When the breeze brings in the whiff of love!

Unlike stunt masters or choreographers who need to keep innovating to secure their positions in the film industry, the cinematographers, it seems, have it easy. Many of them appear to have more or less standardised what would go into the shot sequencing stage and what they intend to capture, especially when it comes to outdoor love songs. This week’s song “Ninu choodaka nenundalenu” perfectly fits the bill, in this regard. More of that later!

For now, a few stats on the film and the song. Released in 1988, this number has many firsts to its credit. It was the debut of the comely heroine Saranya in Telugu, riding on the back of her Mani Ratnam directed, bi-lingual hit ‘Nayakan’ with the redoubtable Kamal Hassan in the lead, just a year earlier. Surprisingly, as was the trend of the Telugu films in the ‘80s, when Hindi film musicians rubbed shoulders with local talent, this film boasted of having the legendary OP Nayyar scoring music for it, his only southern film out of his 75-film career, spread over four decades.

The veteran composer surely knew his range and scale in this very soothing number, as he sets it at an unhurried pace in a tune which carries a whiff of his upcountry background. As SP Balu croons the opening line “Ninu choodaka nenundalenu” the tabla seamlessly merges with his silky voice laced with a matchless throw. It later emerges as the pacesetter, as the sitar enjoins itself with the percussion in a minimally fussy manner while the lead pair nuzzles up, in a typically romantic mood.

Cinare, the master lyricist, does not get mushy, but matter-of-fact when the hero intones that he cannot live without seeing his beloved, in this birth or the next, in fact any incarnation that he takes in the future! Heart warming stuff for the mushy male folk, one must admit. There is more to follow as the lover takes off comparing his lady love to virtually all facets of nature, admitting that he hears her footsteps even as the breeze blows (E chirugaali kadalaadinaa nee charaanala sruti vintinii). Some hearing power this, for a man besotted!

By now, the camera has had a wide-angled sweep, taking in sunset shots, top lighting the cootchie-cooing duo and exposing the viewer to the waterfront where the heroine daintily jumps around, full makeup in tow! The tabla player comes back, rapturously, yet free from the boom that a drummer would have added on to the number. Here is where the song’s lilt makes it sound a vintage Hindi number, the long-drawn pitches of the male singer almost affirming it.

Once the next stanza comes in, melting away into the climax, it is time for a lush green field and a few gentle steps by both Viswas and Saranya, to match the thump of the beat. Balu, in his rhythm, absolutely oozes love, effortlessly hitting the high notes as he epitomises the hero taking over the action completely, while his heroine just prefers to go along, affirming all the words of passion that she just heard. If this is what unconditional love is all about, then there can be nothing more pleasing, as the song affirms.

K Naresh Kumar