The TFM tag

With great power comes great responsibility. I am no Spiderman and I certainly don’t have an uncle who I fondly call Uncle Ben. But that line ought to fit anybody and it certainly does in my case.

Last week Shwe seemed to be in the midst of a voyage of discovery in the world of Tamil Film Music. She had some questions for me and by answering those questions, it seems that somehow I gave her the impression that when it comes to TFM, I am second to none. It certainly did not help that (as I am prone to do) I did “put” some fundaes regarding TFM and a few trivia junkets too. Now, it turns out that Shwe was bored enough to do another of those now common memes, this time a South Indian Music tag. She tagged me and here is my version!

I am certainly not an “expert in South Indian music” as Shwe has kindly described me on her post. I can however be described as a “not so knowledgable” diehard fan of TFM who is sometimes considered a pain in the posterior, especially if you had to work in the same room as me (like her) and more so if your workstation was right next to mine (like her again). It does not really help that I also get a bad case of the earworms from time to time that sometimes last for the most part of a whole day. In fact, last summer, Ally, a co-worker was flustered after she heard me whistling this song for the entire duration of a work day.

This might be an exaggeration, but I suspect that it is much closer to the truth than you would expect. After sighing and coughing loudly to stop me (she was successful a number of times, before I involuntarily started again after a small hiatus), she interrupted me to ask me what the song was. Considering she was getting disturbed, she thought she might as well learn the words so that she can sing along. Unfortunately that is easier said than done, particularly when the song is in Thamizh. But I think hearing a exasperated voice saying "Anti......." more than a dozen times a day these past few years has slowly started curing me.

Anyways, this is perhaps the toughest meme that I’d have to face, ever. It was a challenge to list all my likes without missing out on anything. All the lists given are in no particular order. I would be doing grave injustice if I were to choose one among them to be the best. They are all equals in my eye. And if you would notice, most are songs by ARR and Ilayaraja. These are two MDs that I have grown up with and though some of you might consider it sacrilege for me to ignore the works of MSV or his predecessors, I simply have not heard enough of them for me to be influenced by them. And regardless how big a fan of Deva's that I might be, I still consider IR and ARR to be the ultimate gods when it comes to TFM. So, here goes.

No. of albums I own:

• Does mp3 count? If it does, I possess an insanely huge collection, thanks to several friends.

First Album that I bought:

• Recorded combo tape of Roja (A.R. Rahman) and Annamalai (Deva) in 1991

Last Album that I bought:

• Kannathil Muthamittal (A.R. Rahman)
  

Currently Listening to:

• Iyengaru Veetu Azhagu – Anniyan / Hariharan, Harini / Harris Jayaraj

Clever lyrics in this song. For example – Unpol evarum idhuvarai illai, inimel pirandhaal adhu nam pillai!

Albums that I'd want to take with me if marooned on a deserted island:

• Minsara Kanavu – AR Rahman (ARR)
  
• Alaypayuthey – AR Rahman
• Iruvar – AR Rahman
• Agni Nakshatram – Illayaraja (IR)
  
• Kannukkul Nilavu – Illayaraja
• Alaigal Oivathilai – Illayaraja

Songs that you are most likely to hear me sing or hum (Song – Movie / Singer(s) / MD):

• Raja Raja Chozan – Rettai Vaal Kuruvi / Yesudas / IR
  
• Vellai Pookal – Kannathil Muthamittal / ARR / ARR
• En Kanmani – Chittukuruvi / SPB, Susheela / IR
• Uyirum Neeye – Pavithra / Unni Krishnan/ ARR
• Kadhalin Deepam – Thambikku Endha Ooru / SPB / IR
• Ilaya Nila – Payanangal Mudivadhillai / SPB / IR
• Marghazhi Poove – May Madham / Shobha Shankar / ARR
• Anbe – Kadhal Desam / SPB, OS. Arun, Rafee / ARR
• Andhi Mazhai – Raja Paarvai / SPB, Janaki / IR
• Kannamoochchi – Kandukonden Kandukonden / Chitra / ARR
• Ondra Renda Asaigal – Kakha Kakha / Bombay Jaishree/ Harris Jeyaraj
• Minnal Oru Kodi – VIP / Hariharan, Chitra / Ranjit Barot

Favorite Singer(s):

• SPB – For the songs he has sung for IR
• Hariharan – For his wide repetoire!
• Yesudas – The man oozes melancholy when he wants to!
• ARR – The man tugs at my heart strings sometimes!

To listen to these songs, all you have to do is to go to raaga.com and search for the particular movie's name under the Tamil section and listen to the particular track mentioned. And its appropriate that I ask someone to continue this tag. And I also know that this game of tag is sort of become stale to a lot of people. So, let me pass this on to just two four people, Arun, Nithya, Curses and Ferrari Prabhu - all hardcore fans of TFM.