The song 'Puthiya vaanam' (புதிய வானம் – The Sky is New) from the movie Anbe Vaa (அன்பே வா – Come, My Love – Tamil – 1966) was one of the most popular of MGR’s (M.G. Ramachandran) idealist songs. Based on the story of the Hollywood film 'Come September', 1961, it was a resounding commercial success and “attained cult status in Tamil cinema”.
Song background: The hero arrives in Shimla (the capital of Himachal Pradesh) for a holiday and proceeds to his bungalow, enjoying the sights and sounds on the way. He sees a new sky and Earth and the world awakening to a new sun. He sings that nobody there questioned about one’s nationality or discriminated based on caste. Human beings were pursuing the path of love, worshipped Nature and showed in life that the mind is as high as the mountain summits.
MGR holds a suitcase and a cane in his hands during the entire song, except when he is with a couple of children for 30 seconds. He handled the luggage so gracefully, it is doubtful if any other actor would have succeeded so well or even agreed to do so. Another interesting aspect is that the lyrics sing about showers of snow and flowers everywhere, but the footage doesn't have them. Perhaps the weather failed the shooting crew, and a natural shower of flowers was impossible to find, and yet MGR's convincing acting made the audience forget the lapses.
The lyrics were written by Vaali to music set by M.S. Vishwanathan and sung by TM Soundararajan. The song has been translated from Tamil into English and displayed on the video so that the wider audience can understand and appreciate it better.
For non-commercial cultural and educational purposes. Copyrights belong to the rightful owners.
Click to watch the video: https://youtu.be/sbbmIsO63V4
