Manorama in flashback
'Va Vadhyare Veetande Nee Varagattina Vidamattem' was among the most popular songs crooned by the queen of comediennes – the name is Manorama.
Remembering the bygone days, the ace actress said that those were the days when an artiste was expected to sing besides rendering her lines in a movie. “It was the pre-luxury days when the producer had to wrap the movie in a shoestring budget. Legends like P.U. Chinnappa and M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar started the trend, but they had really powerful voices to grab audience attention,” says Manorama.
Of the present trend of actors crooning for their movies – Chiyan Vikram sang all his four numbers in Kanthaswamy – Manorama saw it as a positive and welcome trend.
If producers see it as a sound way of promoting their films, so be it, says 'Film News' Anandan, who has been keeping tab of Kollywood happenings for the last six decades.
Recalling an interesting episode, Anandan said it was the idea of A.V. Meiyappan to have singer Periyanayagi's voice for heroine Rukmini in Valli. That set the trend of playback singing in the industry, says Anandan.
