Singing (And Dancing) in the Rain

Rediff had recently listed some of the famous rain songs in Hindi films. At the top of the list, as expected, was the immortal Pyaar Hua Ikraar Hua… number from Shri 420, which gave us the iconic shot of Raj Kapoor and Nargis under an umbrella in the rain. I don’t think the rains have yielded any similar iconic shots in Tamil cinema but we do have our share of memorable rain songs.

In movies, rain has been pretty closely associated with eroticism and Tamil cinema is no exception. Rain provides a natural excuse for transparent clothes being plastered to the heroines’ curvaceous bodies and this makes dances in the rain a voyeur’s delight. Our choreographers do their bit with sexy steps and erotic moves and it helps that our heroines always manage to be clad in white sarees when it rains! Sridevi drunkenly staggering to Endhan Kannill… in Guru and Shobana dancing to one of the songs in Siva come to mind as examples. But seeing songs from films like Dharmakshetram and Gharana Mogudu has made me think that our Telugu counterparts were a lot more notorious in this aspect.

But what the wet heroines usually make us forget is that rain makes for some spectacular cinematography. The dark clouds, the falling rain, the splashes from the puddles and the water droplets on everything from leaves to the heroine’s skin can all be captured beautifully, resulting in a feast for the eyes. Oho Megam Vandhadhe… from Mouna Raagam and Vaan Megam… from Punnagai Mannan were a couple of songs that proved this.

Apart from white sarees, the other thing associated with rain in Tamil movies is tragedy. I guess the logic is that when a man is down, getting wet is the worst thing that can happen to him! So we’ve had several movies (Mugavari is one that comes to mind mainly because the scene stood as very ridiculous in the otherwise realistic movie) where sadness is immediately followed by thunder and rain, so that the wet hero can launch into a pathos song. I guess Thakita Thadhimi… from Salangai Oli would be another example, though that was probably one of the few cases where the rain was actually used to convey visually, something very beautiful.

Not many rain songs have been impressive recently. Though named Mazhai and having most important scenes and songs take place in the rain, that film didn’t really do anything special in capturing the rain on camera. On the other hand, one of the well-picturized rain songs recently was Sil Sil Mazhaiye… from Arindhum Ariyaamalum. The beats, the music, the lyrics and the singing really expressed the joy of splashing around in the rain and the picturization, though inspired by one of the songs in Dil To Paagal Hai, did full justice to the song also.

Rain has become such an integral part of our movies that I don’t think our filmmakers will be singing Rain Rain Go Away… any time soon :-)