C h a r u k e s i ..... !

C h a r u k e s i

Love and lust flashing out from the depth of the heart. A passionatelonging now. A feigned anger then. A smile floating on the curved redlips for a moment.

Giving way to a tightly pressed one above a strongchin. A tiny ridicule in the sparkling eyes. A stern and reproachfulexpression which goes about the face like a lightning. All that go tosuit the danseuse of the Raja Darbar - they go as attributes forthis raga viz Charukesi. As the name itself means, it personifiesGrace.

No wonder beauty has no other name. The raga is known by the same nameboth in HCM and CCM. A melakartha raga, Charukesi has a simple surpattern:

Arokan : S R G M P d n S
Avro : S n d P M G R S

Five of the seven remaining major, the only two minor notes provide theelegance and beauty to the raga.

The film which introduced Rajesh Khanna (Raaz) had this beautifulnumber, "Akele Hain Chanle aao" based on Charukesi.
The zig zagbends of the raga fitted very well the song "kisi raah mein kisi moadpar" in Mere Hamsafar. In Diwanana, a love lorn girl sang "teriummid tera intezaar karte hain".
The sur chanchar of the raga wasbeautifully presented in "bekhudi mein sanam".

Coming down south, who could forget the singing star Bhagavatharpleading with the elegant Rajakumari "ennudane nee paesinal vaaimuthu udhirnthu vidumo?"

justify for being alesson to Charukesi learners. An equally love struck Ganesan cajoleshis lady in Sarangadhara "Vasantha mullai pole vandhu".

KunnakudiVaidyanathan, the magician on violin used Charukesi in Agathiyar tobring about the flow of the river Cauvery - as Seergazhi sang"Nadanthai vaazhi Kaveri". That the raga best suited "srinkarabhava" was again demonstrated by MSV in his very aesthetically wovencomposition "vara cholladi " in Padugappu, perhaps the only savinggrace of an otherwise mundane film.

Grace is basically feminine.

While it elegantly enchants as becoming ofa Queen in Hamvir Kalyani, it becomes the enticing bait of a Nartaki in Charukesi.