Singers : Udit Narayan
Composer: GV Prakash Kumar
Lyricist: Na Muthukumar
Starring: Arya, Amy Jackson, Late Cochin Haneefa
Arya introduces the very English Amy Jackson to his hometown, via a convenient song and dance taking her through the important landmarks in Chennai. The song begins very appropriately at the beach, and then lists out the stereotypes Indians believe would appeal to the foreigners. So, there’s the snake charmer, the elephant saluting people and what not.
As far as songs go, this could have used a more Tamil singer than Udit Narayan. Despite a good two decades in the industry, Udit’s voice still retains that distinct foreignness. He’s a Hindi-speaker singing a Tamil song about an iconic Tamil city. That’s just hard to get used to.
However, it’s an interesting song as far as Madras songs go. It shows us the way this city used to be before Independence. There’s Cooum river rides, Mylapore streets decorated with huge kolams, trams and curiously traffic-snarl free Madras roads.
The late Na Muthukumar includes an earnest ‘How can you enslave such a city?’ towards the end, and its magnificent.
It’s a sentiment that holds good even now. The indefatigable spirit of Madras has sustained through decades under the British, corrupt rulers, the worst flood situations, riots and a 90s name change.
One thing we may be sure of, whatever the adversity maybe that the years ahead brings with it, Madras/Chennai will remain the constant, immovable force it always was and is. We will all soldier on, regardless.