MARGProperTies Blog

If you haven’t listened to it yet, do listen to the theme song of Common Wealth Games, composed by none other than A R Rahman

Like it? Do share your thoughts with us…

A.R. Rahman has definitely touched new heights in the musical composition of the song “Omanap Penne” in the Tamil film Vinnaiththaandi Varuvaya. This song sets new trends in several aspects of film music — the format, style, rendering, digital manipulation and so on. No experimentation will be worth the effort if the song fails to impress the mass listeners and from this benchmark too, the song has been a super hit, considering the way music channels are telecasting the song time and again, despite the passage of a few months after the film release.

Watch the video below

This song appears to have every potential to win a national award for film music. Benny Dayal who has sung this song, has put his voice and soul to it.

Totally unlike the traditional song format where there will be a Pallavi, Anupallavi and charanam with musical filling in between these segments, Omanap Penne has been tuned by A R Rehman in a totally new, what we can perhaps call, a linear format. The song begins and virtually goes on and on continuously in a style never heard before!
Despite the novelty of style, what is extremely attractive in the song is the fact that it is based on a highly classical Carnatic Raga Bilahari.

Bilahari, surprisingly is one Raga that does not boast of too many popular compositions even in Carnatic Music. In Carnatic Kutcheris, one is likely to come across only a few “popular” songs (like Paridhanamichide (Patnam Subramanyar), “Dorakuna Ituvanti Seva (Thyagaraja) or Eka dandham bhajegam (Dikshidar).

Bilahari is one Raga which is not easily amenable for light music also. Bilahari has indeed been handled in film music in the past by several stalwarts including Ilayaraja.

In the early sixties the film Konjum Salangai, which was very famous for its super duper hit song “Singara Velane Deva” had one excellent song “Orumaiyudan Ninathu thiru malaradi…” sung soulfully by Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi, soaked in classical Bilahari. (It too had a Nadaswaram bit played by the famous Karukurichchi Arunachalam. There is something about it and the Omanap penne song that requires a deeper study in a separate blog!).

A very popular Hindi film Song of the seventies “Kora kagazuka ye dil mera… was another great hit which has its soul in the Raga Bilahari.
Several years later, in the film Bala Nagamma, Ilayaraja tuned a hit song in chaste Bilahari – “Koondhalile Megam Vandhu…” wonderfully sung by Jesudas. There are a couple of more songs too tuned by Ilayaraja in the raga over the years.

Now A.R.Rehman has done it in the Omanap penne. The beauty of the Raga has been skillfully portrayed in a light way, with a judicious digital manipulation that has the potential to captivate the listener.
The crown jewel of Omana penne is the culmination of the song with a Nadaswaram Solo rendered aesthetically by Mr Natarajan. The soul stirring Bilahari, with all its characteristic nuances intact has been seamlessly weaved into the song. The particularly long bit of Nadaswaram smoothly embellish the mood of the song and when it fades gradually as the music ends, a lingering taste remain in your ears and that remnant taste wants you to listen to the song once again from the beginning.

Well done Rehman! You deserve a National Award for this unique composition

MARG Chennai marathon held on 29 August 2010 was huge hit with around 70000 people participating. Reclaim our beaches (an NGO) was one among them.

“Reclaim our beaches” are a group of people who believe that non-human species too have a fundamental and inviolable right to the planet and its resources. They believe that the current manner in which the earth’s resources are shared among people and among species is highly inequitable.

We also believe in their statement that “The state of our beach is a reflection of our apathy, and our failure to practice democracy. We believe that the beach belongs to lovers, hawkers, walkers, Frisbee players, the elderly, the turtle and the fisher folk. But we are also clear that livelihood rights of the poor ought to receive higher priority.”

MARG thanks members of Reclaim our beaches for their active participation and wish them success in their endeavors

MARG Chennai marathon held on 29 August 2010 was grand success with a whooping 70000 participants. Members from free Hugs participated too. They celebrated a HUGATHON on the DAY of MARATHON!

MARG thanks members of Free Hugs for their active participation and wish them success in their endeavors.

Below is a video of Free hugs Chennai campaign in action

You can join free hugs INdia facebook group here and a pic from their recent campaign
(source)

Vision

Big dreams rooted in practicality are what help us translate our dreams into reality. We are conscious of the fact that every project we deliver has an obvious impact on the economy, infrastructure and society. We believe ours is a never ending journey of innovation and learning and the body of knowledge from each project we work on is invaluable in our evolution. And as we create landmarks, we never lose focus on building values.

Mission

Truthfully assist governments, corporate, societies and individuals in building structures and spaces that will inspire them to give their best. Harnessing the power of the human spirit concurrently with superior technology to optimize value for our clients seeking to be driven by our conscience in every aspect of our business.

At MARG we believe in making commitments based on our conviction, and seeing them through ‘no matter what’. The primary goal of MARG is to increase stakeholder value. And to us the most important stakeholders are shareholders who own our business, employees who work with us and clients or customers who purchase our products and services

Creating Landmarks, Building Values

In recognition of MARG’s nation building service, MARG Limited has been conferred with esteemed awards and honor of the following

South East CEO Conclave Award 2010 for Corporate Social Responsibility awarded to MARG Limited CMD Mr. G R K Reddy.