Song of the Day: Oh Vanthathu Penna - Aval Varuvaala (1998)

Ahhhh - this song. I was addicted to this song when it came out. It's so soft and dreamy and romantic! And I was also battling a major crush on the puffy-haired, super-moustached Ajith Kumar at the time. This is the Ajith that I loved ... the lover, not the fighter! In more recent years he's become an action hero ... probably because he packed on pounds when he married Shalini and couldn't play the young lover boy anymore. But I found him totally adorable back in the day. Of course, he always played the "nice guy" (except for maybe the evil brother in Vaali and the rough-exteriored role in Amarkkalam), so it was easy to fall for him.

And then of course there's my girl Simran! She's rocking the 90s outfits in this and looking super-glam. She's one of the few South Indian actresses (ok I know, she's not really South Indian, but she was a Tamil movie star!) that could really, truly ACT. I mean REALLY ACT. Check her out in Kannathil Muthamittal if you don't believe me. She's phenomenal! But back in the day, she was the glam queen of Tamil Cinema. And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't she the one that started the trend of (relatively) slim actresses in Tamil movies?

Anyway, this song from the movie Aval Varuvala (based somewhat on Sleeping with the Enemy, remade in Hindi with Esha Deol as Koi Mere Dil Se Pooche) was one of my absolute favorites in the late 90s. Of course the picturization is not at all what I had in mind. I was thinking paavadai-thaavanis and sarees, but hey, it's Simran, and she looks great in whatever.

Music was done in a typical tamil style by S.A. Rajkumar, and the song was sung by my absolute favorite singer Hariharan ...

Enjoy!