Imman just retained the idea he tried with Vijay in Tamizhan when he paired up with the star in Jilla. This time he made Vijay to sing 'Kandaangi Kandaangi' a beautiful melody with melody queen Shreya Ghoshal.
Going forward, we can expect many more spectacular songs and many actors turning as singers with the magic wand of D.Imman who is one of the busiest composers with 9 films in hand, .
He has made his mark in various languages of the Indian Cinema, Hindi , Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and what not! A man who is extremely talented and a man to whom music comes naturally; A prodigy that he is, here’s more about his contribution in the Bollywood industry.
What brought this man to limelight was ofcourse his ‘Breathless’ which was released in the year 1998. After this many music offers danced to his tunes and now Shankar has over a few hundred’s to his hat. Mission Kashmir which released in 2000 gave him another break as Bumro Bumro created a rave amongst all audience for its fast paced beats.
‘Dil Chahtha Hai’ although proved to be the luckiest for Shakar in his career as it led to him exploring the avenues of becoming a Music Director as well. Donning the hat of a Music Director in 2001 with this, Shankar still continued singing as well and gave hits like ‘Rock and Roll Soniye’ and ‘Where’s the perty tonight’ in the year 2006 and ‘Jhoom Barabar Jhoom’ in 2007. Lakshya which released in 2004 is also a good mention in his steady career.
ShankarMahadevan has never been out of movies and infact there have been hits coming his way one after the other. My name is Khan which hit the theatres in 2010 is yet another example – the song Noor e khuda stole everyone’s hearts. Remember Taare Zameen Par? What was one thing you can’t forget about the movie? Ofcourse the song – ‘Meri Maa’ and thanks to Shankar’s soulful rendition yet again.
ShankarMahadevan has recently ventured into his training academy for all music enthusiasts. Raaga.com wishes him all the very best for it.
The ace actor mamootty made his appearance ein Kollywood way back in 1990’s. Here is a quick look at the best songs of Mamootty from his Tamil Movies.
‘Kalyana Thennila’ remains one of the evergreen hits until today. Ofcourse this was Mamootty’s first film in Tamil and thanks to the beautiful lady Amala by his side, the song takes the top position In the best romantic numbers ever composed. Balachander roped him in again in 1991 for Azhagan. This movie had a brilliant music album and almost all songs became a hit. Ofcourse our personal favourite is ‘Sathi Malli Poocharame’. Moamooty’s third consecutive hit in Kollywood was ‘Thalapathy’ with Rajinikanth by sharing the screen space with him. Needless to say, ‘Kaatukuyilu manasukula’ is everyone’s all time favourite.
The next consecutive years saw Mammootty in various roles in a range of movies like Arasiyal, Pudhayal, Makkal Aatchi etc. Although a movie that made a difference breaking a monotony in his role was the movie Maru Malarchi which released in the year 1998. A song from this movie that made a good impact was ‘Ayarindu madhangal’ sung by Unnikrishnan.
With Kandukondein Kandikondein releasing in the year 2000, there was more scope for acting for Mamootty with a challenging role given to him and with an amazing star cast like Aishwarya Rai, Thala Ajith sharing the screen with him. Needless to say,Mamooty made a mark with this movie too.
Mammootty was seen in the movie ‘Anandham’ the following year, making a clear statement that he can also fit the bill of being the sentimental ‘brother’ too. The hit song from this movie was ofcourse the sentimental ‘Aasai Aasaiyaaai irukiradhe’ in K.J Yesudas’s voice.
Following this, Mamootty made appearances in other movies like Junior Senior, Karmegham , vandhe Maatharam and Vishwa Thulasi. Raaga.com hopes to see Mammootty back in action in Kollywood.
So with Highway hitting the screens recently, there has been a lot of buzz in B-Town not only because Aalia Bhatt has done a fantastic job but also because the movie promises a different world of ‘music’ altogether. But why is that? Ofcourse it is because none other than the Maestro has lent his tunes to the movie.
