No Sway Sivaji for Sowcar’s Quien Sera, pArtha nyAbagam illayo
Song: pArtha nyAbagam Illayo
Movie: Puthiya Paravai (Tamil, 1964)
Singers: P.Susheela
Music Director: M.S.Viswanathan (MSV)
Actors: Sivaji Ganesan, Sowcar Janaki, Saroja Devi
Director: Dada Mirasi
pArtha nyAbagam Illayo (PNI) literally means “don’t you remember seeing (this one)?” in Tamil. When this song must have come out and in the years thereafter, not many in the South of India would have “remembered” seeing this one as Sway with Me (Dean Martin, 1954) or Quien Sera (1953). The latter being the original mambo song by Mexican composer and bandleader Pablo Beltrán Ruiz that has been the “inspiration” for countless renditions in various languages ever since. (Reference: wikpedia).
PNI is from the movie, Puthiya Paravai, which in turn is the Tamil version of the Hollywood movie, Chase a Crooked Shadow (1958). Listen to PNI sung in Tamil by P.Susheela:
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Some thoughts on the making of this song. Wonder what the compulsion must have been to use this tune and in this picturisation. Was Sway with Me very popular back then in the clubs (say, what?) of South of India or among the privileged or with the Anglo-Indians or AIR? Giving the benefit of the doubt to music director ‘MSV’, suppose he did not seek any external Mambo inspirations, could it be that the film’s director was a fan of Dean Martin or just a clever opportunist who just wanted to milk a “free” tune to the maximum? Or, could it be that even in the “dark ages” of information (or, the lackthereof) hit-making powers of access, re-purposing, and selective distribution of premium content was already well understood? Wonder (again) what ROI calculator Dada Mirasi must have used for this “localization” project?
Now, on the two video snippets below. The Tamil audio track has been replaced in these two, with English and Spanish respectively. Me thinks:
- ‘Sowcar’ Janaki (actress in the picturization) is so hip she can’t sway below her waist
- Sivaji (actor) is smokin’ haat!!
- Sivaji does the “smitten” from subtle Hollywood (0:49) to over-the-top Kollywood (1:45)
- Case of “Eee adichchAn kApi” (read, blatant plagiarisation) @ 1:03-1:10 in the English remix below? It goes “I can hear the sound of Violins, long before .. it begins” in English. In the Tamil number, this section is just instrumental interlude. Is it just coincidence then that we see the guys on the violins even though the Tamil picturization does not seem to require it?
Sway with Me (Dean Martin, 1954):
Quien Sera (Pablo Beltrán Ruiz, 1953):
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Popularity: 22% [?]
Pretty cool mixing the visual and soundtracks.
Wonder if the song’s picturisation was initially conceptualized with Dean Martin’s track in the background and then later on readjusted for the Tamil version. Otherwise, it is too much of a coincidence coming together this well in the remixing!
The concept of a club song itself was quite alien to our ways back then. Drawing inspiration from other cultures/tunes and adapting it to the Chennai milieu was an eminently pardonable artistic license I am willing to give them. MSV-VR must have done the likes of Karnan and Venniraadai around 1964 which was surely home turf for them. The same movie had ‘Enge Nimmadhi’, an amazing song, surely inspired but path breaking for our cinema. Agree?
BK – to clarify, I am not raising issue rgd this song being adapted from Quien Sera or Dino’s Sway. I am just curious about what might have been the discovery process back then toward creating a database of reusable foreign tunes. In this particular movie, Sowcar’s character is that of a loose night club singer. Even back in those days, I understand that Madras had such (shady) clubs at the Buhari Imperial, Savera, Connemara, etc. Was this one of the more popular songs played in those clubs? (note: If I am not mistaken, in this movie this club is set in Malaysia) Would tune scouts stake out these joints to see what’s hot and current?
Also, I gather from the senior citizens in my family that Globe, Midland, Odeon and Elphinston theaters used to play most of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movies between 1955-62. Tickets I am told costed like 4 annas. So was there already an awareness on what a “club song” should sound like based on these movies?
Granted your point on what must have been comfort zone for MSV-VR. Its a stellar job done on indianizing this tune with susheela’s voice. However, the picturization when seen with the audio-swap is what I am “troubled” by. Like I have mentioned in the post, violin guys playing on cue is hilarious and a bit much — don’t u think?