The ragam connect to popular film songs

The common man has, for long, sought to understand and enjoy the brilliance of classical music just like how a fortunate few do. However, for reasons more than one, their limited understanding of ragams and talams has made them consider the subject elitist, thereby inducing in them a fear which prevents them from going any further.
However, what people don���t realize is that many of the Tamil film songs that they enjoy and hum along to on a regular basis are either completely based on various classical ragams or at least have portions inspired by them.While most of these film songs might not strictly meet all the parameters of a particular ragam or might only be inspired by one or many of these ragams, they do draw upon heavily on our classical repertoire to come up with melodious, appealing tunes. Having said that, composers also admit that a certain film song might not be based on just one ragam, but may often be the result of a combination of ragams. Chennai Times caught up with some of the film music composers and asked them about the ragams they have used for some of their popular songs, which have been loved by the masses.
Song: Kadhal Kanave (Mundasupatti)
Music Director: Sean Roldan
One of the very popular songs in recent times, Kadhal Kanave is largely folk. But then, there are also elements of classical music in it. Talking about the song, Sean Roldan says, ���It is largely folk music, but if I must pick, it is close to one of the two ��� Kapi or Pilu ragams because of the occurrence of all the notes. The song is inspired by a folk representation of these ragams. I have tried to capture the essence of Kapi as well as Pilu and put them in a way such that the focus is on romance. I have used both these ragams in different places of the song just to underline the romance. I chose Pradeep to sing it as I wanted a popular voice to represent this flavour. I also chose Kalyani because Pradeep and Kalyani being a couple, there is a love equation between them and it comes out beautifully in the song.���
Song: Oru Paadhi Kadhavu Neeyadi��� (Thaandavam)
Music Director: G V Prakash
���This song was actually composed at the time Madrasapattinam was being made. However, it was used for Thaandavam. I composed this number while on a flight. The romantic song is based on the Natabhairavi ragam and has a touch of Jaunpuri (Hindustani classical). It is in Chaturasram tempo,��� says GV Prakash.
Song: Lesa Parakuthu Manasu (Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu)
Music Director: Selvaganesh
This cute, romantic number, which has been on the repeat list of many fans, is based on the Bahudari ragam, says ace percussionist Selvaganesh, who also impressed many with his music for this film. ���It is based on Bahudari and is in Adi talam,��� says the musician.
Song: Siru Thoduthalile (Laadam)
Music Director: Dharan
Commenting on the song, Dharan says, ���This is a typical romantic song. I wanted to have the backing of western classical guitars and wanted the song to be based on Indian classical music. This song is a combination of two ragams, one of which is Bilahari. It is in Adi talam. I was particular that this number be rendered by Bombay Jayashree ma���am and Haricharan. Although the song, by and large, came out the way I wanted, both singers made wonderful improvisations.���
Song: Unna Kolla Poren (Aravaan)
Music Director: Kartik
���This song is a subtle interpretation of our Sankarabharanam in a simplistic folksy manner. In western music, it is called a major scale. Most parts of the pallavi and the charanam are in major scale, typically like our Sankarabharanam, except for one line in the second half of the Charanam, where there is an infusion of Kamboji,��� says Kartik, commenting on another song in the same album, saying, ���There is a number called Kalavu in the same film. The specialty about this number is that it is in a talam that not many have attempted so far. This song is set to nine beats. It is very complicated. It was a very lyric-driven idea. It fell in place beautifully and hence, I decided to go ahead with it. To my knowledge, I don���t think this is something that has been done in Tamil film music before. So, my point here is even a complex musical idea can be incorporated in a mainstream Tamil film song, if it is done in a convincing, simple manner.