One Hit Wonders
Kaadhalil Vizhundhen is releasing this weekend here in the Bay Area and the email announcing the release had as its subject "Coming - 2008's biggest song Naaku Muka". I'm not sure I've ever seen films - even those with music by Ilaiyaraja or A.R.Rahman - being advertised with the name of one of their songs! And I'm pretty sure that the song is the reason that the film, which has unfamiliar faces in the lead, is even releasing on the big screen here.
Hindi cinema had always had these blockbuster songs - numbers like Ek Do Teen..., Oye Oye... or Chumma Chumma De De... - that became immensely popular, driving up album sales and contributing significantly to the movie's success. But I never thought Tamil cinema had such numbers. We had great soundtracks ofcourse and some songs became popular than the others but more than 1 song in such soundtracks were usually good. People picked different songs as their favorite and there wasn't 1 particular song that caught the fancy of everybody and became a frenzy.
As far as I can remember, the first song that could be called a true blockbuster was Oh Podu... from Gemini. It was a rage from the moment the soundtrack was released and I remember even posters had the song's name displayed prominently. More recently Vaazha Meenukkum... from Chithiram Pesudhadi would fall under the blockbuster category too. It singlehandedly drove the movie from obscurity to box-office success and made 'Gana' Ulaganathan an instantly recognizable name. Can't remember any more.
While I've seen Naaku Muka... being mentioned in other news items, it was today's email that prompted me to search out the song and listen to it. Though it seemed more like a rhyme than a song, I gotta admit that it was pretty catchy with the fast tune and the light-hearted lyrics.While I haven't heard the other songs from the film, Naaku Muku..., from all the publicity and hype, seems to have eclipsed the other numbers to become the next Oh Podu... or Vaazha Meenukkum.... Wonder if it'll help the movie itself become as big a hit as the movies carrying those 2 songs.
While on Kaadhalil Vizhundhen, here's Nakul, the hero of the film.
Quite a transformation from the chubby boy in Boys.
Balaji's Thots... [Permalink]
Your Thots (17)
17 Comments:
Caught a fleeting glimpse of the making of naaku muku, doesn't seem like the choreography made justice to the song (choreography by sridhar). Rest of the songs are very nice too.
I dun see a guy in the still, it looks like two girls, and one with a moustache ;)
ha..ha..girl with a moustache?? true indeed..
Another song that comes to mind is "Manmadha raasa..." from the movie Thiruda Thirudi.
-Rajesh
Actually most of the songs were good in this movie, one more that I liked was Thozhiya en Kathaliya
-KP
Was gonna say Manmadha Raasa but Rajesh beat me to it :) Yes, the song is pure fun and no wonder the promoters of the movie have caught on to it.
Agree with the first anon. I thot it was two girls too! Even had started admiring the director for picking such a "bold" theme. Then bb dropped the bomb :)
Recently, saw on Sun TV the making of Nakka Mukka song on Vinayaka Chaturthi day, another fast, loud voiced rural number.
I think this movie was in the dumps for a long time probably finding no takers. After 'Naaka Mukka' becoming a rage, Sun TV has taken up the rights for this movie. I think purely for just this one song. I heard that the producers never expected the song to become a rage and they even reshot the song again.
I still cannot forget Nakul's tamil in Boys. semma comedy!
Can't believe you haven't listened to this song before. It is an absolutely awesome awesome kuthu song.
And anyone watching Jodi No.1 Season 3 in Vijay TV, see the dance for the song. I don't care how the song is on the movie, but the dancers on JN1 for this song ( Nethran & Aruna Devi ) absolutely set the screen on fire ( clarity on website is mediocre, but worth a watch ).
Watch it here if interested:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zskuTbIYoQI&feature=related
Veer
Balaji, have you forgotten "vaseegra" which gave "Minnale" it's opening, "Malai Malai" song in "chocolate" which drove the movie single handedly to sucess. "Cheena Thana" in "vasool raja" amd "Apadi podu" were were also hugely popular right.
Dude,
you didn't mention the heroine's name - Sunaina. She is absolutely pretty and sorry I can't refrain from saying that to everybody :)
Which dude in the film Boys is he? Can't really place the face amongst the three (minus Siddarth and Bharat, the known faces). Incidentally, he looks abit like a slimmer version of Vivek Oberoi in his recent look.
The earliest 'one hit wonder' I could think of is 'oththai ruvaayum thaaren' from 'Naattupura Paattu'. It ruled the limited TV stations which were available then and extended Khushbu's career little longer.
Jai, he was the spiky haired kid in Boys. He looks silly with a mustache, and that Nakka Mukka song gave me a headache, but apparently the film has opened well.
Hi Balaji,
Could never understand one hit wonders, why don't people just listen to the audio tape then watc the movie and make it a hit?
Off post, watched Saroja yesterday, was great fun. Disagree with you on the music, around 3-4 songs were good, really cannot understand why you thought it was a minus. Premji's jokes were ill-timed but why can't we think of him as a character who is carefree in any situation in life?
Arun
Most of the songs in the movie are good. Some of the songs and the tone that is sets make all the more sense when I heard the story. Not surprising given Vijay Anthony typically tends to deliver when the expectations of him are not very high. Dishyum is another example of that. Moreover, most of his movies have never been duds (except prob. pandhayam). Never was sure why he never made it to the big league.
anon, saw a li'l of the song today and i thot nakul did a good job :)
rajesh, yeah that's a definite candidate :)
KP, thats what I read on another site too. but havent heard the other songs yet :)
maverick, i remember seeing nakul's photo in this movie in 'hindu' a long time ago. so u're probably right :)
veer, thanx for the link. it was a really good dance :)
skanda, 'malai malai' is a good one. but i don't think the other songs u mentioned fit in this category :)
jai, if u know bharath and sidharth , there's only 2 others :)
arun, it becomes a communal experience in the theater i think. esp. when its choreographed well :)
anon, i also liked his songs in 'sukhran'. he has his own style and the songs end up being catchy :)
parthi, oh yeah i remember that song. and that does seem to be the oldest based on inputs so far :)
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