A curious connection exists between musician Salil Chowdhury and the way music is composed in most Malayalam films now. Already a big name in Bengali and Hindi film music, Chowdhury’s association with filmmaker Ramu Kariat through the Indian People’s Theatre Association, for which he composed revolutionary songs, paved his way to Malayalam film music. Among the hundred odd Malayalam songs …
His films defied party allegiance and national cinema norms, identifying sectarianism as the true adversary. New cinema Sen’s films from the 1970s, Interview, Calcutta 71, Padatik and Chorus, recorded the pulse of those radical times more than any other body of films one can think of. “The predilection for internationalism must have come to him from his formative experience, the …
Out of the close to 30,000 songs in Lata Mangeshkar’s extensive oeuvre, Kadhali Chenkadhali is the only song that she has sung in Malayalam. The song, composed for the 1974 film Nellu, witnessed the coming together of two other legends along with Lata — music composer Salil Chowdhury and lyricist Vayalar Ramavarma. Salil Chowdhury got Yesudas, who was a beginner …
