![]() ![]() Singing Tamil movie songs, says Vijayakumar, was considered a taboo till the 1950s. For a long time, the movie lyrics were not accorded any literary honour, considered ‘untouchable poetry’. The playback singing concept came into practice only during the end of 1930," says Vijayakumar. The artists who performed in Tamil musical plays acted in the movies singing the songs themselves directly. ![]() In the initial years, the songs were not recorded separately, the sound recording being done during the shooting of the movie itself. "The playwrights also wrote the songs in the play. Most movies released during the period were screen versions of works of such playwrights as Thavathiru Sankaradoss Swamigal and Pammal Sambandha Mudhaliar. I might get details of the songs of a movie released by a company but would miss details of songs of the other company." The musical drama (play) artists and classical vocalists who had dominated the silent movies made the change after ‘talkies’ took over. The story, actors and songs would be different. "There was a trend in which two companies would release the movie with the same title. Despite the long search, I couldn’t get details of about 17 Tamil movies including ‘Kalava’ (1932), ‘Draupadi Venibhandhan’ (1933), ‘Harishchandra’ (1932), ‘Draupadi Vastrapaharanam’ (1934) and ‘Prahalada’ (1938)." There is another reason for the mess. ![]() I kept on calling them," he says, adding that he depended mainly on old song books, gramophone records and cinema journals. "They (the collectors) would give excuses and ask me to come after 2-3 months. I had to sit and write down the details." A follow-up was necessary in many cases. "The collectors would tell me to come, and then change the plan. The search took him across TN and even to places like Tirupati, Palakkad and Puducherry before he was able to document 221 of the 238 Tamil movies released in the period in his recently published "Tamil Cinema World (from 1931 to 1940): An introduction." It was challenging, says the 42-year-old former advocate now a manager with a garment firm. In 2011, upset with the poor response about this period from a song collector, Thirupur Akila Vijayakumar began a mission to trace them. CHENNAI: Since the release of ‘Kalidas’, the first Tamil ‘talkie’, in 1931, songs have played a major role, but many recorded between then and 1940 are missing today. ![]()
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March 2023
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