Strange is it not ? C Ramchandra is connected , directly, with Malayalam cinema.
The Lata number from "Azaad", Hindi film which was based on the same story of Thaskaraveeran, the original of the series of films made on the story written by Namakkal T Ramalingam Pillai, "Malaikkallan", tamil novel which was filmed for the first time in tamil under the same title Malaikkallan (1954)
A curio about the story and the film, the film was remade in Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Sinhalese. "Azad" made in Hindi in 1956 with C Ramchandra's music. Ramchandras tunes became so popular that , the series of films reamade with the same story copied the Hindi tunes - in Bettada Kalla (Kannada0, Thaskaraveeran (Malayalam) and Soorasena (Sinhalese).
And according to me (my own inference, comments from the members welcome) in Malayalam film almost all the songs were copies of Hindi songs - Vannallo vasantha kaalam (Dekho ji Bahar aayee....Lata), Pokalle pokalle pokalle nee.... (Na bole na bole nabole re.... Lata), Malar thorum mandahasam....(Kitna haseen hai mausam...Lata, chitalkar), Chapalam chapalam....(Aplam chapalam....... Lata, Usha), etc. A fast moving number, "Kabhi khamosh rahta hai.....Pee ke daras ko .... Lata was included in the Malayalam film as such, that the song was picturised as Lata s song itself in Malayalam film. Ragini dancing to this song in the Malayalam film, the corresponding scene in Hindi, Meenakumari's song and dance.
A fast moving song, the producer/director Ramulu Naidu might have thought to keep this song in lata's voice, because I feel finding words for the song and retaining the tempo of the song might be difficult. It is not that Abhayadev is not competent to write lyrics to this tune, but I myself think that this tune in Malayalam, retaining the meaning and concept of the song, might have been a difficult task.
So, in Malayalam cinema, we have the full length Hindi song in the voice of Lata Mangeshkar. Long before her song in Nellu, the Nightingale's voice echoed in the Malayalam cinema in 1957.
A Qawali sung by Raghunath seth yadav and party , "Marna bhi mohabat...." from Azad also was retained in the Malayalam film in the correspondig scene.
C Ramchandra started his career as an actor in early 1930s, he acted in the movie "Naganand" (1935) produced in Marathi and Hindi under the same title, the film was directed by Y V Rao, a South Indian and father of "Julie"/Chattakkari fame Lakshmi. The film miserably flopped at box office, It was based on a story from Kathasarithsagara.
I believe his music career started not in the north, but in the south. His first music composition was for the Tamil movie, "Jayakkodi" produced in late 1930s, and he became popular with his second Tamil movie, "Vanamohini" (1942). In Vanamohini he sang also for the hero, M K Radha. His songs from Vanamohini became hits, with good Tamil diction he sang the songs.
In Tamil, another super musical hit to his credit was "Vanjikottai Valiban" produced in 1950s by Gemini films, which was remade in Hindi as "Raj Tilak" The dance competition in the films featuring Padmini and Vyjayantimala remain a wonder in cinema.
Very interesting...I remember the two songs of Azaad. Apalam Chapalam and Kitne Haseeen yeh mausam..the male voice in the latter is C Ramachandra himself. Whenever C Ramachandra sang he used the name Chitalkar.
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