Songs from Harischandra (1955)

Harischandra (1955)’s huge success, I guess, was also partly because of that one fabulous number Aathmavidyalayamey, sung by Kamukara Purushothaman, who had his debut in film playback singing for Ponkathir ( 1953), a home production of Merry Land, under Neela Productions. There were a total of 16 songs, written by Thirunayinaarkurichi Madhavan Nair and set to music by Br Lakshmanan, the hit pair of that era. Aatmavidyalayamey, seems to be  inspired by the beautiful Sanskrit Kriti, Manasa Sancharare composed by Sadashiva Brahmendra in the 18th Century.

Ponkathir (1953), Lata Mangeshkar, Br.Lakshmanan and Jikki’s liveliness.

It was the passing away of Adoor Pankajam that was the reason that made yours truly sit and watch Ponkathir (1953) one more time. Of the 13 songs, (actually 12 excluding the traditional Anjana Sreedhara), by the Br.Lakshmanan-Thirunayinaarkurichi Madhavan Nair team, there is this one, Padoo Maanasame Padoo that sounds suspiciously close to Lataji’s classic Laage Jabse Nain Laage from Daag (1952) !

The songs output of the Malayalam films from the early 60’s have always surprised me, specially the creative output of the Br.Lakshmanan-Thirunayinaarkurichi Madhavan Nair team, with most of their movies averaging at least 10 songs or more.