That young man was walking on the road in his
village when he heard these lines from the radio, ‘ILamai ellam veRum kanavumayam idhil maRaindhathu sila kaalam/ theLivum
aRiyaamal mudivum theiriyaamal mayangudhu ethirkaalam’ (youth is full of
dreams and a part of life is lost already/ future is full of illusions). He was
just about 18 then and having seen
many ups and down already (more of the former), he thought ‘oh, my life is gone’.
So, was he disillusioned?
Far from it.
But this song impacted him very much because of the character in the movie and
most importantly because of the tune.
Sometime later, he heard these lines from a
different song ‘Vaazhkkai endRaal aayiram
irukkum/vaasal thoRum vedhanai irukkum/vandha thunbam edhu vandhaalum vaadi
ninRaal oduvathillai/Edhaiyum thaangum idayam irunthaal iRudi varaikkum amaidi
irukkum’( Life is full of problems/Miseries keep knocking at your door and
will not go away if you get bogged down/Have a heart of steel and feel the peace
till the end) and these lines reinforced his belief and faith in everything.
Who that ‘young man’ was will be said a little later (unless you have already
guessed it), but now the focus is on the gentleman
who wrote those lines.
There are many things unique about KaNNadasan and let me try and list out
just a few of these:
1.
Spontaneity
He can rattle off words in no time. All he
needed were the situation in the
movie and details about the
character. It is of course not that difficult to reel off meaningless words
(ask the present day lyricists) but in Kaviyarasar’s
case, each and every letter was meaningful
and significant.
2.
Aesthetics
Not only were(are) the words meaningful but these were(are) beautiful too. The story of giving 20+ charaNams for ‘Ezhu swarangaLukkuL’ and
leaving MSV sir and KB confused(about which one to take and
which one to leave) has already been narrated by me in some of my earlier
posts.
3. Down
to earth
Simplicity was his forte. Hardly did he use any
tough or difficult word in his songs. And even complex things would be told in
very simple words. See this-
‘Naan
kaadal enum kavitai thandhen kattilin mele/Andha karuNaikku naan parisu
thandhen thottilin mele’
Can ‘that’
act be put more succinctly?
4. Genuine
love for Tamizh
Wherever possible, he would praise the language
of Tamizh. In ‘Kallellam maaNikka kallaaguma’, he describes the beauty of a
woman. But look at the third line- Sollellaam
thooya Tamizh sollaaguma..
5. Range
Of all
the points, I find this to be the most defining. Let me explain.
A poet is expected to touch upon or cover
many things in life and many great poets in the world have done this. When it
comes to film music, the poets
(lyricists) have to operate with a lot of constraints. And yet some fabulous
songs-which shine with glory - have been written over a period of time. But in
my humble opinion, no lyricist other than KaNNadasan
has covered so many topics in film
songs. I am not going to list out the topics now but let me say that he
excelled in romantic songs as much
as he excelled in philosophical songs.
Now,
see this- Vaazhkkai enbathu vyaapaaram/
varum jananam enbathu varavaagum /adhil maraNam enbadhu selavaagum
(Life
is a business/Birth is the credit/ Death is the debit)
Or
SendRavanai kettaal vandhu vidu enbaan/Vandhavanai kettaaL
senRu vidu enbaan
(the
one who has gone will ask us to come/the one who has come here will ask us to
go)
And to
think that this was the same poet who wrote ‘ Naan pesa nanippathellam nee pesa veNdum’ or ‘UNdenRu solvadhundhan kaNNallava, illai endRu solvadhundhan idai
allava’….
So much
to say about this genius and his
works but let me stop here for obvious reasons..
And now
for the incident quoted in the beginning..
I am
sure many of you would have guessed who that ‘young man’ was. If you haven’t,
let me tell you that it was our own Raaja
sir.
The Raaja-KaNNadasan combination produced
some unforgettable gems in a short
period of 5 years. On this special day-the
birth anniversary of the genius poet-, let me take up a philosophical song.
‘NallaveRkellaam
SatchigaL ReNdu’ from ‘Thyagam’(1978)
has an unmistakable air of serenity and the reason is not far to seek. It has a
beautiful tune based on a raga called
Vaasanti which is known for its
poignant feel, the orchestration is
simple and yet piercing and the lyrics
are meaningful as always.
It
starts with the humming of TMS
(though well past his prime, it must be said that he did render the song with
aplomb). Of course there is that subtle bell
sound too prior to this, but the highlight of the prelude in my opinion is the flute
which first gives a sleek silhouette and then moves with unique elegance along
with the folk stringed instrument.
The
pensive violins give way to the guitar which sounds philosophically in
the first interlude. But it is the flute again which steals the show. It
moves languorously with that touch of melancholy. The slow circular movement in
the end pinches our hearts. Can pinching be so pleasurable too?
The second interlude starts with the violins yet again but this time with western classical contours. The single violin which is superimposed on its own
family, is wistful and arresting. But, it is the flute which scores yet again. Steeped in melody, it lends majesty
and poise.
And now
for the lyrics..
This genius wrote long back that if it is God, it is God/if it is statue, it
is just statue(deivam endRaal adhu deivam/veRum silai endRaal adhu
silaidhaan).
Now in
this song, he says ‘Look at a stone with
faith, and you can see the God there’.
In the first charaNam, he talks about the
drying up of rivers and asks who is responsible for that-rivers or the fate.
He
invokes the Divine force again in
the second charaNamm praising his
superior qualities. But what I find most interesting and intriguing are the
last two lines where he says ‘ When a
person decides to do harm or cause trouble,
he doesn’t cry; Have the heavens ever fallen down on the earth?’
These two lines need a thorough study. Usage
of similes is not uncommon in poems. But in this case, the first line talks about negativity
while the second line talks about great men. Why this contradiction? Does
he equate bad people/deeds with the heavens?
This is
where the brilliance of the poet comes
to the fore. What he means is this-
Bad people have no sense of remorse. Good people never stoop
that level and are always great.
A new
dimension to contrasts in poetry..
And
this is what sets him apart and makes him an 'Emperor of Poetry!.
Illusions
become Dreams and Dreams become Reality when one has faith.
Any
doubts? Ask the ‘young man’ who got inspired and subsequently became the
unconquered Emperor of Film Music..
