"jeeva veene needu" & "veena venuvaina"

Dear SPB Fans,

This post consists of three songs having the same soul. They have just been dressed up with different languages namely Kannada, Telugu & Tamil.

The original composition was for a Kannada Film which was later used for the Telugu and Tamil versions as well. The Music Director for all the three versions is the Rajan-Nagendra duo.

This is a lovely and gently paced melody. The singers for Kannada and Telugu versions were our SPB & SJ. However, for whatver reason, the Tamil version is sung only by SJ and SPB is missing. However, i have included that song also in order to complete the total cycle of creation by the MD. I think the melody was such that Rajan-Nagendra with out any second thought straightaway used the same tune for other languages as well. The song is filled with heavenly humming and is quite appealing to the ears.

I was able to get lyrics for the Telugu version only and i have posted the same.

Please click on the Play button of the audio player of your choice to listen to the melody

Details of the different versions as below :

KANNADA VERSION :

Song : Jeeva veene needu ....
Movie : Hombisilu (1978)
Music Director : Rajan-Nagendra
Singers : SPB & SJ
Lyrics : GeethaPriya
Actors : Vishnu Vardhan, Aarthi

Jeeva veene needu





TELUGU VERSION :

Song : veena venuvaina ....
Movie : Intinti Raamaayanam (1978)
Music Director : Rajan-Nagendra
Singers : SPB & SJ
Lyrics : Veturi Sundararamamurthy
Actors : Ranganath, Prabha, Chandra Mohan, Jayasudha

LYRICS

veeNa vENuvaina sarigama vinnaavaa
O..teega raagamaina madhurima kannaavaa
tanuvu tahataha laaDaala chelarEgaala cheli voogaala vuyaalaleevELalO
veeNa vENuvaina sarigama vinnaavaa
O..teega raagamaina madhurima kannaavaa

oopiri tagilina vELa nE vompulu tirigina vELa
naa veeNalO nee vEnuvE palike raagamaala
choopulu ragilina vELa aa chukkalu veligina vELa
naa tanuvunaa aNuvaNuvunaa jarigE raasaleela

veeNa

yedalo andam yeduTa yeduTe valachina vanita
nee raakatO naa tOTalO velasE vana dEvataa
kadilE andam kavitaa adi kougilikostE yuvataa
naa paaTalO nee pallavE navataa navya mamataa

veeNa

veena venuvaina




TAMIL VERSION :

Song : aadal paadal kaadhal.....
Movie : Veettukku Veedu Vaasappadi (1979)
Music Director : Rajan-Nagendra
Singers : SJ
Lyrics : Kannadhaasan
Actors : Vijayakumar, Rathi, Suman, Shoba, Surili, Manorama

Aadal Paadal Kaadhal





Biography of the music directors "Rajan-Nagendra" (extracted from dhool.com-tfm pages)

Rajan & Nagendra were brothers and were prolific composers in Kannada films. Rajan (born 1933) and Nagendrappa (1935- 2000) were born into a musically rich family. Even as children they astounded many trained musicians with their prodigious mastery- Nagendra would create magic on the Jalatharangam, while Rajan’s adroit playing of the violin was legendary. Nagendra made his debut as a singer in B.Vittalacharya’s Srinivasa Kalyana in 1951, and soon the brothers jointly composed music for their first film Sowbhagyalakshmi, followed by Chanchalakumari. From 1952 to 1992, they have adorned over 375 films in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Singhalese with their scintillating songs. Nagendra was a talented singer too, though he did not adequately exploit his singing prowess. Their masterpieces in Kannada include Mutthaide Bhagya, Kulla Agent 000 (in which they roped in none other than Kishore Kumar to render the unforgettable ‘Aadu aatta aadu’) Gaalimaatu, Benkiya Bale, Nyayave Devaru,Chandanada Gombe, Naa Ninna Mareyalaare, Naa Ninna Bidalaare, Giri Kanye ,Bayalu Daari, Paavana Ganga etc; and in Telugu, they are remembered for their songs in films like Pooja, Pantulamma, Raja Rani Jakee, Puli Bebbuli, Maa Intiyina Katha and Vayyari Bhamalu Vagalamari Bharthulu . They have won several awards, including the Karnataka State Award for their work in Eradu Kanasu and Parasangada Gendethimma.

Tfm didn’t deign to encourage their timid overtures, though. Ellorum Vaazha Vendum (1962/ ESRS Pictures), the title may have proclaimed righteously, but Rajan-Nagendra’s songs (save the lone ‘aarambamE inikkum’ by CSJ) found no takers. The indefatigable B.Vittalacharya kept reminding us of the duo, as his many fairy-tale ventures dubbed into Tamil came with R-N’s music- Veeradhi Veeran, Madurai Mannan, Mandhirikumaran, to name a few. Radio Ceylon enthusiastically popularized these songs too—even as late as 1983, I have listened to with wonder ‘Sendu malli maalaiyo singara cholaiyo’ (TMS from Mandhirikumaran)

After a long hiatus, tfm greeted R-N with a greater kindness when Singeetam Srinivasa Rao’s super hit Telugu film Sommokadidhi Sookokadidhi (stg. Kamal, Jayasudha & Rojaramani) was dubbed into Tamil as Iru Nilavugal (1978/ Sri Balasubramaniam Films). R-N’s songs like ‘thoda varavO thondharavO’ (SPB/SJ), ‘aanandam adhu ennadaa’ (SPB), ‘anbuLLa kaNNanO aNaithaaLa vandhadhO unnai’ (SPB/PS) and ‘ammaadi kaNNai paaru’(SPB/SJ) found themselves repeatedly featured even in the prudish Vividh Bharathi!

Veetukku Veedu Vaasappadi followed in the next year. The enchanting SOTD, the longish VVV by SPB & PS (wherein SPB showed his abundant versatility by alternating between his normal voice for Suman and an appropriately altered tone for Surulirajan), the tantalizingly teasing ‘thOgai kaiyil rEgai suththam’ (SPB & SJ) and the riotous kathakaalatchebam propagating the evils of drink ‘patta kashtam’(where SJ has a blast singing for Manorama) found instant popularity. Strangely, R-N never got to compose for another Tamil film ever. However their compositions found their way into tfm time and again, when other composers sought inspiration from them. For instance S-G deemed it wise to retain R-N’s tunes for the Tamil remake (Auto Raja-1982) of the original Kannada Auto Raja. ‘malarE ennenna kOvam’ was a faithful copy of ‘naliva gulabi hoove’( both by SPB) and ‘Kanni vaNNam rOjappoo’ (SPB/VJ) was a direct lift from ‘nanna aase hannagi’ (SPB/SJ)