Monday, January 15, 2007

Geethopadesam scene from Karnan

First of all, I should say the movie had the best star cast, with Karnan played by Sivaji portraying the strength, confidence, honesty and pride at its best. Asokan playing Dhuryodhana perfect body language for false pride and vulnerability, scheming sakuni played by Nambiyar and the physically strong

though mentally confused and weak Arjuna by Muthuraman, and who else can you think of as the Lord, NTR.

This scene in my opinion gets an A+ for its direction, music direction and histrionics.




Direction: ‘cos, it was very intelligent of the director to have made the dialogue between the Human (Arjuna) and the Lord (Krishna) to have it the way it is. Arjuna speaks out his woes, doubts and confusions to the lord and the Lord gives him the Geethopadesam in short and sweet verses. I thought, it perfectly portrayed the state of mind Arjuna was in and how the Lord clarifies everything for him. Also I will have to mention the scene did look like a battlefield without any of the graphics gimmicks that is used today to show any action sequence. I thought this scene proves the fact that BGM and the body language of the actors is more than enough to carry out any scene in a movie.

Music Direction: The ragas he had chosen for the Geethopadesam. There are three verses in the sequence, with the first one in Natai. The ragam is usually used as a prelude and a raagam to set-up a war scene. It is the raagam which is used for “Swami purappadu” (well it is gambeera nattai, but hey it is close) in temples and the style of music is called the mallari. The mood conveyed is valor and also marks the beginning of the event that is to follow. The next one is Sahana. It conveys sympathy and consolation. It sounded like the Lord is sympathizing with the confused Arjuna and tries to console him and convince him to go ahead with the task in hand. The last one is Madhyamavathi, a raagam chosen to end any kutcheri. Here the MD uses it convey, “ok! Enough is enough I think this is it now, have faith in me and go ahead with what I tell you, and shall not entertain any more questions.”

Histrionics: The actors Arjuna and NTR have done perfect justice to the role they were assigned.

Not to forget, this dude Seergazhi Govindarajan, I really do not have any words to express how wonderfully he has sung the verses. There are other songs in the movie which are also haunting, “ullathil nalla ullam, enna koduppan”. Amazing voice and expressions (swara gnanam and bhavam).

10 comments:

P B said...

Apdiye raagathoda swarangalaium pottu vidyasathai puriya veiungal aasane...

Adikadi post varuvathai paarthai merpadi kattalai pola allava ulladhu?
nadathunga nadathungal :)

Anonymous said...

Sujan,

if we look at from different point of view, anything "to begin with" is attributed to piLLayar and hence this song also starts with naattai, a raaga attributed to him.

Karnan is one hell of a music album of the century. What a splendid output from V-R (Viswanathan-Raamamoorthy). Did you know the shenai piece was performed by Ustad Bismillah Khan and Sathyam (an accomplished shegnai player of V-R troupe). Great Hindi MD Naushaad cherishes this album and he always says he has no words to praise and he could never have matched this performance.

Another person whom, i guess, you have forgotten to mention in both the songs (geethopadesam & uLLaththil nalla uLLam) is none other than KKD (Kaviyarasu Kannadhaasan). After Mahakavi Bharathiyaar KKD has given the geetopadesam in a splendid abridged musical form in thamizh.

No doubt this movie and thillaana mohanaambaaL would remain in the first few movies in all time collection of any Tamizh Film Music (TFM) connoisseur.

Anonymous said...

hey!
Btw, as a matter of fact Krishna, in his geethopadesam, never said/concluded thus (esp. the bold parts) ok! Enough is enough I think this is it now, have faith in me and go ahead with what I tell you, and shall not entertain any more questions.

If we look geethopadesam as a 'literary work!!' it doesn't follow waterfall model :-) it is a spiral way of presenting one philosophy. Despite that, Krishna still leaves it to the conscience of Arjuna to decide upon the course of action. He never insist on following his teachings/path only.

I understand that is not what you wanted to say here but thought it is worth pointing it out here given that i felt the statement could mean in that way.

Maayaa said...

hello
ponnnu orrukku ponaa dhaan post poduveengalo:)-

anyways.. pichuteenga

IBH said...

you dont know how glad i am now to see a post on karnan....and the legacy named Sivaji as the former...this movie takes my breath away every time i see it....

especially for the songs...
1. Kangal Enge...
2. Ullathil Nalla Ullam..

I cry so much when i see the 2nd song...i am not master of raagas like u are...but , Seerkazhi...*hallelujah* :)...ur taste in music is mind blowing :)

IBH said...

btw, En Ulle en Ulle is ofcourse sung by Latha Rajinikanth....Rajinikanth produced as well as wrote the story for this movie....

sb said...

PB,
idhu ellam unakku overa illa. :-)

Sridhar,
Yeah I agree with you on Geethopadesam, but I just wanted to confine my discussions to the movie. In the movie I feel that is how it was portayed.

Priya,
appadi ellam onnum illaye. :P ippo veedu marinadhu lendhu konjam time naraya kadkaikkardhu, so adhan i am able to do some vetti stuff and write about it. :-)

IBH,
Thanks for stopping by. yeah Sivaji enacting classic roles have been the best part of Tamil Cinema.
And about En Ulle, I am not really sure, 'cos like Sridhar pointed out I have seen Swarnalathas interviews where she says that this was her all time fav. so i am confused

Anonymous said...

sujan,

you dont have to get confused at all. Indeed ennuLLe is sung by swarnalatha. the latha rajinikanth solo in that movie is kukkukoo koo koo koovum kuyilakkaa, the intro song(?) of priya raman in that movie.

Anonymous said...

to me the showcase of the album Karnan is the song sung by many acclaimed and gifted singers of that time including seerkaazhi. The song starts as aayiram kaigaL neetti aNaikkinRa thaayE pORRi. This songs comes in bits in that movie. If anyone need to quote one song to defend the need of songs in films then without any second thought one can quote this song. what a seemless amalgamation of music, rendition, sequences, picturisation, action. never ever this song stops me moving. if uLLathil nalla uLLam is pathos beauty then this song creates a keledioscopic set of emotions. One would fall in love, feel proud, get anger, get valour, feel compassionate, feel eerie what not with this song.

Sujan, sorry to eat bytes in your space, couldn't stop it.

sb said...

Sridhar,
oh yeah, I love that song. In fact I have an earlier blog on "naani chivandhanar madharar kannam ..." exceptional!!
btw, please no sorry, neenga ellam vandhu indha madiri matter share panna dhane engalukku ulaga arivu valarum. :-) no seriously