Hava Nagila - II

Most (read as all?) of Prathap Pothan’s movies were inspired from English novels and movies. For eg: My Dear Marthandan was inspired from “Coming to America”, I learnt. Like many directors of that era, Prathap always walked out of Prasad Studio with super hit tunes for all his movies.

My Dear Marthandan was one such movie with all super hit songs and the usage of today’s most (ab)used synth sounds were aptly used 18 years ago. The genre of the songs in this film was quite different from any of the typical Illayaraja songs. The usage of percussions and synthesizer made the songs sound different in those days. However, the specialty with his songs is that the melody doesn’t get lost despite all these innovations.

Anyways, my post today is about the song “Uttalakkadi Pattanakodi Mottanakiliye” from this movie. The lyricist must have been so confident that he could give any junk filler and still Raaja would make it a hit. Many a times, the tune is inspired by music directors with a pre-set meter. In this example, this song is inspired from a simple meter with the words “Hava Nagila”.

Hava Nagila Hava Nagila Hava Nagila Hoi
Hava Nagila Hava Nagila Hava Nagila Hoi

1   2    1    2     1     2    1

Utta lakkadi Patta Nakodi Motta anaki liyee
Machana thoda acharam thara summa nikki riyee

Hava Nagila must have influenced Raaja so much that he derived two songs out of one, both sounding entirely different! Only SPB can make even dumb sounding lyrics so interesting and sing very involved even for mediocre lyrics.

Hava Nagila, now.