"Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu" () is a

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory o ...

song from the 1991 Indian film ''

Thalapathi ''Thalapathi'' () is a 1991 Indian Tamil-language gangster drama film written and directed by Mani Ratnam, and produced by G. Venkateswaran. The film stars Rajinikanth and Mammootty with Arvind Swamy in his feature-film debut, Jaishankar, Amr ...

''. The lyrics were written by Vaali and music composed by

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one o ...

, with

S. P. Balasubrahmanyam Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as SPB or SP Balu or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is wi ...

and

Swarnalatha Swarnalatha (29 April 1973 – 12 September 2010) was an Indian playback singer. She is considered to be as Humming Queen Of India and Nightingale Of Tamil Cinema. In a career spanning almost 22 years (from 1987 until her death), she recorded ...

providing the vocals. It was named the fourth most popular song in a poll conducted by the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the British Government through the Foreign Secretary's office. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception a ...

worldwide in 2002.

Recording

The song sung by

and

was featured in the 1991 film ''Thalapathi'', which was known to be the last collaboration of

Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six ...

and

, the former's regular composer until then. It was recorded in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

and was among the first to be recorded for the film. On the insistence of Mani Ratnam, Vaali had "blended" the original lines with ''

Tevaram The ''Thevaram'' ( ta, தேவாரம், ), also spelled ''Tevaram'', denotes the first seven volumes of the twelve-volume collection ''Tirumurai'', a Śaiva narrative of epic and puranic heroes, as well as a hagiographic account of early ...

'', a

Śaiva Shaivism (; sa, शैवसम्प्रदायः, Śaivasampradāyaḥ) is one of the major Hindu traditions, which worships Shiva as the Supreme Being. One of the largest Hindu denominations, it incorporates many sub-traditions rangi ...

devotional poetry.

Music video

The song was shot in Raya Gopuram,

Melukote Melukote in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district, Karnataka, in southern India, is one of the sacred places in Karnataka.It is built on rocky hills, known as Yadugiri, Yaadavagiri and Yadushailadeepa, overlooking the Cauvery valley. Melukote i ...

over several days during the night. It was picturised on

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

and

Sonu Walia Sonu Walia (born 19 February 1964) is a Bollywood actress, winner of Miss India pageant and model. Her birth name is Sanjeet Kaur Walia. In 1989, she earned a Filmfare Best Supporting Actress award for her performance in film ''Khoon Bhari Maa ...

dancing along with other dancers. ''Thalapathi'' was directed by Mani Ratnam while cinematography was handled by

Santosh Sivan Santosh Sivan (born 8 February 1964) is an Indian cinematographer, film director, producer and actor known for his works in Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi cinema. Santosh graduated from the Film and Television Institute of India and has to date ...

. The song was choreographed by

Mugur Sundar Mugur Sundar is a dance choreographer in South Indian cinema. Early life Sundar was born in Mugur, a village located in Mysore district, Karnataka. He has three sons, Prabhu Deva, Raju Sundaram and Nagendra Prasad, who are established dance ...

and his son

Prabhu Deva Prabhu Deva (born 3 April 1973) is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, and Kannada language films. In a career spanning 32 years, he has performed and designed a ...

. According to Mani Ratnam, it was one of the "big-scale" songs of Sivan in the latter's early career. Set in the backdrop of a temple, the song's pulse changes when

Shobana Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai (born 21 March 1970) is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer. She acts predominantly in Malayalam films along with Telugu and Tamil films with few Hindi, Kannada and English films. She has won two National Fil ...

arrives with a group of women possessing oil-lamps, passing the dancers and floating those lamps on a pond. At this point, the music shifts to ''Tevaram''. After that the song returns to its original rhythm.

Legacy

The global rights for the song was sold to

Lahari Music Lahari Recording Company is an Indian music company based in Bangalore. It owns a music label called "Lahari Music" also a film production company called "Lahari Films LLP". They later ventured into construction under the name of HomEquity Indi ...

at a compensation of in 1992. In 2002, as a part of its 70th anniversary celebrations, the

conducted an international poll to choose the ten most popular songs of all time worldwide. More than 1,000 songs from various countries were nominated through an online voting system. "Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu" was leading the poll for a brief period of time leaving behind other popular

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

such as Yesterday,

Bohemian Rhapsody "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth album, '' A Night at the Opera'' (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack o ...

and

Stairway to Heaven "Stairway to Heaven" is a song by English rock band Led Zeppelin, released in late 1971. It was composed by the band's guitarist Jimmy Page and lead singer Robert Plant for their untitled fourth studio album (often titled ''Led Zeppelin IV'') ...

. After leading the poll for a brief period, the song was named the fourth most popular when the results were announced on 21 December 2002. In 2012, '' Agent Vinod'', a

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" ...

film starring

Saif Ali Khan Saif Ali Khan (; born Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi; 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Hindi films. Part of the Pataudi family, he is the son of actress Sharmila Tagore and cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. Khan ...

used the song in a sequence in the film. Lahari Music took legal action against Khan, who also produced the film, for using it without their permission.

Notes

References

*{{Cite book , last=Ramachandran , first=Naman , title=Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography , title-link=Rajinikanth: The Definitive Biography , publisher=Penguin Books Limited , year=2012 , isbn=978-81-8475-796-5 , author-link=Naman Ramachandran 1991 songs Indian songs Songs with lyrics by Vaali (poet) Songs with music by Ilaiyaraaja Songs in Tamil Songs written for Tamil films