The Underrated Series – M M Kreem(Keeravani)
iView Author: SRIDHAR MAYUR
Hyderbad/India
“The Underrated Series – M M Kreem(Keeravani)”
his is my quest to make people know the contributions of the underrated people from the Industry, its an small effort to make the
underrated..the ‘rated’. This is a series of articles which I would be posting on the ‘most underrated’ in Indian Cinema.
Today I am writing about the Music Director ‘M M Keeravani’ who is well known as M M Kreem in the Hindi Film Industry. M. M. Kreem alias Maragada Mani(Thats the MM in his name) alias M. M. Keera Vaani (also spelt M. M. Keeravani) is a Indian film composer. ‘Keeravani’ is also a name of Classical Raga. Normally refered as ‘Keeravani Ragam’ in south.
Keeravani by nature is a very down to earth and soft spoken man. He hails from Tamil nadu, but he got his big break in the Telugu Film Industry. Before he got his break he worked as an assistant to music directors Rajamani and Chakravarthy. He also conducted an orchestra on a freelance basis. His association with lyricist Veturi took him places. He has been influenced by many — K V Mahadevan, M S Viswanathan, S D Burman, R D Burman, Bhimsen Joshi, Kishori Amonkar to name a few. His first hit was ‘Seetharamayya gari Manavaralu(English: Seetharammaya’s Grand Daughter)’ starring South Film Star ‘ANR’ in a elderly role. Most of his compositions are in Telugu. He won the National Award – Golden Lotus Award for Best Music Director in 1998 for the Telugu Film ‘Annamaya’. In Hindi, Mahesh Bhatt gave him a break. I will refer to him as Keeravani as all do mostly.
Lets look into some* of his Hindi Film Compositions. Which most of you never knew.
1. Criminal (1995)
Everyone knows the “tum mile” song…..but, you need to listen to the wonderful anthra…beautifully woven between violin
interludes…listen to this part….just amazing…great!!
‘chandaa tuje dekhane ko nikalaa karataa hai
aaeenaa bhee didaar ko tarasaa karataa hai
itanee haseen koee nahee
husn done jahaan kaa, yek tuz mein simat ke aayaa’ – Sung by apna Kumar ‘a lil nasal’ Sanu
2. Zakhm(1998) – Another underrated movie, great peformance by Ajay Devgan. Checkout the great compositions.
a. “jaane kitane dinon ke baad, galee mein aaj chaand nikalaa
tum aaye to aayaa muze yaad, galee mein aaj chaand nikalaa” – sung by Alka Yagnik. Its a real gem of a song!
b. “hum yahaa, tum yahaa, dil jawaan
wo samaa lekin kahaa, shuru shuru ke pyaar kaa”
fir se chalo, churaye dil yaar kaa” – sung by Keeravani himself. Another great composition.
3. Sur (2002)
‘Aa Bhi Ja Aa Bhi Ja
Ai subah aa bhi Ja
Raat ko kar fida
Aa bh jaa..’ – Sung by Lucky Ali. Its a fav of many.
4. Jism (2003) – I just have three words for this composition. Awesome!Awesome!Awesome!
Who can forget…’Awaarapaan Banjarapaan…’
a. ‘Awaarapaan Banjarapaan
Ek Hala Hai Sine Mein
Har Dam Har Pal Bechaini Hai
Kaun Bhala Hai Seene Mein….’ – Sung wonderfully by KK
b. ‘Chalo Tumko Lekar Chale Hum Un Fizao Mein
Jahan Meetha Nasha Hai Taaron Ke Chaaon Mein’ – Shreya Ghosal, kya gaati hai yaaaar. WAH!
c. ‘Jaadu Hai Nasha Hai Madhoshiyan Hai
Tujhko Bhulake Aab Jaao Kahan
Dekhti Hai Jis Tarah Se Teri Nazrein Mujhe
Main Khud Ko Chupaao Kahan..’ – Shreya Ghosal, WOW!
and…the next one is anytime and all time fav of mine…
d. ‘Shikayat Hai Shikayat Hai Shikayat Hai
Mujhko Dil Se Yehi Shikayat Hai Shikayat Hai
Mujhko Dil Se Yehi Shikayat Hai Shikayat Hai
Jo Usko Mil Nahi Sakta
Jo Usko Mil Nahi Sakta Kya Uski Chaahat Hai
Mujhko Dil Se Yehi Shikayat Hai Shikayat Hai..’
and the anthra…
‘Tukdo Tukdo Mein Mujhse
Roz Milne Wale Sun
Jab Mukammal Nahin Milna
To Koi Khwaab Na Bun
Tanha Tanha Hoon Mein
Mujhe Teri Zaroorat Hai
Mujhko Dil Se Yehi’….wow wow wow!! great composition!!
listen to it…just amazing!!
