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Agni Natchathiram
Soundtrack album by Ilaiyaraaja
Released	1988
Genre	Feature film soundtrack
Length	27:32
Language	Tamil
Label	Echo
Producer	Ilaiyaraaja

Agni Natchathiram is the soundtrack to the 1988 Tamil-language film of the same name directed by Mani Ratnam and produced by G. Venkateswaran, starring Prabhu, Karthik, Amala and Nirosha. The film associated Ratnam's norm collaborators—composer Ilaiyaraaja and lyricist Vaali—whose soundtrack album featured six tracks. It was released through the Echo label on a double LP record, with three on each sides. The soundtrack consisted of electronic and synth-pop music, where most of the Carnatic melodies in the songs were fused with modern instrumentation. For the Telugu dubbed version titled Gharsana, all the lyrics are written by Rajasri.

Development

As Agni Natchathiram was filmed simultaneously with Nayakan (1987), Ilaiyaraaja too worked on both the films with the latter's score—consisted of only orchestra and string instruments—recorded in the mornings, and the former in the evening. It's music predominantly consisted of electronic and synth-pop; Ratnam's influence of western media through vidéothèques interested him to make a "Hollywood-style urban action film" but failing to do so, he instead decided to use electronic music in the film's score "to push the envelope in terms of style"; Ilaiyaraaja too had an exposure with the genre, as he previously used synthesizers for composing Punnagai Mannan (1986).

"Raaja Raajathi" was composed without string instruments, instead it fused synth-pop with jazz in the second interlude, and drums played by drummer R. Purushothaman. The opening stanza of the song was composed with two notes. Despite the dominance of electronic music, most of the songs were set in Carnatic ragas; "Vaa Vaa Anbe Anbe" is in Shivaranjani, "Thoongatha Vizhigal" is in Amritavarshini, "Oru Poonga Vanam" is in Sudhadhanyasi, and "Ninnukkori Varnam" is in Mohanam. The song was sampled with synthesizers in the interludes.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Vaali

All lyrics are written by Rajasri

Reception

Srushtisagar Yamunan of Scroll.in called Agni Natchathiram as the "trendsetter" for introducing "the sounds of electronic funk and synthetic pop" to the Tamil music listeners. The album achieved significant popularity post-release, with the track "Ninnukori Varanam" in particular. At the 9th Cinema Express Awards, Ilaiyaraaja won the Best Music Director award for his work in the film, along with Soora Samhaaram and Dharmathin Thalaivan.

Legacy

Anand–Milind adapted the song "Raaja Rajadhi" as "Tap Tap Tapori" for Baaghi (1990), and "Ninnukori Varnam" was sampled by musician Karthik for "Thooriga" from "Guitar Kambi Mele Nindru", an episode of Navarasa (2021). "Raja Rajadhi" was remixed by D. Imman for the film Durai (2008). In 2020, independent artists Malfnktion and Raka Ashok released an extended play, named as Raaja Beats, which juxtaposed Ilaiyaraaja's songs with bass and hip-hop sampled. Three of the songs: "Raaja Rajadhi", "Vaa Vaa Anbe" and "Ninnukori Varnam" were sampled for the album.

Popular culture

The song "Ninnu Kori Varnam" was parodied for a comedy sequence in the film Themmangu Paattukaaran (1997) featuring Goundamani, Senthil and LIC Narasimhan, where the latter comically pronounces the first line of the song. "Raaja Rajadhi" was parodied in the film 7G Rainbow Colony (2004), where Ravi Krishna and his friends perform the song on stage.

References

1. "Agni Natchathram (1988)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 7 August 2014. Retrieved 8 January 2013.
2. "Agni Natchathram Tamil Film LP Vinyl Record by Ilayaraaja". Mossymart. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2021.
3. "Gharshana (1988) (1988)". Raaga.com. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
4. Rangan 2012, p. 59.
5. RS, Anand Kumar (2 June 2019). "Ilaiyaraaja's music in Mani Ratnam films: A well-scripted harmony". The News Minute. Archived from the original on 28 January 2024. Retrieved 28 January 2024. ...for Nayagan and Agni Natchathiram, which were two completely different genres, the song recording was done simultaneously and even then Raaja could pull it off effortlessly.
6. Rangan 2012, p. 44.
7. Maderya, Kumuthan (9 February 2023). "Once Upon A Time In Kollywood: Ilaiyaraaja And The Electro-Synth Pop Revolution In Tamil Film Music". Film Companion. Archived from the original on 21 March 2023. Retrieved 8 August 2023.
8. "Happy birthday Ilaiyaraaja and Mani Ratnam!". Deccan Herald. 2 June 2018. Archived from the original on 10 May 2019. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
9. "Happy Birthday Ilaiyaraaja: 10 mind-blowing facts about the music maestro". India Today. 2 June 2018. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 3 November 2020.
10. Ganesh, Deepa (8 March 2017). "Does absence heighten presence?". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 17 July 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
11. Sundararaman 2007, p. 164.
12. Mani, Charulatha (30 March 2012). "A Raga's Journey – Appealing Amritavarshini". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 11 September 2019. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
13. Sundararaman 2007, p. 162.
14. Sundararaman 2007, p. 151.
15. Mani, Charulatha (16 September 2011). "A Raga's Journey – Magical Mohanam". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 23 August 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2020.
16. Sundararaman 2007, p. 149.
17. ^ Yamunan, Sruthisagar (9 April 2017). "Audio master: The Ilaiyaraaja-Mani Ratnam combination in 'Agni Natchathiram' set the charts on fire". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 12 February 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
18. "Top 10 classics of Mani Ratnam & Ilaiyaraaja that won fans' hearts". DT Next. 2 June 2022. Archived from the original on 7 July 2022. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
19. "Cinema Express readers choose Agni Nakshathiram". The Indian Express. Express News Service. 11 March 1989. p. 4. Archived from the original on 28 October 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
20. "#Ilaiyaraaja78: Five Bollywood chartbusters inspired by Ilaiyaraaja hits in Tamil". The Times of India. 5 June 2021. Archived from the original on 2 July 2021. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
21. Karthik (17 July 2021). "Milliblog Weeklies, Week 154 – Jul.18, 2021". Milliblog. Archived from the original on 21 January 2022. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
22. Karthik (10 September 2008). "Music review: Durai (Tamil – D Imaan)". Milliblog!. Archived from the original on 6 February 2024. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
23. "Raaja Beats". Bandcamp. Archived from the original on 20 April 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
24. "Malfnktion and Raka Ashok on their debut EP Raaja Beats, and juxtaposing Ilaiyaraaja with bass-driven hip-hop". Indulge Express. 26 June 2020. Archived from the original on 27 September 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
25. Themmangu Pattukaran Full Movie Comedy | Ninnu Kori Varnam Comedy | Goundamani Senthil Comedy. Bicstol Cini Mini Comedy. 29 March 2021. Archived from the original on 28 January 2024. Retrieved 28 January 2024 – via YouTube.
26. Raja Rajadhi Song😂 | 7G rainbow colony | Best Comedy Scene | Ravi Krishna | Sonia Agarwal | SUN NXT. Sun NXT. 23 November 2022. Archived from the original on 1 January 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2024 – via YouTube.

Further reading

• Rangan, Baradwaj (2012). Conversations with Mani Ratnam. India: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-670-08520-0.
• Sundararaman (2007) . Raga Chintamani: A Guide to Carnatic Ragas Through Tamil Film Music (2nd ed.). Pichhamal Chintamani. OCLC 295034757.

• 1988 soundtrack albums
• Ilaiyaraaja soundtracks
• Tamil film soundtracks