ಕ್ಷಣಪ್ರಭಾ - Kshanaprabhaa

Sri Padmanabha Dasa Vanchipala Sri Rama Varma , better known as Swathi Thirunal Kulasekhara Perumal Maharaja , and even more popular as just Swathi Thirunal , was not only a well respected and widely known King of the State of Travancore , but continues to be an eternal Prince of Indian classical music. A man with mastery over multiple languages, he patronized both Carnatic and Hindustani forms of Indian classical music, composed many a kritis , sang them himself, and rewarded singers and dancers of repute from across the country during his reign. It is the versatile king's bicentennial birth anniversary this year and what better occasion to finally get hold of his biopic, "Swathi Thirunal", a 1987 Malayalam movie that I was hunting for over five years. With Kannada maestro Anant Nag playing the lead role of Swathi Thirunal, there was much to expect from the movie, and I had only seen glimpses of it online. Excellent music with legends Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna ...

I was introduced to a mesmerizing  piece of music last year when my colleague Aniruddha's mobile phone rang when we were on call discussing some work in the most serious mindset possible. I was dumbstruck by the calmness that little piece of music could bring to my mind while in the middle of a critical design discussion, even as Aniruddha went on to recieve the call thus cutting short my opportunity to listen to that heavenly sound. On asking him about the details later, I got to know that it was the beginning part of a song from a Marathi movie named " Balgandharva ", released in 2011 - portraying the life and times of a famous Marathi singer and actor. I then went on to listen to that song myself, and ever since, it has been delivering a daily morning dose of cheering up, as I feel that it brings in a great deal of calming influence - " Panchtund Nararundamaladhara ", a Naandi song of the play " Shakuntal " as portrayed in the movie Balgandharva, ...