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Chandralekha
Soundtrack album by S. Rajeswara Rao and M. D. Parthasarathy
Released	1948
Genre	Film soundtrack
Language	Tamil Hindi
Label	EMI

Chandralekha is the soundtrack album for the 1948 film of the same name. It was composed by S. Rajeswara Rao, with lyrics by Papanasam Sivan and Kothamangalam Subbu. The background score was composed by M. D. Parthasarathy, who was assisted by R. Vaidyanathan and B. Das Gupta. The soundtrack album features 11 tracks in the original Tamil version, whereas the Hindi version has 13 tracks.

Development

Rajeswara Rao recalled in a 1993 interview for The Hindu that it took him over a year to compose the film's music, with much of his time devoted to the drum-dance scene: "As the dancers performed, we used to rehearse and compose the music. It was done with incredibly few instruments. We used a piano, ten double-bass violins, and drums from Africa, Egypt, and Persia which we have acquired from an African War troupe." Rao was paid ₹1,500 as a salary, during the film's production.

For the Hindi soundtrack, S. S. Vasan offered most of the song to Uma Devi, who later became popularly known as Tun Tun. She initially hesitated, feeling that " were beyond her capabilities", but was supported by Rajeswara Rao (who "worked hard on her"). The film was a breakthrough for Uma Devi, despite breaching her contract with producer Abdur Rashid Kardar, who terminated her contract in retaliation. This and the "dwindling fortunes" of the film industry after India's independence from the British Raj eventually ended her career in playback singing.

Composition

The music was influenced by Carnatic and Hindustani music, Latin American and Portuguese folk music and Strauss waltzes. According to M. K. Raghavendra, Chandralekha has "snatches from Wagner and Rimsky-Korsakov (Scherezade) being used at dramatic moments." "Naattiya Kuthirai", not originally part of the film, was added during final production. Sundari Bai spent over a month rehearsing the song. M. D. Parthasarathy was the sole singer of "Aathoram Kodikkalam" and co-singer of "Naattiya Kuthirai". J. Cooling Rajaiah played accordion and piano in the film's gypsy song. The circus chorus was adapted from "The Donkey Serenade" in Robert Z. Leonard's 1937 film, The Firefly. "Sanjh Ki Bela", from the Hindi soundtrack, is loosely based on "Sanjh Ki Bela Panchhi Akela" from Jwar Bhata (1944).

Reception

Chandralekha's music helped make it one of the most-successful Indian musical films of the 1940s, and it "created an atmosphere for a number of music directors influenced by Western music" in Tamil cinema. In his 1997 book, Starlight, Starbright: The Early Tamil Cinema, Randor Guy said that Parthasarathy and Rajeswara Rao "created a fine blend of lilting music of many schools." Writing for Screen in April 1998, film historian M. Bhaktavatsala described Chandralekha's songs as "distinct and standing on own, with barely any background score attempting to interlink anything, just periods of silence." Historian V. Sriram stated in 2018 that, although the film had no memorable songs, "Aayilo Pakiriyama", sung by Krishnan, Madhuram and Sundari Bai, was his favourite one.

Track listing

References

1. Chandralekha (motion picture) (in Tamil). India: Gemini Studios. 1948. Event occurs at 1:43.
2. ^ Guy, Randor (23 September 2010). "Unsung veteran of Tamil cinema". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 5 August 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
3. ^ Narasimham, M. L. (12 March 1993). "Trend-setter in Light Music". The Hindu.
4. Kaur, Devinder Bir (7 December 2003). "Hindi cinema's first-ever comedienne". The Tribune. Archived from the original on 1 September 2013. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
5. Pandya, Haresh (8 January 2004). "Obituary: Tun Tun". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
6. Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1998, p. 310; Garga 2005, p. 120.
7. ^ Bhaktavatsala, M. (24 April 1998). "Music in the Movies". Screen. p. 36.
8. Raghavendra 2009, p. 34.
9. Guy, Randor (24 March 2006). "Charming, villainous". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 15 August 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
10. Nainar, Nahla (8 July 2016). "The uncrowned Raja of sacred music". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 26 July 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
11. Baskaran 1996, p. 60; Rajadhyaksha & Willemen 1998, p. 310.
12. "Woes & Echoes". Filmindia. July 1949. p. 70. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014.
13. Vijayakar 2009, p. 16.
14. Religion and Society, Volume 12. Christian Institute for the Study of Religion and Society. 1965. p. 103.
15. Guy 1997, p. 250.
16. Sriram, V. (19 June 2018). "Remembering Ayilo Pakariyama!!". Madras Heritage and Carnatic Music. Archived from the original on 27 September 2018. Retrieved 27 September 2018.
17. Chandralekha (motion picture) (in Tamil). India: Gemini Studios. 1948. DVD menu. Raj Video Vision
18. "Chandralekha". MySwar.co. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2018.

Bibliography

• Garga, B. D. (2005). Art Of Cinema. Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-670-05853-2.
• Baskaran, S. Theodore (1996). The eye of the serpent: an introduction to Tamil cinema. East West Books. OCLC 1129458207.
• Raghavendra, M. K. (2009). 50 Indian Film Classics. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-81-7223-866-7.
• Rajadhyaksha, Ashish; Willemen, Paul (1998) . Encyclopaedia of Indian Cinema (PDF). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-563579-5.
• Guy, Randor (1997). Starlight, Starbright: The Early Tamil Cinema. Amra Publishers.
• Vijayakar, Rajiv (2009). The History of Indian Film Music: A Showcase of the Very Best in Hindi Cinema. Bennett, Coleman & Company. ISBN 9788189906818.

• 1940s soundtrack albums
• Hindi film soundtracks