2012 is the best year ever! I present here a set of three new rare dances featuring Kumari Kamala between the ages of 13 and 16. Two of them are ones I have been seeking for a while! (And a big sidenote - I have confirmation that Kamala's dances in Chenda are on their way so expect a post on that in the next couple of weeks!)
Ore Iravu (aka Or Iravu, Tamil, 1951) - All hail the great Kamala dance finder/uploader cram! Once again, cram has ran into/unearthed another rare dance of hers! This dance was one I mentioned I was hunting for on my "Even More Rare Dances of Kamala" post, and now it has been found! Yay! Many thanks to cram! According to Randor Guy's article about Ore Iravu, this song is a "Shiv-Shakthi" dance drama and since he notes Padmini and Lalitha were also dancers in it I'm guessing there's a longer version of the dance drama in the film. Kamala's part is a nice, abhinaya-focused "twin" dance where she plays two different sets of characters, and doesn't she look just adorable with those curls in her hair! She's in that stage right in between her childhood look and her later, more "mature" appearance.
Vedhala Ulagam (Tamil, 1948) - Thoondil Puzhuvinaipol - I would like to thank the YouTuber apmkiruba [Update: Channel no longer available] for uploading this song after I inquired if it was in his/her collection (s/he had already uploaded Kamala's other dance "Theeratha Vilaiyattu Pillai" in the film). All it took was asking the question and apmkiruba took the time to upload the song and give it helpful tags! So, again, a big thank you to apmkiruba for letting the world see another piece of Kamala dance history. According to the video tags, the song is apparently an inspiring one about Bharati. The focus is given exclusively to Kamala's beautiful, expressive interpretation of the lyrics which I find particularly mesmerizing. The apparent social/philosophical content of the lyrics makes her emoting refreshing to watch because she appears to enact some every-day experiences with gestures that it seems are not so common in her more devotional/religious-based songs. Update March 2013: Better-quality version embedded!
Manthiri Kumari (Tamil, 1950) - Isai Tamile Inidhaana - Richard at the Dances on the Footpath blog had brought this song to my attention a while back, but it looks like neither of us ever posted about it on our blogs so I figured this would be a great time! Is it just me, or does Kamala seem a bit more "stiff" here in the pure dance parts than usual? Her mouthing of the lyrics strikes me as fairly unusual given that another character is on screen "singing." But not so unusual in these kind of songs/films is the bad faux-veena playing throughout! :)
:) Great work, Minai! And thanks for the pat!
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