10-year-old Uthara who won the National Award (Best Female Playback Singer) for Azhage Azhage (Saivam) is the daughter of Carnatic vocalist Unnikrishnan.
Little Uthara’s win for her playback song at the National Awards reintroduces and reaffirms in a way the lost magic of melody in Indian film songs, particularly in Tamil cinema.
In the prevailing scenario where much of movie music has degenerated into sheer din conveyed through eminently forgettable words, Muthu Kumar’s lyrics in Azhage Azhage, the song that Uthara sang in AL Vijay’s moving film, Saivam, about vegetarianism and care for animals, take us back on a poignantly nostalgic trip.
Having grown up on the lyrics of such eminent poets as Kannadasan, Kalyanasundaram and Viswanathan Ramamurthy, this writer felt that Kumar’s words echoed not just the beauty of the song, but the very beauty of the Tamil language. And what adds to the richness of Azhage Azhage is the touch of the classical.
Uthara’s father, Unnikrishnan — a renowned Carnatic vocalist himself and who was, in a strange coincidence, giving a concert in Thiruvarur (the birthplace of the Trinity of Carnatic Music), on Tuesday evening just when the National Awards were announced — told this writer this morning that Uthara’s rendering had a touch of the classical. She was learning Carnatic music from the illustrious teacher, Sudha Raja. “I fill in the blanks whenever I am in town,” he said.
content courtesy: http://www.hindustantimes.com/