5. Paheli(2005) – Yes, SRK’s Paheli. Film bombed, but the music is still so soothing when you listen to the songs.
Particularly the song ‘Dheere jalna Dheere jalna..’
‘Dheere Dheere Dheere Dheere Dheere Jalna
Zindagi Ki Lau Pe Jalna
Kaanch Ka Sapna, Gal Hi Na Jaye
Soch Samajh Ke , Aanch Rakhna’
This song is sung by Sonu Nigam…you got to listen to the anthra…simply suberb! Listen…
‘Tere Roop Ki Halki Dhoop Main
Do Hi Pal Jeene Hain
Teri Aankh Main Dekh Chuka Hu
Woh Sapne Hain, Seene Hain
Aankhon Main, Sapno Ki
Khirche Hain, Chubti Hain’
Another gem of composition in “Is Raat Ki Subah Nahi (1996)” -
‘Mere tere naam naye hai
Ek dard purana hai
Ek dard purana hai’ – Sung by Keeravani himself.
He has also composed some wonderful songs in ‘Kasak’, ‘My Brother Nikhil’ and ‘Rog’.
Tags: jism, keeravani, kreem, Music, paheli, underrated
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
@ Sridhar
Keeravani a.k.a Maragadha Mani a.k.a M.M.Kreem is a brilliant composer.I liked all the songs listed by you & one more- ” chup tum raho, chup hum rahen” from Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin.Also like lot his work in telugu & tamil.
This is a great series.Hope to read more on the same from you.
@Sethu..Thanks!
Yep, had to mention the song referred by you. Thats a lovely song too.
@ ALL – Please play the ‘Dheere Dheere Jalna’ song in article while you read the post. It would be a great experience. An experience only possible in places like PFC.
@ SM: Great post. Its time we filmis give kredit where it s due. Am also a fan of Kreem’s work. Bravo! It surprises me that he doesn’t do / get much stuff. Its the quality vs. quantity i think!Whatever it is, I actually thought Rehman had komposed Jism, till reality struck one day!
Great stuff! Thanks Sridhar. Got a lot of info!! Keep it going dude…
Subhasankalpam is one of the best works of Keeravani
@Sridhar Mayur,
MMK has given alluring songs and music in the past. He has got good voice.
He has given quality music in hindi films.
If you remember, when PV Narsimha Roa was the PM then during Loksabha election, Mahesh Bhatt had directed two short films to promote Mr Rao as a leader and MMK had composed and had sung the songs.
They were also good.
Really gr8 series shridhar…
i am really gr8 fan of M.M.Kreem. Apart from the above songs, i like the song from “Rog” –
‘Maine dil se kaha’
‘doond lana khushi’
‘nasamaj laya gham to yeh gham hi sahi’
i think he has done few music albums too…
Great list of songs Sridhar
Tumko LE chal, was magical, yaar Shreya Ghoshal rocks.
And in Sur, actually my fav was Dil Mein Jaaga Aisi Dhadkan. Sunidhi Chauhan at her best.
Also the songs in Saaya.
@Magik and Rahul – Thanks guys!!
@Krishna – Yes, Subhasankalpam was gr8. My basic idea of the post is regarding his Hindi Films and the music associated to it. I can very well compile all his greatest Hits in Telugu, but he is not as underrated in South as he is in North. I like every track of ‘Kshana Kshanam’ and ‘Apathbandavudu’. Dont you?
@Rk – Dint know about the incident you are referring to. Can you enlighten us with more information like these(If you really think its required and would benifit the ‘underrated’ and his fans). Thanks.
