Idhu Oru Nila Kaalam: Bharathiraja’s Stylish Side in Tik Tik Tik

When we think of Bharathiraja, what comes to mind?

The smell of the soil. Windswept villages. Open fields. Wet earth. First love. Beautiful women. Deep emotional pain.

For most of us, Bharathiraja is inseparable from rural Tamil cinema. He changed the way Tamil films looked and felt by taking the camera out of studio sets and into the living, breathing landscape of the village.

But to confine a filmmaker of Bharathiraja’s range to just this one image would be unfair.

There was another world he created too — a world of glamour, suspense, danger, and style. If Sigappu Rojakkal was an early step into urban darkness, Tik Tik Tik was perhaps the peak of his stylish thriller universe.

And when Bharathiraja entered such a genre, what did his close friend and collaborator Ilaiyaraaja do?

He created a soundtrack that matched that new visual world — a stylish fusion of Western sound, classical touches, glamour, and mystery.

One of the best examples of that is the song:

“Idhu Oru Nila Kaalam.”

This song is not just a heroine introduction number. It is not just a glamour song. It is a musical statement that shows us a different side of Bharathiraja, Ilaiyaraaja, and S. Janaki.

https://youtu.be/oodS5RZDZfc

Tik Tik Tik: Bharathiraja Outside the Village

Released in 1981, Tik Tik Tik starred Kamal Haasan, Madhavi, Radha, Swapna, and Thengai Srinivasan. The film was set in the fashion world — a space that Tamil cinema had not explored much until then.

At the centre of this world was a smuggling ring, a series of murders, and Kamal Haasan as a fashion photographer caught in the middle of it all. For audiences of that time, this was an unusual and exciting setting.

The film had a James Bond-like flavour — stylish costumes, striking lighting, a modern screenplay, and a presentation that felt very different from the Tamil films of that era.

When we think of stylish Tamil cinema, we often think of Mani Ratnam or Balu Mahendra. But Tik Tik Tik reminds us that Bharathiraja too had a sharp visual instinct for urban style and suspense.

In a way, this was Bharathiraja asking without asking:

“Who are you to define me?”

The film broke convention in another interesting way. Even though it had a major star like Kamal Haasan, Bharathiraja did not give the hero a typical introduction song. Instead, he placed the spotlight on the three heroines. That song was “Idhu Oru Nila Kaalam.”

Sung by S. Janaki, with lyrics by Vairamuthu and music by Ilaiyaraaja, the song celebrates youth, beauty, glamour, and feminine presence — sensuous, but never vulgar. It is filled with taste, polish, and atmosphere.

A Western World Before the Song Even Begins

The song begins with a striking choir-style harmony. Male and female chorus voices sing different melodic lines, creating a layered effect.

Most listeners may first notice the higher-pitched female melody, but if we listen carefully, the male voices carry a counter-melody underneath. This gives the opening its weight and sophistication.

Even before the main song begins, Ilaiyaraaja has already created a stylish and slightly mysterious world in our ears.

And then comes the bass.

A stylish Western sound without bass? Impossible.

The bass enters with such presence that it makes us sit up. It gives the song a pulse. It makes our toes tap. Along with the saxophone and drums, it creates a dazzling introduction before Janaki begins to sing.

S. Janaki: Voice as Glamour

When S. Janaki starts singing, her voice carries glamour, clarity, confidence, and attitude.

Lines like:

“Aadai kooda baaramaagum…”

are not merely sung. They are performed.

The intoxication and sensuality in Vairamuthu’s lyrics are brought alive through Janaki’s voice. There is style in her phrasing, mischief in her tone, and elegance in her delivery.

This is not the Janaki we associate only with soft melodies or emotional songs. Here, she becomes the sound of glamour itself.

Bharathiraja Shows Us a New Visual World in Idhu Oru Nila Kaalam

Visually, the song introduces us to a world that would have felt very new to Tamil audiences of that time.

A modern young woman working out. A nightclub singer dancing with magnetic eyes. A fashion model smiling under the flash of cameras. Beauty parlours, makeup, modern styling, and a whole new urban feminine world.

Today, beauty parlours are everywhere. Facials, waxing, bleaching, manicures — these are familiar not just to women, but to men too. But when this film released, the idea of a beauty parlour was not commonly known to many people. Beauty and makeup were things most people associated mainly with cinema professionals.

For viewers who associated Bharathiraja with villages, fields, and earthy realism, this must have been almost shocking.

That is what Bharathiraja did in this film. He introduced a new world.

