The ten-day Panguni Peruvizha and Vidyaatri festival commenced on Friday at the Kapaleeswarar Kovil with a dance performance by  Bengaluru-based Abhinava Dance Company. The event was presided over by P S Sachu, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Eyal Isai Nataka Mandram, who inaugurated the festival. Other special guests at the function included renowned city-based gynaecologist and obstetrician Dr Kamala Selvaraj.

The music and  dance  programmes for the Kapaleeswarar Temple’s Panguni Peruvizha and Vidayaatri festival have been  sponsored  by Preetha Reddy  and P Vijaykumar  Reddy in memory of P Gnanamba  and  Obul Reddy (parents of P Vijaykumar Reddy).

Beginning with a Shiva Stuthi, Nirupama and Rajendra, who have been performing together for the last 25 years enthralled audience that included devotees at the temple, who joined the enraptured crowd that began streaming in. Moving on to chaturang (the combination of four elements – sangeet, nritya, tarana bol and sahitya), the group dance piece by Abhinava, set to tune in raag Khamaj was a stupendous presentation. The vibrant colours of the costumes and the energy were consistent in the following performances that included Shringara Rama — an excerpt from Ramcharitmanas by Saint Tulsidas that explored the human side of the lord and his love for Sita. The depiction of restrained and dignified love by Rama was contrasted with the more-explicit love of another incarnation of Vishnu— Raas Leela of Lord Krishna who danced with his beloved Radha and gopikas on the banks of the Yamuna.

Befittingly, as the mercury soars in the city with every passing day, the group also appealed to the rain God to bless Chennai with much-needed showers. Varsha, was an astounding group rendition of the joy that is synonymous with rain.

Talking to City Express about the performance, Nirupama said that performing in Chennai was always special, and that the group was glad that the organisers thought about bringing kathak to the audience at the temple.

Vijaykumar Reddy, Thakkar, Kapaleeswarar Temple, said that the ten-day festival will showcase performances of both music and dance. “We are having a host of performances by renowned artistes. Performing the arts is an important part of the temple’s activities and we are looking at having some remarkable performances here,” he said.

source: http://www,newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express Features- Chennai / April 01st, 2013

He trekked the seven hills of the Velliangiri Mountain and photographed the buttery sun at dawn with his prized Kodak box camera. “It cost just 52 rupees!” recalls S. A. Raju as he shows it off. “I captured the sunrise and sunset at the Singanallur tank, birds, and scenery in and around my area.” When he was studying at Sarvajana School, he would develop the negatives at Art Studios on V.H. Road, and send the photographs to the Illustrated Weekly of India in Mumbai. They paid Rs.100 for every good photograph.

S. A. Raju’s house in Singanallur retains the old world charm. Wooden pillars and a sturdy teakwood roof add to the aesthetics. It is from this very house that his journey into the world of filmmaking began. He has worked for 30 years in film studios in various capacities as the cinema projector operator, cameraman, and sound recordist. It was the immaculately dressed S.K. Kannan, a sound engineer at Pakshiraja Studio, who inspired Raju to join the studios. “He was my father’s friend and he earned a monthly salary of Rs. 900, a big amount then,” he remembers.

After his SSLC, Raju became an apprentice at the Pakshiraja Studio. By then, he was a licensed cinema projector operator too. “Pakshiraja Studio worked like clockwork and the shooting began at 9 a.m. By the end of the day, the film would be processed at the laboratory and the print shown to technical crew. I learnt everything about film processes, right from the time the roll was mounted till it rolled out as a motion film in the theatres,” he says. It was during the shooting of MalaiKallan that Raju became a projector operator. “I remember the scene. Actors Chakrapani (MGR’s brother) and Dorairaj were perched on a tree at Sungam. They had to spy on the Malaikallan with a binocular. As the actors had to leave for Chennai, dubbing had to be done on the same day. The projector operator didn’t turn up and I got the opportunity. Chakrapani put Rs. 100 in my pocket as a token of appreciation,” he recalls.

He learnt cinematography from Sailen Bose, a noted cinematographer from Kolkatta, who also worked in Malai Kallan. He recounts a complicated scene from the film. “A forest set was put up with mountains and trees. Actor Bhanumathi entered humming a song. She threw a mango up in the air, and Malaikallan (played by MGR) caught it. Those days we had the ‘boom man’ to place mikes and record the sounds. As the shadow of the mike fell on the screen, I climbed up in my veshti and operated the mike. MGR noticed the difficulty of my attire ”

During the tea break (sweet, kaaram and coffee was served free) MGR summoned the studio tailor and ordered two pants. Two khaki trousers were ready the next day and Raju started wearing pants from then on.

