Aboorva Sagodharargal - A Deleted Song
Whenever I read news items about unfinished movies, they are always along the lines of "the talkie portions are finished. Only the songs need to be shot". So I always thought that the song sequences were the last scenes to be shot in a movie. Looks like that's not always the case. The above video[link courtesy Baradwaj Rangan] is supposedly a song that was shot but never used for Kamal's Aboorva Sagodharargal. Kamal's mom in this song is played by Kanthimathi rather than Manorama and Janakaraj, who played the investigating police officer and so made an appearance only in the second half, is part of this song that clearly takes place in Raja's area. So it looks like both the cast and the storyline itself went through some radical changes after this song was shot. And considering Manorama's hilarious performance(her musical Aiyaiyo Aiyaiyo Aiyaiyaiyaiyo... cry on seeing Raja in jail is one for the ages) and Janakaraj's masterful performance that superbly treaded the line between comedy and seriousness, the changes were definitely for the better.
Seeing this song once again confirmed what I've always thought - Aboorva Sagodharargal is one movie that is definitely in need of a proper DVD release with a Bonus Features disc. With this song(and maybe a few scenes too that were shot at the same time) and Kamal's revelations about how he played the dwarf's role, the 2nd disc would be a virtual treasue trove for Kamal fans as well as cinema lovers.
Balaji's Thots... [Permalink]
Your Thots (16)
16 Comments:
will check out the video in the evening...but i vividly remember this video being played during/immediately after the intermission, in the theatre where i watched this movie...i think it was after the movie became an unqualified hit that this song was screened in theatres...
yes, it would be a great DVD to own...i've lost count the number of times i've asked "Crazy" Mohan about the making of the movie...one thing that I am yet to get is an answer for how they did the appu role...
but to give u some trivia, kamal showed the initial portions that theys hot to panchu arunachalam who wanted kamal to make some big changes to the story...kamal heeded to panchu's advice and threw away (well, not exactly, since there are videos floating around!) those initial portions and shot everything afresh.
balaji,
i know crazy very well ("related") and he wouldn't tell me no matter how many times i asked. now i suspect he does not know it himself. kamal willc ertianly not say it.
how ever i have a question - janakaraj in the released version makes many appearances in raja's area. why do you think janakaraj's presense here is an anomaly?
Is there any confirmation that this is actually Aboorva ....
Cos' last year, the Marudhanayagam trailer was advertised as a part of Dasavatharam...
Kamal needs to do a show/ release a DVD on Appu'vin ragasiyam.
RS
i wonder if this song was the precursor to Raja kaiya vaicha? The situations seem similar (i.e. singing to mom, group dance, etc...)
Its an interesting song but I have to agree, Manorama was the absolute scene-stealer whenever she appeared.
Still, its interesting to see the beginnings...
ram, a commentor on BR's site said the same thing. they probably advertised it with "brand new song" to get a few more people to come back! funny but i don't remember anything about that at all :)
and it looks like hawkeye and u might be related now :)
hawkeye, the song sequence looks like it would've taken place in the 1st half, b4 appu goes off on his revenge spree. since janakaraj doesn't make an appearance until the 2nd half, his appearance in this song points to a diff character for him. so u're right. it wasn't just his presence in raja's area. i meant his presence in raja's area in the time period I assume the song takes place in :)
prin, since atleast a couple of people remember this being shown during the interval, it seems to be the real thing :)
RS, i agree :)
anon, according the youtube poster, ur guess is right. he says that this song was replaced by 'raja kaiya vechaa...' :)
Actually this song and some of the scenes were shown in theatres after the movie ran for 250 days or something like that. The advert was come see how we shot the movie. People went to see how appu was shot only to see this song and some other scenes.
-KP
BB,
It wud be nice if Marudanayagam's filmed 20 mins were available :)
I was told by my friend Priyadharsan actually did a splendid job for Anbe Sivam, can't wait to see if it was better than Kamal's :)
kp, so there were some scenes too? good mktg by rajkamal :)
srivatsan, priyadarshan is remaking 'Anbe Sivam'?? that's news to me :)
"Aboorva Sagodharargal is one movie that is definitely in need of a proper DVD release with a Bonus Features disc"
Absolutely agree. Although looking at this in a broader context,why hasn't Tamil movies embraced the DVD technology and it's numerous advantages (opportunity to present a "longer" director's cut, deleted scenes, excised songs, commentaries etc) with a vengeance?
Hindi films are way ahead of the pack in this respect as a recent trip to a Kolkata video shop confirmed. Titles like "Umrao Jaan", "Guru" and "Don" are all available in 2 disc Special Edition formats with Director/Actor interviews, making of etc.
And under appreciated, non-mainstream movies in Hindi and English have often found a second "lease of life" via DVD.
And Kamal's movies, always a cut above the norm, are definitely Prime Candidates for special edition DVD releases. And given Kamal's near encylopedic knowledge of films, a chance to revisit his films with his commentary running in the background would be worth the investment.
bb...anbe sivam was initially directed by PD. PD and Kamal parted ways amicabaly after about a few weeks of shooting.
BB, can you provide the link to BR's article? i followed ur link but couldnt find the stuff on aboorva...
i'd like to see what those commentors said...
OT, reading his thoughts on anjathey have made me revisit the film in my mind...how i wish i had time to write a review of that movie...i absolutely loved the movie...I thought of how Myskin, like Tarantino, tries 3 million things and doesnt worry about how many of those will actually work...
kaykay, i'm guessing its economics. i'm not sure how many actually buy DVDs. if the number was high, i'm sure some producer would've jumped on the bandwagon :)
agree with u about kamal's films being perfect candidates. can think of a few films i'd love to know more about :)
anon, i think i've heard that b4. but completely slipped my mind. thanx :)
ram, he provided the video link in the comments section of his 'anjaathey' review. so a number of the comments refer to the video too :)
as for 'anjaathey', the movie worked cos many of those 3 million things he tried actually worked :)
balaji, the link to baradwaj rangan's site shows an entry made 3 years a ago. may i know his current blog address please?
anon, the link is to his current site. just that frequently, he posts old articles that weren't available on the site before with the original date of the article :)
this is from the movie Indiran Chandiran, a movie dubbed from Telugu.
Post a Comment
<< Home