The Song: Rayile Rayile from 5 Star
The Artists:
Singer – Unnikrishnan
Composer – Parasuram Radha
Lyrics – Pa Vijay
The Setting: As a very foreign train takes them places, Prasanna prances around the lady he loves, all the while making soppy eyes at her. In a shocking twist at the end of the song, Susi Ganeshan brings us down to earth with a shot of a distinctly Indian train and a sleeping Kanika. It was all a dream, man.
The Film: Debutants. This film has so many debutants, except the Vijayan-supported older cast. Vijayan lets us know which state he belongs to even while speaking Tamil. There’s Prasanna, actress Kanika, Krishna, and model Sandhya, who look adorably out of place in front of the camera. 5 Star also features Ravi Varman’s camerawork, his first Tamil feature length film.
5 star was shot even as Susi’s debut Virumbugiren lay unreleased, and was produced by Madras Talkies. A major portion of the movie was filmed on the Madras Institute of Technology campus where the director had studied.
5 Star literally refers to a group of five friends. The story is about their efforts to locate a missing former friend and re-unite him with his bride, who he doesn’t want. As the constellation roams the alleys and dark corners of India and Switzerland, actor Prasanna (in his debut film) begins to develop a crush on his friend’s wife. Cue gasps. The rest of the movie deals with issues like:
1. Will Prasanna marry his friend’s wife?
2. Will his friend be okay with it?
3. Will Virumbugiren ever release? Errr..scratch that.
Anyway, the duo’s journey around the world yields expected results. They find their missing man, complete with a Swedish wife and child. Twists and all that. The one consolation? Some dreamy music by the husband-wife duo of Sriram Parasuram and playback singer Anuradha.
*****
Rayile Rayile takes the old trope of people falling in love or dreaming of love on trains, and takes it to a whole new level. There are shots of Prasanna (in zebra pants, no less) thinking about the woman he loves on top of the train, inside the train, and even in a water closet.
On the other hand, the music is far less bizarre. Singer Unnikrishnan arguably has the best voice to sing this lovely melody about how Prasanna and train are buddies. A sample :
“Aye rayilae un maelae naan thol saayum thoazhan
yenakku nee yenakku poi pen paarththu solvaaya”
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Lyrics aside, this song and the others in the album are the work of Parasuram Radha. Classically trained violinist Sriram Parasuram explained that he stayed away from film composition because of ‘music not being the focus’ in the cinema industry. “In the film industry, it’s barely 5 percent time that’s devoted to actual music making and the rest goes into listening to the story, dealing with the director and the producer, networking and publicity. Finally, you end up doing simple nursery rhymes which they want in a catchy form. As a singer, you come, sing and exhibit your skill. However, as a music director, it’s not quite rewarding, even though many may not accept it. It’s all magajmari,” he told The Hindu.
Nursery rhymes or not, Rayile Rayile was a pleasant song full of airy notes that captured the wonder and joy of being in love. One sided or not.
*****