@Prashant – Thanks…Oh yes! The songs that you mentioned in ‘Rog’ are excellent!
@Ratnakar – This is my third post. And you liked them all(I guess). Oops…you caught me songs in ‘Sayaa’ were good..yep!
I really loved Kreem’s work in all the movies in your article, plus, i really loved his two songs in rog..maine dil se kaha and khoobsurat hai wo itna..he made sanu sound so lovable in Tu hi re..I jsut went wow…and I, for one just simply can’t get enough of Awarapan…the movie released when i was in 10th std…and i was drunk over that song for two months..KK’s voive is haunting..although Kreem himself too sang another version of the song..but IMO kk’s version was far, far better..!!
@Sridhar Mayur,
I dont know if it will help underrated and his fans or not since you wrote a post on MMK so after reading it I could recall those two short films.
Mahesh Bhatt was hired by PVRao’s campaigners to direct political propaganda films to prove that Rao was the best leader alive at that time and in one film Rao was seen walking on sea beach and recalling his chiuldhood days and making a sympathy scene for him by sharing his poverty days when nothing was to eat and he was reading under lamp posts etc.
In second film, communal riots were shown and voters were appealed not to vote for communal parties.
Films were full of political propaganda, but this was first time when a working PM had made such films and second it had beautiful music by MMK.
MMK’s music and his sensitive voice remained in mind hence I mentioned.
@RK – I thought you digressed a bit. But, I am totally flaterred with the info. WOW!! Yes, it had great music and thats the point Im looking out for! Thanks!
Sridhar,
Keeravani doesn’t hail from Tamilnadu. I read somewhere that his dad Sivasakti datta is a Telugu poet – anyway, he moved to Chennai from Andhra during his college days.
http://www.telugucinema.com/c/publish/stars/interview_keeravani_2006.php
@Sridhar Mayur (13),
Digressed in which? 6th or 12th? I had said in 6th itself that they were good.
Your 9th and 13th are contradictory.
in 9th it seems you have not seen the films.
in 12th you mention that it had great music.
Have you only heard the music?
amazing music director..I love his Jism tracks..can u please tell me who d lyricist for the album is??
i think this reiterates what one post on PFC was sayin that the music in Mahesh Bhatt films is good no matter how crap the movie is..
Yeah, under-rated to the core but a brilliant music director! I like that he woks less and chooses his directors who make films that have a musical theme or bent in their story.
Thanks for reminding me about Seetharamayya gari manavaralu… the images are in my mind, the name has been alluding me for a couple of days now ;-)
Rk,
I was too young to understand it was a propaganda but I loved those songs by Kreem for PVNR. Thanks for the trip DM Lane. Don’t remember the words at the top of my head, though :-(
.
Paheli has got one of the best music. One of my favorite song is “Laaga re Jal laaga” from that movie. Of course, Kal Beliya dance in the video helped too.
.
Is Raat Ki..was fantastic too.
.
Its sad he does not do more films.
@Rasik: The lyricists are Sayeed Quadri and Neelesh Misra
I love MM Kreem’s Is raat ki subah nahin, Zakhm and Sur.
@Sridhar: Nice post! It’s great that there are more people out there who acknowledge M. M. Kreem for his outstanding compositions. He’s definitely one of my favorite MDs. I really enjoyed Jaanaa Hai Jaanaa Hai from Kasak; Jaane Kyaa Dhoondtaa Hai Yeh Meraa Dil, Khoyaa Hai Tune Jo Eh Dil, Kabhi Shaam Dhale, Tu Dil Ki Khushi from Sur, Hum Mile from Criminal, Hum Yahaan and Gali Mei Aaj Chaand from Zakhm, all of the songs from Jism (especially Awaarapan Banjaaraapan), O Saathiyaa from Saayaa…and Dheere Janlaa from Pahlei is absolutely divine!
Didn’t M.M.Kreem compose ‘Dhoka’ too?
Loved that ‘roya re’ track.
The title track was excellent too.
I’m glad someone’s doing an underrated post.
There are plenty of underrated actors, musicians etc in our industry!
‘Awarapan Banjarapan’ is fantastic, but it leaves me feeling very depressed!
Yes, ‘Dheere jalna’ was outstanding!
