Chandralekha (soundtrack)
Chandralekha is the soundtrack album for the 1948 film of the same name. It was composed by S. Rajeswara Rao, with lyrics by Papanasam Sivan and Kothamangalam Subbu. The background score was composed by M. D. Parthasarathy, who was assisted by R. Vaidyanathan and B. Das Gupta. The soundtrack album features 11 tracks in the original Tamil version, whereas the Hindi version has 13 tracks. Development Rajeswara Rao recalled in a 1993 interview for The Hindu that it took him over a year to compose the film's music, with much of his time devoted to the drum-dance scene: "As the dancers performed, we used to rehearse and compose the music. It was done with incredibly few instruments. We used a piano, ten double-bass violins, and drums from Africa, Egypt, and Persia which we have acquired from an African War troupe." Rao was paid 1,500 as a salary, during the film's production. For the Hindi soundtrack, S. S. Vasan offered most of the song to Uma Devi, who later became popularly known as Tun Tun. She initially hesitated, feeling that "[they] were beyond her capabilities", but was supported by Rajeswara Rao (who "worked hard on her"). The film was a breakthrough