The Wedding Song!

The first time I watched the trailer of this song, the colourful and joyous atmosphere, the foot-tapping beats, girls singing and dancing happily in a teasing tone and the eyes of the handsome hero and the heroine meeting each other were enough for me to like it instantly. I remember listening to the full song only after watching the trailer.

During the first few times when I listened to the song, I was lost so much in the music that I didn’t care much about the lyrics except for the first couple of lines of the song. But later, I started breaking my head trying to figure out the words of a few lines after the first two lines of the song. Soon, I knew the entire song except for those few lines. 😐 It was a long time before I finally came to know the lyrics of the entire song.

Am sure you would have guessed the song in the first line of this post itself. If not, then you will guess it correctly now. 😉

When someone told me that there were dialogues in between the song in the movie, my first reaction was ‘Oh No! Why is he spoiling such an awesome song by having dialogues in between?’ But trust the best-ever director to change all my opinion! When I watched the full song in theatre, not only did I love all the dialogues, but I even wished the dialogues too had been there in the CDs/cassettes!

Don’t tell me there are still some who have not guessed the song even now!

From the dark, dimly-lit railway station where the anxious husband is searching for his wife, the scene shifts to a colourful setting of what is the most joyous and grandly celebrated occasion by everybody – a wedding.

So, now that you know what song it is, raving starts. 😛

I love colours – vivid and vibrant ones! And Indian weddings are full of that. And so is this song! Madhavan’s yellow shirt (yellow looks good on not many men 😉 ), Shalini’s blue-coloured and Swarnamalya’s green-and-pink-coloured half sarees, the violet colour of the costume of the girl who joins them in singing and dancing, the paavaaDais of the little girls, the sarees of the village ladies, the dark-coloured shirts of Madhavan’s friends, the saatthukudis and flowers on the plates, the vaazhais, the petals of saamandi and other flowers that everyone bless the just-married couple with – it’s a riot of colours captured so beautifully on the camera by P.C.Sreeram, creating the perfect atmosphere of a wedding! Talking about the costumes and their colours, have you noticed that except Madhavan and his friends (the city guys) and a couple of other men, all other men in the whole song will be wearing only white shirt and white dhoti?

Colours apart, young kids happily playing, a lady putting kolam, somebody hurriedly trying to catch the attention of someone by calling out his name (to get some pending task completed?) and Shalini running and asking everyone who are busy doing something or other, to hurry up, all these further make the perfectly created wedding atmosphere more real. If you observe, there are lot more activities happening in the background in this song that the attention to details given leaves you amazed. And above all, forming the basis of this song and without which any wedding is incomplete is friends and relatives pulling the leg of the couple. 🙂

The casual conversation that Shalini strikes with Madhavan, their subsequent meeting in the presence of her father when Madhavan gets a bulb (the look on Madhavan’s face when Shalini’s father tells him that he is her father!) and the moment went Shalini bumps into Madhavan and the conversation that follows between them. I just love it all! 🙂 The expression on the face of Shalini’s father when Madhavan bumps into him after ‘dancing’ with Shalini is not one to forget either.

To think that this less-than-6-minute-duration song is there in this movie just to show when and how the lead couple of the movie first met and for that Mani Ratnam has not stopped with just showing them but has actually shot a wedding sequence with a whole lot of people and so many memorable scenes and dialogues! Wow! The only thing that happens too soon is the tying the thaali part. The bride sits and before you know it, the groom ties the thaali and the song ends! And this post too ends now. 😉

P.S.: This post is for the reader who had commented a long time back that I should get invited to a wedding soon and I should get inspired and write a post on my favourite wedding songs. He has been frequently reminding me to write a post on this song for more than a year and a half now! Sorry for the delay!

P.S.1: The lines referred to in the second paragraph are ingippo nilavaDikka indiranaar pandhaDikka andha pandhai thirthaDippavano

15 thoughts on “The Wedding Song!

  1. bhaaskar

    hi aparna……,

    nice comments on the of the “sakhi movie” wedding situations….

    i dont know tamil, thats what i didnt get the last words(ingippo nilavaDikka indiranaar pandhaDikka andha pandhai thirthaDippavano)

    but i understud u r feel…..

    maniratnam my favourate director…and one of my favourite movie is this one…

    Mani Ratnam did his job with the perfection of master craftsman. The way he mixed the present with past and yet did not confuse with the interweaving is simply superb. You feel like you are watching something real and sensible.

    Reply
  2. R Sathyamurthy

    Excellent narration with so much detail in your description of the scene. If Maniratnam reads this he will run to check his script 🙂

    The first line of the two mystery lines you have written in the post seems to be different than what I saw on the net.

    However, I do think you would have heard the song enough number of times to comprehend the words better. We have to ask only Mr. Vairamuthu the meaning of that line.

