‘Aligina Velane Choodali’ from Gundamma Katha movie, composed by Ghantashala, written by Pingali Nagendra Rao, sung by P.Susheela. Gundamma Katha is the first film to run for 100 days in 17 centers. This film also received best Telugu Filmfare award in 1962. This film is N.T.Rama Rao's 100th film and A.Nageswara Rao's 99th film which is a very rare case for two celebrities and something which might not happen again. Also, it is great that the title of such a prestigious movie was named after a key character ‘Gundamma’ in the movie. A.N.R's 100th movie was Gundamma Katha's Tamil version Manithan Maravillai. The sound track of Gundamma katha till date is very famous and is commercially a hit album which is enjoyed even today by every music lover. Particularly to mention the songs 'Aligina velane choodali', 'Lechindi Nidra', 'Kolu Koloyanna' and 'Prema Yatralaku' have achieved cult status in Telugu cinema, particularly for their lyrics.

This song starts off with brilliant Sannai bit followed by a melodious voice singing Aligina velani choodali. Susheela who is considered as goddess of music has showed her singing skills in this song. I always love to listen the second stanza

Mohanamuraliganamu vinaga tahatahalaaduchu tarunulu raga And of course the aalap sung in first stanza is always considered as toughest portion of this song to attempt by any upcoming singers.

This song is composed in ‘Desh’ Raagam which is very rarely used to compose these kind of cinematic situations. Ghantashala has put his heart and soul in this song composition. He has used the classic instruments Sannai (Nadaswaram), Flute, Tabla, Harmonium and other basic instruments to come up with this all-time hit number. Ghantashala has composed for the penned lyrics. I feel like the song tune itself expresses the lyrics and that is the beauty of providing tune for written lyrics. In particular, I have to mention about the stanzas (try to listen the song while reading the lyrics, you can definitely feel the depth of the song)

Allana mellana nallapilli vale vennanu dongila gajjelu ghallana
Talli melukoni donganu joochi allaridemani adiginanduke

When comes to the lyrics, as mentioned this song was written first and later composed. Pingali tried to express his views as per the situation of the song. In the movie, this song is sung by the actress Savitri to bring down a quick temper spike of her husband. To show this use case, Pingali has expressed the relation that paints the picture of Krishna's charming ways and the selfless love of mother Yashoda for him. The song describes how little Krishna looked when he was angry and upset because mother Yashoda caught him stealing butter in the middle of the night. It also describes, how Yashoda wanted to hide and protect her son from all the gopikas as they were getting drawn to him because of his mesmerizing flute. This is the magic of lyrics when written by legends like Pingali Nagendra Rao.

The greatness in truly evergreen songs is when these are very realistic and when these can be used in a real scenario. I am pretty sure this song would have been sung in every Telugu household during a similar situation. Such is the cuteness of the song that it is everlasting and remains a heart-touching soulful melody.

-Lasya

  Email: lasya.sn@gmail.com

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