I have been listening to raga based music and applying raga concepts to movie songs only for the past 10 years or so. But it surprises me how a stunning variety of movie songs I like belong to the same raga — when you realize it you definitely have a Wah moment. There are many many songs and ragas that gave me Wah moments and one such raga is Charukesi.

To the best of my knowledge, Charukesi is recognized by the same name in Hindustani. Charukesi is supposed to convey feelings of devotion and pathos, but it also known to colorfully convey feelings of romance. There are only a handful of traditional compositions written for this raga, such as Adamodi Galade, Innum En Manam, Kripaya Palaya etc…

Ilayaraja has been very innovative with his usage of this raga — in a variety of situations and mood settings. Perhaps the one of the famous songs could be Aadal Kalaiye Dhevan Thandhadhu from Sri Raghavendra. If this is a example of devotion, imagine this — Kaadhalin Deepam Ondru from Thambikku Endha Oor is also tuned in Charukesi. Just the mention of this song should bring fragrance of romance in the air, but if it doesn’t for you, think of Thoodhu Selvadhaaradi from Singaravelan. There are a handful of others worth mentioning; another different usage of this raga is the song Sakkarai Katti from Ulle Veliye.