Today’s second post is the analysis of the song, Varanda Muni, from the Tamil movie Muni (2007). The song has been analyzed based on its context and visualization.
Movie – Muni (2007)
The song, Varanda Muni, appeared in the Gemini Productions’ Tamil comic horror flick Muni (2007), produced by Saran and directed by Raghava Lawrence. The movie starred Raghava Lawrence, Vedhicka Kumar, Kovai Saroja, Raj Kiran, Dandapani, etc.
Ganesh (Raghava Lawrence) is a man, who is frightened of ghosts. He falls in love with Priya (Vedhicka Kumar), who initially rejects his love outright. But eventually, she also falls in love with him. They get married and his father, Kandasamy (Vinu Chakravarthy) shifts with his wife, Kannamma (Kovai Sarala), Ganesh and Priya to a haunted house.
On the newlyweds’ first Diwali, they are left home alone by Ganesh’s parents to be intimate. During the nuptials, they remove an evil eye charm that they had been given by his parents, though under his parents’ instructions. The house is haunted by a male ghost and it possesses Ganesh, resulting in his nightly arson sprees. His parents discover it and they contact an exorcist. The exorcist is able to isolate the ghost from Ganesh and is able to reach out to it.
The ghost is the spirit of Muniandi (Raj Kiran), who was a kindhearted poor friend of a politician Dandapani (Dandapani). Dandapani uses his friend’s innocence to campaign for the elections from his side, promising land for the poor people. Muniandi performs this dance and song.
Song – Varanda Muni
The lyrics of the song, Varanda Muni, were penned by P Vijay-Raghava Lawrence and it was set to tune by Bharadwaj.
The song says that Muni is coming.
Video – Varanda Muni
The cinematography is by K V Guhan. Dance choreography is by Raghava Lawrence.
The video opens with some men in the crowd lifting Dandapani over their shoulders and little boys performing the kuttu dance. Raj Kiran has also been lifted on the shoulders of some actors and then he is placed on the ground.
Dandapani lifts his dhoti and begins to dance. Raj Kiran also joins him in it. His underwear shows under his lungi. What’s the point in wearing a lungi over the underwear, when the inner garment is visible?
The movements and the camera angles cause revulsion in me. It’s so disgusting! That’s not all. A girl is made to dance with a tight sari and an exposed blouse. An actor tries to bribe Raj Kiran, who rejects the money.
Dandapani gives Raj Kiran a bottle of alcohol, due to which the latter is brought to tears. The song rises to a crescendo and ends abruptly. The pace of the dance of all the actors also increases and the video also ends abruptly.
Artists
Mukesh has sung this song for Raj Kiran. Dandapani and some other actors are also seen in the video.
Cultural Influence
The song has been influenced by the Tamil Nadu’s folk-dance form called – Kuttu and is a rendition of welcome. I respect Indian culture and being a South Indian myself, I like the songs from down South besides Bollywood and Punjabi croons.
But I have always raised my voice against vulgarity and violence, may it be shown in the North Indian or South Indian video content. Use of female or even male body for sexual excitement is NOT a good idea. It causes revulsion and repulsion, at least in decent people like me!
The camera angles are not very appropriate and I request all makers of such video content to STOP making such videos because the young are being misled by it. PERIOD! I had planned not to review this song. But I wanted to send a strong message across to the makers of such videos, to abstain from doing it. Anybody listening?
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