Montage songs have always been part and parcel of Tamil cinema. Many old Tamil movies have had at least one song where characters don’t lip-sync or dance to the tunes, but act through pieces of shots. However, such songs have never dominated the movies than they do now. It has become quite a task to point out a film without a montage song. Be it a realistic cinema or a commercial film, montage numbers seem to gel with any genre.
There have been movies such as ‘Naan Mahan Alla’ and ‘Aadukalam’ with not one but two or three montage tracks. Reduced duration of movies could be a major reason to opt for more montage tracks, opines Pandiraj, who has directed movies such as ‘Pasanga’ and ‘Vamsam’. “During the 80s, movies enjoyed a longer duration of three-and- half hours. But now, we need to direct a movie within two hours,” he says.
So, these songs narrate a story within the main plot to move the story faster and also to give the same impact as a normal scene does, he adds. In fact, most of the songs in Pandiraj’s movies are only montage numbers with ‘Oru vetkam’ (‘Pasanga’) and ‘Karuvelangkaatukulla’ (‘Vamsam’) becoming huge hits. But Pandiraj believes that the success of these montage tracks is due to the interesting elements in it and the hard work that goes behind it.
“In ‘Vamsam’, we didn’t informed the actors that we were shooting for songs in order to bring out their best,” he says. But why doesn’t he go for a dance number? “Because they are not part of the story and pause the flow of the movie. But people like dance numbers if they’re presented well like in ‘Ko’ and ‘Engeyum Kadhal’,” he adds.
For lyricist Yugabharathi, it’s an attempt towards making cinema more realistic. “For instance, we think of many things in our relationship, though they don’t really happen. So, the montage song for a love story helps these characters live their thoughts,” he says.
Even the words used in such songs are routine terms used in daily parlance, not poetic ones, he adds. While Yugabharathi says he doesn’t face difficulty to write in any genre, he feels the freedom is limited when directors have already shot the montages. Asked whether such songs will lead to a future of movies without songs, he said, “If there are no songs, it can’t be a Tamil movie because it would lose its identity then.”
Do directors opt for montage numbers because they don’t want to spend too much on songs? “Absolutely not,” says Pandiraj. “We can finish shooting a dance number in three days. But we have to spent six to 10 days to shoot a montage song, which is equally costlier.”
But how the actors take it? “There are actors who are happy doing montage songs, while there are others who regret that they couldn’t showcase their dance skills. So it’s balanced,” he laughs.
But director Vasanth says that the situation where montage songs are being used now has changed. “I used a montage song in ‘Satham Podathey’, which narrated the episode where the female lead gets divorced. But If I had directed the movie 20 years ago, I would have had a montage song to capture the aftermath of divorce,” he says.
Many believe that montage songs are intended to reduce the part of female leads in the movies. “If the movie still revolves around love, they have equal opportunity,” he says. The director, who feels that dance numbers are on their way out of Tamil cinema, says “industry should put off songs altogether for some time.”
However, music composer Vijay Antony, who is known for his peppy numbers in ‘Kadhalil Vizhundhaen’ and ‘Vettaikaran’, says dance numbers are here to stay. “Audiences would really like to see actors like Vijay dancing and you would certainly require one such song,” he says.
But, personally, it doesn’t matter to him if it’s a montage song or dance number. “For montage songs, the directors would narrate the story and express how they would want it. Whereas, there is little more freedom in composing peppy numbers,” he adds.