This raunchy rain song is a hit

The rainy ambience and the sizzling moves of Sridevi added a life to the song and was a perfect eye candy for the viewers

Be it any language, in Indian cinema, this has been the most favoured technique to out beat the villain. It goes like this, following a linear flow- the hero and the heroine reach the bad man’s den and break into a seductive number, with the oomph of the lady unfailingly hitting the bull’s eye.

While the rogue’s henchmen get distracted, the macho hero gets into the act and accomplishes his mission- be it anything. All this, when the evil characters seen on the screen do not even get a clue of what is happening behind their back, busy as they would be ,ogling the femme fatale.

“Swati Chinuku”, the song from Ilaiyarajaa in the 1988 hit ‘Aakhari Poratam’ is not an exceptional song. Still, it brings to life two top stars of Telugu cinema- one, Akkineni Nagarjuna, then an up and coming hero with about 10 films to his credit. The other, Sridevi, who had paired with his legendary father Nageswara Rao too and a big name at the all-India level for her bewitching screen presence.

With this film, Sridevi had made a return of sorts to the southern film world to pair with all the popular heroes of that period for the next few years. Suhasini, the then top heroine of Telugu cinema too is a notable presence in the film. Firstly, the mismatch between the professionalism of Sridevi and the awkward dance movements of the hero is what one is face to face with in this song.

For the music maestro Ilaiyarajaa, it is bread and butter as he sets the pace effortlessly with his superb orchestration. The rainy ambience and the sizzling moves of Sridevi add to the speed as the camera zooms in and out, a perfect eye candy for the viewer.In what was a trademark style that Rajaa had put into use during that period, after the drums usher in the roll-in effect, the dual interplay of the flute, playfully flirting with the main rhythm engages the listener almost immediately.

The 1987 superhit rain song of ‘Mr. India’ in Hindi where Alisha Chinai added up the steamy undertone to the furious wriggling of Sridevi had established her onscreen scorching impact rather well. If it was a blue saree there with Anil Kapoor nuzzling up to her, here it is the’ go for green’ costume.

As its impact, the dumbo gangsters slowly get sucked into the wily charms of the heroine as the song calibrates its pace and the hero slithers up into the building to free the captives. The rain too decides to take a break as the petrified school boys make their way out as the final lap of the song plays out. Vintage formula stuff, fast-paced and tingling, one must admit.

This film, capitalising on the popularity of the lead pair got dubbed into Hindi too, two years after its release and enjoyed a decent run. Popular Hindi film villain Amrish Puri too was an added attraction to extend its commercial potential, cleverly packaged in by the director K Raghavendra Rao, who was by then a known name in Indian cinema for his melodramatic tearjerkers.


By:K Naresh Kumar