Flute, Guitar, and the Beauty of Contrast

In the first interlude, electric guitar and drums create a strong, stylish backdrop. But over this, Ilaiyaraaja brings in a single flute that seems to delicately describe the beauty of the women on screen.

That contrast is classic Raja.

A Western groove in the background. A lyrical Indian flute in the foreground.

The song may belong to a glamour thriller, but Raja never gives us a flat Western imitation. He keeps blending textures — modern and classical, urban and Indian, stylish and emotional.

The Big Surprise: Bharatanatyam Jathi in a Glamour Song

Then comes one of the song’s biggest surprises.

Since Madhavi plays a Bharatanatyam dancer in the film, Ilaiyaraaja brings in a classical element. But he does not present it in a conventional way. He places it right inside this stylish, modern, glamour-filled world.

The jathi portion is sung by T. V. Gopalakrishnan, popularly known as TVG.

TVG is a towering Carnatic musician — a vocalist, mridangist, composer, and a major influence in Ilaiyaraaja’s musical journey. In this song, he delivers a fast jathi passage with astonishing ease.

This kind of rhythmic vocalisation is called konnakol — the art of reciting percussion syllables rhythmically.

Anyone who has observed a mridangam class will know how important jathi recitation is. Often, students spend a large part of the class reciting rhythmic patterns before even touching the instrument.

To say a pattern like “naadhir dhir, naadhir dhir” is already difficult for an untrained tongue. To fit it into a tune, sing it at speed, and make it sound stylish inside a film song — that is something else.

This is Raja’s magic.

He begins with a fashion-world song and suddenly brings Bharatanatyam jathi into nightclub lighting.

Who else would think of that?

Counter-Melodies and Whispered Glamour

In the charanam portions, Janaki often sings in a soft, almost whispered tone. Behind her, the female chorus continues with counter-melodies, adding texture without disturbing the mood.

At the end of the charanam, the bass and drums lift the energy again. The song never becomes static. It keeps moving between seduction, elegance, rhythm, and surprise.

The second interlude raises the sensual quotient even further. There is a humming portion that feels playful, naughty, and flirtatious. Whether it is TVG or Janaki behind that particular humming may be open to discussion, but the effect is unmistakable.

It adds to the song’s teasing, stylish quality.

When Beauty Stops the World

The second charanam contains one of Vairamuthu’s most striking images in the song:

“Paruva pookkal puruvam asaithaal, bhoomi sutraadhu.”

If youthful flowers move their eyebrows, the earth itself will stop rotating.

That is a line built on exaggeration, but what a cinematic exaggeration it is.

It recalls the grandeur of older Tamil cinema moments like “Paattum Naane” from Thiruvilaiyadal, where the world seems to stop when the divine music stops, and begins moving again when the song resumes.

In “Idhu Oru Nila Kaalam,” after the line about the earth stopping, there is a brief moment of stillness. Then the drums return, and the song starts moving again.

It is a small but brilliant “mic drop” moment.

The lyric says that the movement of a beautiful woman’s eyebrow can stop the earth. The music itself pauses for a second, as if to prove the point.

More Than a Glamour Song

So what is the real power of “Idhu Oru Nila Kaalam”?

It is not merely a glamour song.

It is not merely a heroine introduction song.

It is not merely a Western-style Ilaiyaraaja song.

It is a musical statement that shows Bharathiraja’s range.

For this new visual world that Bharathiraja created — away from villages and into fashion, mystery, and glamour — Ilaiyaraaja built a sound world of his own.

He gave it bass.He gave it saxophone.He gave it Western harmony.He gave it electric guitar.He fitted classical jathi into the same glamour world.And through S. Janaki’s voice, he blended style, sensuality, confidence, and mischief.

That is the beauty of this song.

Bharathiraja was not just a rural filmmaker.Ilaiyaraaja was not just a folk composer.S. Janaki was not just a melody singer.

When the three came together, they broke our stereotypes.

That is the world of Tik Tik Tik.

A Time of Moonlight, A Time of Memory

Bharathiraja gave us more than films. He changed the way we looked at cinema.

He showed us the village.He showed us the city.He showed us soil.He showed us sparkle.

To remember him only through one kind of cinema would be to reduce him. “Idhu Oru Nila Kaalam” reminds us that he was also a filmmaker of style, surprise, and experimentation.

The title says:

“This is a season of moonlight.”

But for us, today, it is also a season of memory.

A time to remember Bharathiraja.A time to revisit Ilaiyaraaja’s astonishing imagination.A time to hear S. Janaki’s voice carry the glamour of an era.

And a time to remind ourselves that great artists cannot be placed inside small boxes.