Pulagaangidham!!!

Got to watch 'Kalakkapovadhu yaaru - Kamal', Saraswathi poojai special programme on Jaya TV and what a show it was!!! Generally, I am sick of those supposedly special cinema programmes that come on festival days but this one was too good!! The focus of the programme was Kamal, the musician.

First, Mr. Balamurali Krishna came on video conference and as Kamal's guru, asked him to sing a song taught by him. Kamal, the sishyan obliged.

Then came 'Padum nila' Balu!!! As they reminiscenced their good old days, pulling each other's legs whenever possible and rendering songs like "unakkenna mele nindraai", "thakida thadhimi", "neela vaana oodaiyil", "tere mere beech mein", "unna nenachen", "saandhu pottu", ... Kannukkum, sevikkum enne virundhu!!!!!!

Ms. S. Janaki, the female playback singer to have sung the most no. of duets with Kamal, came on stage and delighted the audience by singing "sundari neeyum", "inji idupazhaga" with him. Kamal recalled how his singing "one is the loneliest number" for a filmfare awards function fetched him the chance to sing "ninaivo oru paravai"' (along with 'pa..ba..pa'). 'Inji idupazhaga' was born when Kamal wanted a song like 'eh dil deewaana hai'!!!

'Chinna kuyil' Chitra came to sing "Injirango" with Annathey.

A group of young singers(there were three, one of them was Karthik, another one I heard them mention as Naresh and who was the third?) sang some lovely songs of Kamal like "adhisaya raagam", "pachai kiligal tholodu", "manaivi amaivadhellaam", "paartha vizhi" with the songs forming the answers to the questions quizzed by Ramesh Arvind. Then, they sang a series of fast songs, "varudhu varudhu", "Annathey aaduraar", "maarugo", " en jodi" etc. with infectious enthu'!

Aatchi Manorama and Annathey sang "jaambajaa jaggu, naan aalwarpetta makku"(that's how Kamal's elder sister used to sing that song to Kamal as a kid, it seems!) and "muthu kulikka vaarigala".

Some young female singers(didn't recognise anyone!) sang "unna vida", "maarugo"(sathi leelavathi), "Muthe muthamma" with Annathey.

One of the segment of the show was a chat with Director K. S. Ravikumar, Music director Bharathwaj and Prof. Gnanasambandham.

Jayam Ravi danced for 'Raja kaiya vecha'.
A guy resembling one of the 'Boys' did Kamal's andha kaalathu "ilamai idho idho" kind of songs.
The programme ended with "yaar yaar sivam". The concept, the orchestra, the group singers/dancers and above all, a fit and fantastic looking Annathey made it an enjoyable show!