In a time of tacky ‘fast food’ songs which have been composed on a keyboard, it was refreshing to hear real indian instruments.
Sonu and Shreya were reliable asusual.
But the most interesting thing was that u never really see where the song is going.
There are alot of twists and turns in the song which make it a treat to listen to.
An unpredictable gem!
@sri: Hum Yahan, Tum Yahan was sung by Kumar Sanu and not by MMK.
in Zakhm, he has sung –
“Maa ne kaha, mujhse sada, tu phool mere, mera chaand hai…
Naa chaand na phool hu…raste ki main dhool hu…
Kitni badi hai yeh dunia, main kitna akela..
Bilkul akela, main tute khilono se khela…
Yeh kaisa jeevan mila mujhko khairat me….
Some other classic are:-
1. Saaya –
Kabhi Khushboo, Kabhi Jhonkaa, Kabhi Havaa Saa Lage
Judaa Hokar Bhi Tu Mujhse Judaa-Judaa Saa Lage
2. Dhoka –
Anjaana dil kya jaane, begaana dil kya jaane
darr jaata hai kyun paake khushiyaan
yeh jo main bekaraar hoon, har lamha ishq toh nahi
yeh jo mujhe bekhudi si hai, tu jaise mujhmein hai kahin.
3.
Is raat ki subah nahin-
Chup tum raho, chup hum rahe…khamoshi ko, khamoshi se baat karne do…
MMK is my favourite composer and his voice has something different in it. I don know if you agree to me on this..but he is any day better thn AR Rehman.
A Rare gem…
~ Ashu Bhai MAPRM Wale…
@Giri and @Ashu bhai – Thanks for the info and corrections.
@Amanda – Thank you & seems like you are a ardent fan of Keeravani like most of’em. Great!
@Tanul – Guess what if KK would have sung songs in Zakhm? Zimbly Superb!!
@Rk – Lets forget yaar. Friends? Chalo..cmmon..yess…ok..
@ALL – Thanks once again.
“JAI HIND”
@Sridhar, thanks for talking about MMKreem.
There are quite a few such music directors or musicians in the industry, who do not shout on the rooftop about who they are. Because their work talks much louder.
A little word about music of Jism – not only the music is awesome, the songs by Shreya Ghoshal are beyond description.
I was at a live concert where she sang Jaadu Hai Nasha Hai, it was divine, to say the least. And everytime I listen to ‘Chalo, tumko lekar’, I am not sure something happens – it takes me to a trance state. Its really hard to describe …
The current Bollywood music Ds hardly try to create a classic – because the agenda as put forth by producers and distributors is to create a radio friendly single that will make it to charts and promote the movie. They don’t care if people get tired of the song after few weeks or movie releases.
But these few songs of Jism goes straight to the classics, and people will be listening to them 10, 20 30 yrs from now.
Terrific job, Mr Kreem!
i am a proud owner of all the above mentioned cds and a lot more from him . really apreciate someone writing about him .
do check out other less known classics such as
is raat ki subah nahin , pelli sandadi , bombai priyudu , paradesi , okariki okaru , maina [never released and impossible to find the cd ], sangamam , sye , anukokunda oka roju ,devaraagam , maatrudevobhava , gandeevam , w/o v. varaprasad , joker , sundara kaanda[k ragavendra rao's ] , aapathbandhavudu , allari priyudu , muddula priyudu , mugguru monagallu , allari mogudu , kshana kshanam , gharaana mogudu .
are talk about paheli brought me here…..
Kreem was lovely in Paheli. I love all the songs a lot .
Besides it was an Amol Palekar film and I thought SRK and Rani were at their romantic best….
Rani looked lovely in the traditional sense and the colours, hues and everything about the movie was wonderful…
Digressing a little bit..
A lot of Kreem songs (maybe all I dont know) are soft melodies literally tugging at your heart strings…
Dheere jalna, chup tum raho, chalo tum ko lekar chale….
Its possible he prefers a select few ragas which have these qualities and incorporates them into his songs…
like shiv – hari (the duo of shiv kumar sharma and hariprasad chaurasiya) always preferred raaga pahadi for their songs…
Those armed with musical knowledge ..please do some research on this and let us know.