What is creating wave in the music scene now? Ofcourse it is the album ‘Raunaq’. Well one reason is that it is Kapil Sibal’s second attempt at writing after his contribution for Bandbook. The album which was unveiled by Salman Khan during the launch carries about 7 songs in total. Singers like lata Mangeshkar and Shreya Ghoshal are a part of this album too. Jonita Gandhi is also another person that one could see in this album.The hopes are high considering this music album has the best of all. Moreover, one specific song in the album featuring Yami Gautham has the visuals inspired by Ravi Varma paintings.
A.R.Rahman is always known for the difference he brings out through his works, the detailing in each of it. We hear that ‘raunaq’ has something for all the music lovers.Backed by Sony music for the musical production, this album has a lot to offer. For now all we can do is immerse ourselves in this beautiful number – ‘Kismat se’.
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February 28 marks the birthday of the legendary film music director Ravindra Jain. He turns 71 today; Raaga.Com wishes him birthday greeting and recalls the eternal friendship of Ravindra Jain and Mohd Rafi and how they admired each other.
After music legend Naushad, if there is any music director, who has nurtured Indian Classical music, it is indeed, Ravindra Jain. If fact when Ravindra Jain landed in Mumbai, Music director Naushad had offered him to be his assistant but Jain wished to embark his journey as an independent music director.
Student of music stalwarts like Pandit G.L. Jain, Pandit Janardhan Sharma, and Pandit Nathu Ram Jain's inclination towards Bhartiya Shastriya Sangeet was immense and it was his this command over Shastriya Sangeet that brought him close to Mohd. Rafi.
Recalling his first meeting with Rafi, Ravindra Jain said, “I first met Rafi-saab in Kolkata in a program but due to his hectic schedule we could not have much conversation but when I got my first Bollywood assignment for the movie LORI, Rafi Sahab was kind enough to sing my debut song “Ye silsila hai pyar ka chalta hi rahega…. However the movie could not be released.”
“Next I was signed by N.N.Sippy for the film KAANCH AUR HEERA. Once again, I approached Rafi sahab and he obliged. The song was Nazar aati nahin manzil….Unfortunately the film didn’t do well, but this song became very popular,” he informs.
He added, “After this N.N.Sippy gave another break with CHOR MACHAYE SHOR. I took the movie as a challenge and yet again I relied on Rafi sahab. Interestingly all the songs became hit. Remember Ek Daal Par Tota Bole...; Paon Mein Dori...”
After this the two shared a good rapport. Paying tribute to Rafi sahab, Ravinder Jain, in his typical poetry quotes -
Among the yesteryear actress the only actress who has maintained grace and elegance is unarguably Rekha.
Recently Katrina Kaif, who has got the opportunity to work with Rekha in Abhishek Kapoor’s upcoming film FITOOR, was smitten by Rekha’s charm and charisma.
Amazed at Rekha’s sophistication and zeal for life Katrina said, “Every time I have met her, I have been amazed by her warmth, her grace and her immense enthusiasm towards life. I am sure we will have a great time filming together and I am looking forward to it."
Termed as ‘Original Diva’ of Bollywood, Rekha is truly an inspiration for everybody. Readers would be surprised to know when Rekha made her debut in the early 70’s in Bollywood, she was severely criticized for her dark complexion and her plump body.
In an interview Rekha had candidly confessed how media made nasty gags regarding her looks. She once said, “In fact a leading newspaper had even labeled me as ‘Ugly Duckling’ and interestingly later the same newspaper lauded me for my transformation into a beautiful swan!”
Few know that to acquire the stunning looks Rekha underwent strenuous makeover regime which reflected in her personal and professional sphere.
Besides the magical makeover, what makes Rekha’s life a motivation is that despite failures in love life and living a lonesome life, Rekha has not been tucked down instead she lives life king-size.
Her married life is very tragic. In 1990, Rekha married to Delhi based industrialist Mukesh Aggarwal. A year later in 1991, he committed suicide due to financial loss.
Later there were rumored of Rekha’s secretly marriage to Bollywood actor Vinod Mehra but Rekha in an interview with Simi Garewal declined the rumor referring to him as a ‘well-wisher.’ And last but not the least her Rekha ‘s failed affair with Amitabh Bachchan is well known but in spite of all the tragedies Rekha continues to live life positively and that’s the key to her evergreen charisma and allure.