The beginning is dramatic enough. We’re shown an AV presentation — a film, actually, put together by Gautham Menon as we learn later — of an old-fashioned radio in focus and singer Karthik in the background. The radio announcer, in an equally old-fashioned style, lists a couple of songs and proceeds to play them. We know the era — the 60s and 70s — and we certainly know the singers and sounds associated with it. Suddenly, he announces ‘Ennai theriyuma’ ( Kudiyirundha Koyil ), another popular number from the era, and mentions Karthik as the singer.
Karthik is, obviously, confused. He checks the radio once to see if all is in order and smiles. He then gets up, nonchalantly picks the black blazer hanging on the door behind him and makes a grand entry onto the stage at the Music Academy, singing ‘Ennai Theriyuma’ in true retro style, giving the ‘aha rasigan aha rasigan’ portions an impressive tweak.
On a rainy Sunday evening at The Hindu November Fest, Karthik sought to make the audiences time-travel, musically, of course, to the retro era by rendering super-hits from those decades. His choice of songs to start the proceedings, the fast-paced, groovy ones (think ‘Avalukkenna azhagiya mugam’ from Server Sundaram ) instead of the slow melodies, worked with the crowd instantly. After all, isn’t it fun watching a young singer crooning lines like ‘Azhagu oru magic touch’ and ‘Aasai oru kadhal switch’?
Karthik’s magic touch to the yesteryear tunes was evident right from the beginning. The melodious ‘Kannale pesi pesi kollathe’ was led by constant whistles and the trippy ‘Aha mella nadai’ (remember that popular guitar motif) was dedicated to the ‘gorgeous aunties in the crowd’.
The singer, widely popular for his numbers with current-day composers, did not just do ample justice to the tunes with an incredibly energetic band, but he also went on to prove why he’s considered a ‘performer’. He got a couple of women from the audience to sing some lines — one from the MSV era and the other from 80s Ilaiyaraaja — before passing on the microphone to a girl in the audience. When she sang A.R. Rahman’s ‘Nenjukulle’ from Kadal, just about everyone knew it wasn’t just another girl. It was singer Shakthisree Gopalan announcing her presence. If ever there was a prize for smart introductions, this would be right up there in the reckoning.
As the rains continued to lash the city, the music went on, with Shakthisree belting out a few of L.R. Eswari’s hits. She was soon joined by Shweta Mohan, another hot favourite among the current generation of composers, who went on to deliver a stunning rendition of ‘Singara velane deva’ among other hits. The three got together to come up with a lovely medley. Lilting melodies like ‘Unnai kaanaatha kannum’ and ‘Chithiram pesuthadi’ got many people wrapped in a musical trance, thanks majorly to the band that got its sounds right for an audience across age groups. A special mention to the idea of using audio-visual props — MGR and Sivaji Ganesan talked to the singers through AV clippings — providing a few lighter moments to the musically-rich evening that proved that old is, well, gold.
