The death of music director Johnson is untimely, but life is always like that...can't say when anyone's life can come to a screeching halt, abruptly.... let's take comfort in the thought that he has done his work and left the stage that we all are destined to leave sooner or later...
The first and the last time I met music director Johnson was years back, in Chennai. It was a recording studio in Vadapalani and he was there to do the background score for 'Arayannangalude Veedu', directed by Lohithadas. During the break, he and Lohithadas came and sat; my friend, a much elder person who used to write 'censor scripts' for films, introduced me to them. And then there we sat, discussing lots of things. Or to be precise, it should be said that they discussed the things and I was, for most of the time, just a listener. Those were my early days in journalism and I should confess that I sometimes, of course rarely, went nervous or a bit self-conscious when coming across certain film personalities (I remember slightly trembling with nervousness when I was talking with veteran director Hariharan during the re-recording of 'Prem Poojari'). But somehow I felt comfortable talking to (or rather being there and listening to) Johnson (hey, not to think I am showing disrespect to him by not calling him 'Johnson Master', a name that many who do not even spare time to listen to his compositions would use during the next couple of days with pretended respect; I love his songs, just as many of my friends do and I do speak of him with the respect that he deserves). He was, I'd say by borrowing the most popular phrase of today, 'cool'. He generated some kind of warmth that made me feel comfortable in his presence.
Johnson and Lohithadas spoke a lot, on many things pertaining to Malayalam Cinema. It was then, from Johnson himself, that I came to learn for the first time that he was the first music director from Malayalam to bag a National Award. That was for his work in T.V.Chandran's 'Ponthan Mada'. He said that even the veteran Devarajan Master, whose assistant he was in his early years, had won only a mention at the National Awards. He went on speaking till it was time for them to resume work.
That the man who composed so many lilting melodies in Malayalam is no more is a sad thing, but even sadder is the fact that people now tend to overlook and forget real talents like Johnson in a bid to be 'trendy' and 'modern'. The sad thing about Malayalam film music is that we now get to hear lots of songs that are rendered with an anglicized accent and don't touch you the way songs composed by Devarajan, Baburaj, Dakshinamoorthy, Johnson, Bombay Ravi, Raveendran (I know I may be forgetting names) etc do. This is the thought that saddens me on this day, the day when we have lost to death one of the most talented of contemporary composers in Malayalam Cinema.
I do know that there are good songs too that happen these days, but the overall trend, is it heartening? Not sure, but let's hope for the best....
Adieu Johnson Master... I, like many others of my friends (my friend Jayan, whom I call Jayanji, is an ardent fan of Johnson and plays and discusses his songs in office too), will remember you through your songs.....
The first and the last time I met music director Johnson was years back, in Chennai. It was a recording studio in Vadapalani and he was there to do the background score for 'Arayannangalude Veedu', directed by Lohithadas. During the break, he and Lohithadas came and sat; my friend, a much elder person who used to write 'censor scripts' for films, introduced me to them. And then there we sat, discussing lots of things. Or to be precise, it should be said that they discussed the things and I was, for most of the time, just a listener. Those were my early days in journalism and I should confess that I sometimes, of course rarely, went nervous or a bit self-conscious when coming across certain film personalities (I remember slightly trembling with nervousness when I was talking with veteran director Hariharan during the re-recording of 'Prem Poojari'). But somehow I felt comfortable talking to (or rather being there and listening to) Johnson (hey, not to think I am showing disrespect to him by not calling him 'Johnson Master', a name that many who do not even spare time to listen to his compositions would use during the next couple of days with pretended respect; I love his songs, just as many of my friends do and I do speak of him with the respect that he deserves). He was, I'd say by borrowing the most popular phrase of today, 'cool'. He generated some kind of warmth that made me feel comfortable in his presence.
Johnson and Lohithadas spoke a lot, on many things pertaining to Malayalam Cinema. It was then, from Johnson himself, that I came to learn for the first time that he was the first music director from Malayalam to bag a National Award. That was for his work in T.V.Chandran's 'Ponthan Mada'. He said that even the veteran Devarajan Master, whose assistant he was in his early years, had won only a mention at the National Awards. He went on speaking till it was time for them to resume work.
That the man who composed so many lilting melodies in Malayalam is no more is a sad thing, but even sadder is the fact that people now tend to overlook and forget real talents like Johnson in a bid to be 'trendy' and 'modern'. The sad thing about Malayalam film music is that we now get to hear lots of songs that are rendered with an anglicized accent and don't touch you the way songs composed by Devarajan, Baburaj, Dakshinamoorthy, Johnson, Bombay Ravi, Raveendran (I know I may be forgetting names) etc do. This is the thought that saddens me on this day, the day when we have lost to death one of the most talented of contemporary composers in Malayalam Cinema.
I do know that there are good songs too that happen these days, but the overall trend, is it heartening? Not sure, but let's hope for the best....
Adieu Johnson Master... I, like many others of my friends (my friend Jayan, whom I call Jayanji, is an ardent fan of Johnson and plays and discusses his songs in office too), will remember you through your songs.....
