Neethane en pon vasantham - goes viral - Ninaivellam Nithya

Old things often stir poignant memories – now Ilayaraja is a great hit on web – not that he earlier was not…… but this time, a name and some songs associated with it are on the lips of everyone and lakhs are hitting the You Tube for this.

Try and connect this - may be tougher for even a regular cine fan... - to instantly recognize the name of Dr Jaya Sridhar Rajan, and the fact that she was the heroine in a famous film.  She is better known to tinseldom as Gigi, the daughter of Gemini Ganesan and Babji.  Sure, most Cine goers of Tamil would instantly remember the romance film starring Karthik and Giji – ‘Ninaivellam Nithya’ directed by Sridhar.  Apart from ‘Pani vizhum malar vanam’ and ‘Rojavai thalattum thendral’ – there was another famous song ‘Nee thane yen pon vasantham’ [you are my golden spring]

Now cometh a new movie titled ‘Neethaane En Ponvasantham’ directed by Gautam Menon, starring Jiva.  The venture is jointly produced by Menon's Photon Kathaas and RS Infotainment and will have cinematography by M. S. Prabhu and Om Prakash. The film is being simultaneously shot in Telugu as Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu with actor Nani. The music director for the film is the Maestro – Ilaiyaraja himself.  

It was first suggested that the film is to be titled ‘Nithya’ but publicity posters named it to be ‘Neethaane En Ponvasantham’, inspired by a song from the 1982 film Ninaivellam Nithya.  The film reportedly commenced the initial shoot from August 2011.  The film’s sound track was released on September 1, 2012 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai in a grand event, during which the songs were performed live by the original artists along with the Hungarian National Philharmonic that had also worked on the film's score.

On 8 September 2012, nearly 5 minutes of footage inclusive of the talkie portion of song Vaanam Mella was leaked on the internet which has gone viral since.   

Some reports suggest that Ilayaraja had the songs re-recorded at London with musicians from different parts of the world, particularly Budapest.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

27^th Sept. 2012.