#240 பொன்னி நதி
(முதல் வசந்தம், 1986 , இது ராசா எப்போ போட்ட பாட்டு?)
groucho had asked about the real timing of this song sometime back. Since this is a lazy afternoon with everyone on siesta allowing me hub-time (here in my sis' home in upstate NY), tried to do some googling / careful listen etc. I have heard this song a few times on buses etc before but never paid a close listen like today. I'm more or less sure this must be from late 70's, sounding more GKV-ish (even MSV-ish) or north-indianish in orchestral arrangements. Definitely not the full-blown rAsA style of 1986 (one even hears bongos in the start of the saraNam - something very untypical of later-day-rAsA.)
Ofcourse, the
'ARu athu Azham illa' of the same movie is his agmark later-80's style. So, it was tailor-made for the Manivannan movie without any doubt. (Per Sureshji's post on another thread, it was a special kind of inspiration from some old Hindi song). The MV song
kuyilukkoru niRamirukku is likewise a definite 1986 product, going by the sounds of MV's voice. Same goes with SJ's
summA thodavum mAttEn which appears to be tailor-made.
However, as known from the history, Manivannan had the practice of "buying" songs from unreleased movies (the well-known numbers being sOlai pushpangaLE & vadakkuththeru vaNNakkiLi of 'oomai veyil' that were used for 'ingEyum oru gangai'). Going by that history, ponni nadhi must have been a bought out number, even though the source is still to be unearthed. SPB voice sounds 70's. Interestingly, the SJ number from the same movie
mAnAdakkodi must also be a bought-out song from late-70's or early-80's from an unreleased movie as the song had orchestration from the 'muLLum malarum' 1978 era. You cannot judge from SJ's voice, however, as she was a master in hiding age for the most part of her career with IR (i.e. from 1976 to 1991).
So, if someone who followed rAsA's unreleased outputs more closely and knows about the origin of ponni nadhi, please post :-)