Veteran Sridhar, who was an ardent admirer of MSV and who never worked with any other MD since "Nenjil Or Aalayam"(1962), crossed over to IR to create the songs for his "Ilamai Oonjalaadukirathu" in 1978. It was not the new wave directors alone who were seeking IR's musical support. And of course, it was IR who added spellbinding sheen to their path-breaking ventures. While Bharathiraja was among the pioneers of this movement, two others who set new standards in filmmaking this year were Rudraiyya (Aval Appadithaan) and Mahendran (Mullum Malarum). Melodramatic themes with ageing actors in studio settings were slowly but surely being shown the door. This was a period when Tamizh cinema was itself passing through an invigorating phase of renaissance. Of course, this became possible only with the help of KJY who had bought the equipment, and willingly allowed IR to experiment and record the songs in 8-track stereo. In 1978, this partnership created magic in 2 completely diverse themes, Kizhakke Pogum Rayil and Sigappu Rojakkal.Īgain it was in 1978 that not being content with merely making music, IR brought about a revolution in tamizh film music by introducing stereophonic sound in "Priya". While Panju Arunachalam, Devaraj-Mohan and S.P.Muthuraman were already IR regulars, when Bharathiraja, an old friend of IR, got an opportunity to direct, IR was his musical backbone. It was again in 1977, that producer K.Balaji had turned to IR for his lighting his Deepam. We have already seen that in his very second year, he bagged the prestigious TN State Government Award for his awesome score in "16 Vayathiniley".
In the coming years, these numbers would only increase more and more. The sheer numbers of his films speak volumes of his increasing popularity. IR was bestowing refreshingly different and enchanting scores on film after film. Every film that carried his name as MD had songs which became assured hits as a matter of course. We have to surely begin with Ilayaraja, for he had already become the industry's blue-eyed boy. However, before we actually begin with a retrospective of the wonderful songs that Vani Jairam sang this year, let me, in this part, ruminate in leisure, (I am in the "Random thoughts" mood!) over the tfm scene in 1978, especially concentrating on the Music Directors who made a mark, and the female singers who got to sing some good songs this year.
We shall commence our journey through the year 1978. Vani Jayaram's Tamil Film Songs Chronology