Kamala's Peacock Dance Found! (and some other "new" Kamala, Padmini, and Lalitha dances)

Wow! AP International's YouTube channel has some pristinely-preserved songs and scenes from 1940s and 50s Tamil gems—many of which have been MIA online for quite some time!  They've got Penn, Sri Valli, Vedhala Ulagam,Vazhkai, Parasakthi, and more!

But the most exciting random find was a new Kamala dance I've never seen or read of before: her four-part sculptor-deer-PEACOCK-dancer extravaganza in the 1962 Tamil film Sumai Thaangi!  Yes, the Kamala peacock dance that a commenter had mentioned a while back exists!  Many a dancer in Indian cinema has done a signature "peacock" dance (see this post/comments at Richard's blog for a great collection), but until now I never knew that Kamala had one as well. 

Sumai Thaangi (aka Sumaithangi, 1962, Tamil) - "Malaiyai Padaithavan" - This is not your standard Kamala dance number! Kamala's dancing portrayal of a male sculptor is brilliant and lifelike, and the rest of the number supposedly depicts the effects of the enchanting deer and peacock sculptures on Kamala who reacts with a joyous dance.  It's the most unusual and quirky of Kamala's film dances that I've seen, especially as she jumps, prances, and rapidly spins in deer costume (with deer mudra) to sound effects!  The peacock dance is introduced with a beautiful shot, and the musical orchestration is appropriately splendid.  What a dance number!  According to online folks, in this song Gemini Ganesan is trying to win his female companion (Devika)'s affections—I wish the song spent less time cutting to their annoying banter and stayed focused on the important part, Kamala! The camera gets quite shaky at times too, but the print is so lovely and well-preserved.  Good job AP International for actually knowing how to properly encode and size video uploads!  1962 was the year that Kamala's big dance film Konjum Salangai released, and it was also the same year she divorced her first husband R.K. Laxman at age 28, so in adding this dance number to the mix 1962 was quite a year for Kamala!






Along with Kamala's dance above, I found a few additional and "new" Kamala/Padmini/Lalitha dances in the earlier film Vedhala Ulagam that I've not seen or featured on my blog before!

Vedhala Ulagam (Tamil, 1948) - "Vaasam Ulla Poo Paripen" - A dance-drama by Padmini and Lalitha, this number is an enjoyable watch even without understanding the lyrics.  Standouts: Padmini's snake charmer dance at 1:00, Lalitha's "drumming" at 4:47, and the sisters proper twin dance out of character at 7:00.  


Vedhala Ulagam - "Aadum Mayil Paadum Kuyil" - This song features Kamala, Padmini, and Lalitha (but at different times--why can't they ever dance/perform together!).  I don't know what is being enacted in this song, but I'll describe the essentials: Kamala starts out the number with a sweet tune (and gorgeous closeups!) and after some dialogue, Padmini and Lalitha have a scene and song, and then Kamala returns first playing the veena and then dancing to a melodious song (for a cute parrot!) starting at 6:27 that looks very similar visually to her later dance in Manthiri Kumari.  Padmini and Lalitha end the number. 


Vedhala Ulagam - "Odi Vilayadu Papa" - This isn't a "dance" really (though the little kid dances a bit), but it features some closeups of Kamala and is a sweet song, so I had to include it. 


Also, APInternational has also uploaded better versions of the Kamala dances in Vedhala Ulagam and Sri Valli that I've posted previously about, so I've updated their videos in the following posts:

• Even More Rare Dances of Kamala!
• Found! Three New Kamala Dances (Ore Iravu, Vedhala Ulagam, Manthiri Kumari)
• New Kamala and Padmini/Lalitha Dance Finds!