There is one guy who repeatedly proved that he could stand upto the pressureof Ilaiyaraaja. He gave new form to cinema songs. After the period of Kannada-san (even though Vaali and the lot were giving some good meaningful songs), on an average, Vairamuthu gave much much better cinema songs. Some of his cinema songs even had splashes of supreme 'kavithuvam'. The song in which he made his debut was a feast both in music and lyrics.

That song came in the movie nizhalgal. The situation is that, hero Rajasekhar(a ganja case in that movie) returns back to his home in an elated mood. Itwas not shown whether he has a puff of ganja before that song! If you werethe music director, what tune (to our discussion, what raga) would you want to score in this situation? The points that director Bharatiraja gives youregarding this situation is: 'evening time/hero/ganja case/very happy/sings.'Thats all. Isn't your mind fully blank about what ragam to choose? Okay,if you were the lyricist (that too, making your entry into the cine- world in this song), what would you write? Ilaiyaraaja chose to use the all time pleasantry of Kedaram in this situation! Vairamuthu decided to write 'pon malai pozhudhu'.

Kedaram is a fantastic ragam. It is one of the innumerable janyams of the 29th melagartha Sankarabharanam. It has got a small U turn in its arohanam (vakram!). Sa Ma Ga Ma Pa Ni Sa. Avarohanam is Sa Ni Pa Ma Ga Ri Sa. Though this looks simple, there is a specific phrase in its avarohanam to make theraga identity clear. That is, Pa Ma Ga Ri Sa is not just the same when yousing, you have to sing/play like Pa Ma Ga.... Ri Sa Ga Ri Sa. The temporal duration (kaarvai) of gandaram is more. This is what gives beauty to this ragam. Before Ilaiyaraaja used, I know of only one song which is in Kedaram.That is, 'ramaswami thoodan naanada' in ?Sampoorna Ramayanam. Lord Anjeneyasings this song to Ravanan!

Ilaiyaraaja's use of Kedaram is splendid. He uses the key phrase of Kedaram inthe opening of that song itself like 'Sa Ni Pa, Pa Ma Ga, Ga Ri Sa, Sa Ni Pa'travelling from madhyama sthayi upper shadjam to manthra sthayi panchamam in a single stretch. At the time when the movie was released, I was amused bythe chirping of birds in the prelude. How could they catch many birds and bring it to the recording theatre and make them chirp according to their willand wish and record it? Now that I'm a little older, and know that you can make birds chirp, lions roar, kuyils 'koovufy', just by pressing a single button even in your $ 30 casio, I'm more amused by the use of Kedaram in the song. The use of accordion in the first interlude 'Sa Ni Pa Ni Pa Sa Ni Sa NiPa, Ga Ma Pa' is excellant. In the second interlude he suddenly introduces a meloncholy with a solo violin piece well within the scope of kedaram. I don't know why he did it. Why that sudden sadness in the tune?

The intellectual, poem writing part of Vairamuthu's neuro-circuitry reached the boundaries of imagination in that song. He writes:

Idhu oru pon maalai pozhudhu
vaana magal naanugiraal
vaeru udai poonugiraal

Oh God! What a 'karpanai'! He personifies the evening sky as a girl and says:she is changing clothes from evening to night, and blushes out of shyness because everybody is seeing her! Can anybody refer to redness in sky during dusk any better than this? There might be light scattering and such kind of hi-tech physical events that might cause this phenomenon! But, look, what thepoet has to say about this from his point of view! In the charanam, he goes astep further and starts characterising the normal events occuring during duskin a poetic way. He says:

Aayiram nirangal jaalamidum
raathiri vaasalil kolamidum
vaanam iravukku paalamidum
paadum paravaigal thalamidum
poomarangal saamarangal...

Proper translation would be: Birds would sing and clap welcoming the night;evening sky would establish the bridge for the coming of the night; all the trees would sway hither and thither and produce gentle breeze welcoming the night; the appearance of thousands of colourful lights all over the world would be magical; it would be like a 'kolam' in the gates of night!

The second Kedaram from the theatre of Ilaiyaraaja came in Kamal's 'michael madana kaamarajan'. Sundari neeyum is a fantastic song. It is not as pure as 'pon maalai', but it is a good Kedaram. Though, it was MSV who discovered Kamal's singing capabilities ( gnayiru oli mazhayil thingal kulika vandhan;was it Kamal's first song?), it was Ilaiyaraaja who gave him chance to sing repeatedly in his movies. Infact, in one non-Kamal movie he made him singfor some other hero (ponmaalai theduthae, en veenai paaduthae: ?movie).Kamal and Janaki have done a wonderful job in sundari neeyum. Ilaiyaraaja hasgiven the required weightage to manthra sthayi Pa Ni Sa sancharas in this song too. In the charanam, during 'kannana kannae en sontham allo' he uses, Sa Ga Pa Ga Pa Ni, Pa Ni Sa Pa Ni Ri which is definitely unbecoming of kedaram. But, I guess we have to forgive this, because this is cinema music and not a katcheri! The second interlude flute pieces are exceptionally good.

A.R.Rahman's 'ennavalae ennavalae' in Kadalan is very frequently alluded bysome as Kedaram. Reportedly 'thatha' Suppudu also commented about this song in some interview as 'Kedarathuku sedharam', meaning damage to Kedaram.Personally, I am not able to place this song under any ragam. It starts likeSa Sa Ni Pa Ma Pa Pa Ni Pa Ma Ga, Sa Sa Ga Ma Pa Ga Ma Pa...later it deviateswith liberal usage of chatusrathi daivatham, chatusrathi rishabam, with oneflash of shatsruthi rishabam too (kaadalinaal varum avasthai enru kandukondaen). But it is a very good song, establishing A.R.Rahman's typical marks throughout the song. Unnikrishnan has done a good job. But unfortunately, Vairamuthu has made lot of 'paethals' in that song. Time and again, Thamizh 'pudhu kavignars' have written (to emphasise the dramatic impact of love on the lovers) 'after seeing you, and falling in love, I've even forgotten my name'! Vairamuthu has gone a step ahead and tries to characterize why the hero lost his speech (literally) after seeing the heroine:

Vaai mozhiyum enthan thai mozhiyumvasappada villayadi.Vayitturkum thondaikum naduvinil oruuruvam illatha urundayum uruludhadi.Poets frequently indulge in abstract thinking trying to define inexplicable ideas. In another song he says, 'pookal pookum osaigal kaadhil ketpadhilai'(engae en jeevanae in Kamal's uyarntha ullam), when he writes about the onsetof love. That is, as the sounds of flower blooming cannot be heard, the onset of love is indiscernable! That is a good abstraction. But in the above said song he has grossly failed in his abstraction, trying to explain the effectof love on an individual. In the charanam of this song his 'paethals' continue: Unthan koondalil meen pidipaen, Un viral sodduku edupaen... and so on. Luckily he did not go to say 'Oh, my love, when you shout from the toilet, I will bring the tissue paper'!