    Read the other version of these two lines here:

    http://groups.google.es/group/tamilsonglyrics/msg/8821a306a3a4c22f

    Reply
  3. Divya

    I guessed the song bulls-eye! First two lines 🙂 It helped of course to know that you are a die-hard Rahmaniac 😉

    Its a beautiful song 🙂

    Reply
  4. sreekrishnan

    thoughts:

    1. When you say wedding song and if you are in aparna’s blog – what else?

    2. The song is amazing because if few things, one amazing sound engineering – listen to it in a 5:1. Two, Fantastic picturization as you rightly mentioned – the way camera is handheld and keeps moving along with the char is amazing – notice the way Editing shifts between char and the incents seamlessly, 3 – Thali scene was too short – no – go to any Kerala wedding or some weddings down south – its quick. 4, lyrics: Moonu mudichu – i never know or still dont know if its right… but was good – Vairamuthu is Vairamuthu there !

    3. Anytime in mani’s movie – background events are important. I ll give you an example … Kannathil muthamittal – flashback where simran comes home after talking to madhavan on the road. Her dad asks how the exam were. After answering the question – the focus is on Simran and her actions, but you ll notice that her dad continues to talk to the fisherfolks asking if they had given the petition and whole set of dialogues follow them – thought the focus is different. I think thats a stamp of mani – and you ll find that happening more in Iruvar and alaipayuthey.

    Reply
  5. sreekrishnan

    ingippo nilavaDikka indiranaar pandhaDikka andha pandhai thirthaDippavano .. is one which istruggled to find what is what ..

    Second –

    Netru Munniravil Un thilapu madivil Kaatru Nuzhanthatheno,

    Uyir kalanthu kalitirinthaen … Inru Vinnilavil Andha Eera Ninaivil Kanru Thavippadhaenoa
    Manam Kalangi Pulambugiraen

    Koondhal Nelivil Ezhil Koalach Charivil
    Garvam Azhindhadhadi En Garvam Azhindhadhadi

    Esp the first part…

    And the whole set of lyrics is damn poetic !

    Reply
  6. Kalyan

    Hi ,

    Thanks for the post on such a beautiful song . Though I had always wanted to know
    the lyrics of those two lines , I got them today only (courtesy you) .

    Reply
  7. Aparna

    Bhaaskar,
    Welcome to my blog! Thanks.

    Sathyamurthy,
    Thanks. I too got the words from net and I am also not sure about those words.

    s w a t,
    Thank you 🙂

    Divya,
    🙂

    Reply
  8. Aparna

    Sreekrishnan,
    Thanks for your thoughts 😉 makes me want to write more on Mani’s movies 😉

    The only wedding down south that I went to wasn’t even a usual wedding. It was similar to the Prakash Raj-Revathy’s wedding in Iruvar. Don’t remember the name of that type of wedding now 😕

    > Anytime in mani’s movie – background events are important.
    True! And that’s a great example 🙂

    I too struggled to find the lyrics of those lines of Snehidhane.

    Puranjoy,
    This is not fair. I write a page and a half long post on your favourite song and you leave a 2-character long comment??

    > there should have been a warning or something!
    Why?

    Kalyan,
    🙂

    Reply
  9. kaushik

    Good one! i´m amazed that u remember such vivid details like the costumes that all the characters wore. will definitely check out the song again today 🙂

    cheers,
    kaushik

    Reply
  10. R Sathyamurthy

    Talking of lyrics, have you ever wondered about the beginning rendition in the “Theendai” Song?

    It is this:

    kanRum uNNaathu kalaththinum pataathu
    n-allaan thImpaal n-ilaththinuk(ku) aaang(ku)
    enakkum aakaa(thu) ennaikkum uthavaathu
    pachalai uNIiyar vENtum
    thithalai alkulen maamaik kavinE.

    kalam = vessel (paal kaRakkum kalam);
    n-allaan = n-al + aan = n-alla pachu;
    thIm paal = iniya paal (sweet milk)
    ennaikkum = en + aikkum = en thalavainukkum
    ai = thalaivan = lover/husband
    pachalai = thalaivanaip pirithalaal varum thOl maaRRam
    (a discoloration of the female’s skin resulting from prolonged
    separation from her lover);

    thithalai = thEmal (irregular spot)
    alkul = peNNin maRaivu uRuppum chuRRiya pakuthiyum
    maamai = maNi n-iRam (maa n-iRam);
    kavin = azaku = (beauty)

    “thaayp pachuvin iniya paal kanRukkum aakaamal kaRakkuk kalaththukkum
    chEraamal n-ilaththil vIzn-thu vINaavathu pOl en thaay enakkuch
    chErththuk kotuththa thEmal porun-thiya alkulutan azakiya maNin-iRamum
    enakkum illaamal en thalaivanukkum inRip n-iRam kettup pachalai
    n-Oykku uNavaakinRathE”.

    Reply

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