Continued
from part 7
Part
8
Some
associations are hard to forge, while some are hard to build
upon. Some associations are hard to gel while some other are
hard to stick. Especially in the areas where creativity is concerned,
it is particularly difficult to hold back and silence one's
own input and let the talent in the other speaks out. When a
director sits down with a writer (poetic or prosaic) or with
any other technician, trying to explain what needs to be told
in that scene, it speaks well of his wisdom and judgement to
let the technician take over from that point onwards and bring
in his creativity to the mix, thus enhancing the overall appearance
and presentation of the output. A good director extracts the
right material for his product while a great director allows
the right material to flow into his product. Present the situation,
provide the context, supply the inspiration, spur the imagination
and allow the magic to happen. While it is not just providing
the right framework to the technicians that does the job, the
art of picking up the apt output, from among the rest, depends
on the judiciousness of his mind and the familiarity with his
material Under the tutelage of Adurti Subba Rao, who was himself
a master forger of long-term friendships (with aatreya (word),
K.V. Mahadevan (sound), Selvaraj (eye), Madhusudhana Rao (money),
and such), K. Viswanath picked up the right cues to form the
right relationships with the right people and maintained them
throughout his career. With Jandhyala, Veturi, Sirivennela,
Mahadevan and Illayaraja forming his stable of artists, Viswanath
set out sketching the broadlines allowing the talent to fill
in the finer details. [Lore has it that the phrase "telavaaredaemO
swaami" (Srutilayalu) had been coined by Viswanth, who
then left it in the safe hands of Sirivennela to finish off
the rest.]
From
his debut movie "aatma gouravam" to Mahadevan's swan
song "swati kiraNam", Viswanath's association with
K.V.Mahadevan can only be paralleled, in a fitting way, by the
latter's association with Viswanath's mentor, Adurti Subba Rao.
Known for his meticulous rule of composing a tune only to a
written lyric ("maaTa paaTaku praaNam pOyaali"), Mahadevan's
work ethic matched perfectly with Viswanath's aesthetic sensibility
of decorating the word with the tune. Relying purely on the
beauty of the words and setting forth enhancing the beauty of
it with an even simpler tune, Mahadevan's songs are known better
known for how well the tune hides behind the words, allowing
the listener to concentrate on what the words are trying to
convey and forget about what meter and rhythm the words are
set to and how well the orchestration has been arranged. It
is indeed a testament for a music director who refuses to play
along with the assembly line tune creation, or creating tune
banks, but instead allowing the words to rouse the right passion
and trigger the proper tune. Listen to the little aalapana that
starts off with a female voice (P.Suseela) which marches along
gracefully with the progressive steps of the veena in the first
interlude of "kanchi ki pOtaava krishNammaa". Simplicity
is the characteristic of Mahadevan's music. If the requirement
is an outright classical piece, pick up any song of "SankaraabharaNam"
and every song proves the fact above and beyond. If the requirement
is outright folk, pick up the foot-tapping "Dappu"
beats of "sirisiri muvva" and get swayed away by the
rythm. Light music, "Subhalekha" begs to be mentioned,
semi-classical, "saptapadi" stands in the front. What
is interesting in all these different kinds of music is, Mahadevan
did not seem to be too keen to make a mark and stamp his brand
on any his creations, allowing the songs to be judged on their
own merit.
Enter
Illayaraja. In the few movies that Viswanath collaborated with
Illayaraja, the songs seem to retain the flavor of the maestro
while adhering to the standards of Viswanath all the same. With
exception to "swarNa kamalam", whose tunes were set
to lyrics, the melodies of "saagara sangamam" and
"chinnabbaayi" are as much popular for the tunes as
they are about the words that they are set to. Consider a tune
like "vae vaela gOpemmala muvva gOpaaluDae", that
was decided at the end of the constant interaction between the
director and the musician and later handed down to the lyricist
to translate the notes (bhaavam) into a feeling (anubhooti)
with the aid of a few alphabets. It is difficult in such cases
to decide to whom would go the most credit - is it the music
director who has come up with such a beautiful melody out of
the thin air (considering, he does not have the luxury of the
language yet) or is it the lyricist who has come up with the
right words to fit right into the tune, embellishing the tune
and extrapolating the situation or is the director who has a
general idea of what he needs, in picking the right tune for
the mood and right word for the tune? Now ponder on the reverse.
"andela ravamidi padamuladaa, ambaramanTina hrudayamudaa".
A dancer's ecstatic expression of unfettered joy flowing into
the tireless pen of a thinking mind. The situation has been
dictated and the words have been set. Now looking at the words
and thinking about the situation, how does one come up with
a tune that is both a vibration of inner senses and a celebration
of soaring spirits? As the words rise from "anga bhangimalu
ganga pongulai, haava bhaavamulu ningi rangulai", the tune
increasingly gets more vibrant and stimulating, and when it
reaches to its crescendo with "parvataalu prasarinchina
pacchani prakRti aakRiti paarvati kaagaa", the notes comes
down in a hurry as to observe in introspect whether it is "andela
ravamidi padamuladaa, ambaramanTina hrudayamudaa". Whether
it is creating a tune to the context or setting the tune to
the words, Illayaraja scores, on both counts.
One
area that Illayaraja dominates (?) Mahadevan/Puhalendi in Viswanath's
movies is the re-recording (background score) department. Who
can ever forget the soul stirring violin melodies with mRdangam
accompaniments in "saagara sangamam" that not only
comment on the scenes, when Balu tries to bring her mother back
to consciousness on her death-bed with his dance performance,
when Madhavi recollects her favorite moments with Balu in her
flashback (against a scintillating santoor score) and such.
While Mahdevan/Puhalendi stuck to the traditional route and
preferred to remain behind the scenes with their background
scores, Illayaraja's talent spills over the screen, letting
the viewer to be totally immersed in the moment, visually through
the context and subliminally through the background score. One
important aspect that stands out between Mahadevan and Illayaraja
(scope - Viswnath's movies) was how much Viswanath/Mahadevan
relied on classical music and went around modeling the scores
around the traditional tunes. Each of the collaborations of
Viswanath and Mahadevan would find atleast a couple of classical
tunes (be it tyaagaraja swami kRthulu, ramadasu keertanalu,
annamayya samkeertanalu, kshetrayya padaalu, siddhendra yogi
abhinaya padaalu), which seem to be sorely missing in his works
with Illayaraja, but for the occasional "bAlakanaka maya
chaela sujana", "koluvai unnaaDae daeva daevuDu".
As the new bride in the village, who remains quite reticent
with the rest of the tattle talkers of the female group, walks
up the stairs, the group muses silently to a "vayyaari
muddula satya bhaamanae satyaaa bhaamane" casting angry
and sarcastic darts at them. "ae teeruga nanu daya joochedavO,
naa taramaa bhava saagarameedanu" laments a young lad in
need of food, clothing and shelter. "mandaara makaranda
maadhuryamuna daelu madhupambu bOvunae madanamulaku" the
wife gently chides a greedy and a lazy husband. The keen ear
of Viswanath to recollect all that he had heard till that point
in his career and adapt the great wealth of literature quite
adeptly to some situation in his script, talks volumes not only
of the vastness of his literary reach but also his sense and
taste to mould and fit them to suit his need.
Cont'd
(in the concluding part, Viswanath - longevity)
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