Besides MGR and Sivaji Ganesan, the reigning stars, other popular stars included Bhanumathi, and the Travancore sisters (introduced by S.M. Sriramulu Naidu in the Malayalam film Prasanna). “The actors shopped at Meeran & Co in Town Hall which sold gramophone and music discs.”

Raju’s acquaintance with the manager at the studio got him an opportunity to take inventory of various departments. “I helped him with typing official letters on a typewriter. As I took account of the different kinds of microphone (pressure, dynamic and ribbon), the mikes used for song recording, for dialogues, the different lenses such as 25 mm, 30 mm, 70 mm ( for close-up) and 100 mm ( for close-up of eyes), I learnt so much.”

The veteran then shares the story of Frank and Mary, a pair of tigers, which S.M. Sriramulu Naidu bought from the Madras Zoo for his film Swami Ayyappan. “Carpenters at the studio made two cages to transport the tigers. The cages were kept at the car shed for a month and later the tigers were tied outside in the open ground. In a few days, Frank became everyone’s pet. But he was scared of light, so we used a stuffed tiger to take long shots.”

Swami Ayyappan in Malayalam was a big success and the dubbed version in Tamil also ran to packed houses. “Local drama troupe members dubbed in Tamil for free,” he remembers.

Raju also mentions the flops such as Kalyaniyin Kanavan that starred Sivaji Ganesan and Saroja Devi. When Pakshiraja Studios wound up and moved to Bangalore it became Chamundeswari Studios, and Raju became its founding member .

He narrates the friendship MGR shared with Kalaignar Karunanidhi, M.N Nambiar, and Chinnappa Thevar. “Chinnappa Thevar was a milk vendor at Central Studios. He did maalish for MGR during his workout and struck up a friendship. Later, he became a junior artist and a popular film producer.”

(as told to S.A. Raju born in March 1932, studied at the Elementary School in Singanallur and later at Sarvajana. As a teenager he joined the Pakshiraja Studios and worked there till 1965. As a founding member of Chamundeswari Studios in Bangalore he worked there till 1980 and then moved back to Coimbatore. He was in-charge of a storage facility of picture and sound negatives of notable films, cameras and other studio equipment. Before retiring, he worked as cinema projector operator at Krishna and Raja theatres. His favourite films include Aryamala, Utthama Puthiren (where P.U. Chinnappa played a double role), Shantaram’s Jhanak Jhanak Paayal Baje, and Sivakavi and Haridas, with M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar in the lead role.

I REMEMBER

The filming of the tiger and leopard fight scene in Malai Kallan. A huge pit was dug up inside the Paskhiraja Studio and Puli Govindarajan controlled the animals.

source: http://www.TheHindu.com / Home> Features> MetroPlus / by K. Jeshi / Coimbatore, April 02nd, 2013

Sing your way to Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy | EPS

As part of the fifth edition of Idea Rocks India, a popular music contest, musical trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy will perform in the city on March 31 at YMCA Grounds, Royapettah.

Conceptualised in 2005, Idea Rocks India is now in its 5th edition and gives music aficionados across the country an opportunity to showcase their singing talent and share the platform with some of the biggest music stars in India.

This year, the musical extravaganza comes in an all new avatar, with multiple new elements. For the first time, Idea has undertaken auditioning participants through four different media – digital, IVR, radio and in person — thereby reaching out to a much broader spectrum of audiences.

This season will witness the hunt for budding rockstars from across over 60 cities and give them an opportunity to perform with Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.

Speaking about the initiative, Sashi Shankar, Chief Marketing Officer, Idea Cellular, said, “Music is core to Idea’s brand building and customer connect strategy. The concept, reach and brand integration of Idea Rocks India (IRI) is unparalleled in India. We are now taking it a level higher to engage a wider audience and hunt for talent from deeper pockets of the country, utilising both modern and traditional media such as digital, IVR and on-ground. With over 60 events, over a period of two months, this year IRI will reach out to millions of Indians across the country.”

A team of four judges will filter the participants to 50 from each city, until the best five participants are chosen by a panel of local music academicians and popular music personalities.

The final winner chosen by the celebrity judges — the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio and Mika — will perform with them at key locations across the country.

Auditions for the talent-hunt has already begun and interested candidates can send their entries on www.idearocksindia.com.

Idea customers can also give their audition by calling 5545611 and recording their voice.

source:  http://www.newindianexpress.com / Home> Cities> Chennai / by Express News Service – Chennai / March 28th, 2013