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KAVIYARASU KANNADASAN

Topic started by On behalf of Sankar (@ 210.186.51.129) on Mon Dec 30 07:11:34 EST 2002.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

Kaaviyathayin Illaya magan
Kadhal Pengalin Perun thalaivan
Paamara jaadiyil thani manidan – naan
Padaippadhanal yen per Iraivan

Naan Manida jaadiyai aati vaipen – avar
Maandu vital adhai paadi vaipen
NAAN NIRANDARAM AANAVAN AZHIVADILAI
ENDA NILAYILUM ENAKKU MARANAM ILLAI

These are the great lines of Kaviyarasu Kannadasan in the movie Ratha Thilakam where he acts in the movie singing these lines. ( Song.. Oru Koopayilae yen kudiyiruppu)

What a visionary he was ? Indeed, he is NIRANDARAMAANAVAN.

I share some of my observations about Kavingyar. I want all the fans of HIM to join this discussion and add more quality material in praise of his great works.

This is the only way we pay tributes to this GENIUS.

a) Raga Gyanam of Kavingyar

In the file ‘ Thiruvarutchelvar’, no one can forget the great song ‘ Mannan Vandhanadi’. This song was penned by Kannadasan and music by legendary KVM and sung by P.Suseela. I do not think we can ever get a better song in the Raga Kalyani in our tamil movies when compared to this song . This song has all the nuances of Kalyani in a capsule form.

In the Charanam, look at these lines,

Viraivinil Nee… Ni
Mana malar Tha .. tha
Thiru Marbaa… Pa
Thamadhama… Ma
Mayil ennai Ka… Ga

Ni.. tha.. Pa.. Ma.. Ga….
The words end in the avorahanam of Kalyani ( descending order of the musical notes)

Similarly, there is one stanza which will have the first letters in the arohanam ( ascending order).. I do not recollect the exact lines..

Sa…
Ri.. ri ga ma pa da ni sa..
Ka.. karunaiyin Thalaiva
Ma.. Madhi migu Mudhalva..

Do we have any such poet today ?

b) Kannadasan’s command over Language

Also, can any one forget the ‘Then’ song in Veera Abhimanu.. This duet is again a KVM song in Raga Sahana by PBS and PS.

Paarthen Rasithen pakkam vara thudithen
Unai then ena naan ninethen – andha
Malai then idhu ena malaithen

What about the ‘voor’ song in the file Oorkkaval.. PBS is the singer

Endha voor endravanae
Irundha voorai chollava
Andha voor neeyum kooda
Arindha voor allava

The great ‘ Kai’ Song ‘ Athhikkai Kaai kaai’ in Balae Paandiya.—About this song, I will dwell in detail subsequently.

c) Kannadasan’s knowledge of Litreature:

(i) There is one tamil poem in ‘Pura Nanooru’, the old tamil literature.

To know the meaning of this poem, you also need to know about the philanthrophist tamil King Paari. He was so noble and kind hearted that on one occasion, when he found a jasmine creeper without a support, he let his chariot as the support for the creeper so that it could grow. His fame and wealth was an eyesore to cheera , choola and Paandya kings and they waged a war against him and killed him. They also want to marry his daughters who were too young and the marriage proposal was stopped by Tamil Sage Avvaiyar.

The poem is written to a situation where, the daughters of Paari, on a full moon day, recalls that their father was with them on the last full moon day and he is now more now and they were grieving for his death.

The poem in chaste tamil starts as

Attrai thingal Auv Vennilavil…

Kannadasan has taken this incidence to write his song

‘Androru Naal Idhe Nilavil
Avar irundar en arugil’ in the film ‘Nadodi ‘ ( wagabond)

(ii) In Kamba Ramayanam, the poem which describes Kaiykeye seeking two boons from Dasaratha starts as

‘Aazhi sooz ulagelam Bharathanae Aaala’ and ends as ‘ Theeyavai yaavinum Sirandha Teeyal’
whereby kambar describes Kaiykeye as the worst of the worst for her act .

I think Kannadesan must have been inspired by these lines and in the movie ‘ Karnan’, there is a song by SG, Tirchy Lokanathan, PBS, TMS which is penned to the situation of Karnan performing pooja to his father Suryan ( the Sun God). There the stanza

Mannavar porulgalai Kai kondu…. Ends with ‘ VARUMAIKKU VARUMAIYAI VAITHTHOR MAAMANNAN VAZHGAVE…VAZGHA VAZGHA.

Here, he used two negatives ‘ Varumaikku Varumai’ to elate Karnan’s noble charity that there was no poverty because of his abundant charity.

Also, I feel vairamuthu must have been inspired by Kannadasan’s lines that he had sai ‘ maanatthin Maanathai vaangi vittan’ in the song ‘Poo Malai Vaangi Vanthan’ in Sindhu Bhairavi.

(iii) In one of the Sirappu Then Kinnam ( remember the yester years in Radio… Chennai Vaanoli Nilayam !!), Kannadasan himself had said that he wrote the song

Thookkamum Kankalai Thazuvattume
Amaithiyum Nenjinil Nilavattume

Since he was inspired by the lines of shakesphere in ‘Macbeth’

(iii) The famous song in ‘Vaazhkai Padagu’

‘ Neetru varai nee yaroo naan yaroo
Indru mudhal nee vaero naan vaero’

Is based on the ‘Pura Naanooru’ padal

‘ Yanum neeyum yaaraa giyaro
yendaiym numadiyum evan kollo
Sembulap peyar neer pola
Anbudai Nenjangal Tham Kalandaduvae’

(iv).. One Sanga kaala illakkiya padal was the inspiration for Kavingyar to write the famous song in “Balae Paandiya’ – ‘ Atthikkai Kai Kai’

One newly wed bride is separated from her husband since he need to be in the battle field shortly after the wedding. On the full moon day, the lady, is thinking about her husband and feeling lonely without him on a romantic night. She requests moon ‘ I am always remembering him but not sure about how he feels.. Already I am sore without him… you also do not add to my suffering with your full radiance.. instead of glowing here, you shower your moon light on the direction where my husband is so that he also gets romantic mood and gets back to me’

This is what the song

‘Athikkaai kaai kaai
Aalangai Vennilavae’

Athikkai is fig. Also it means glow in that direction ( thikku in tamil means direction / side).

What a great song.. full of name of various vegetables. At the same time, has got a different meaning in chaste tamil.



d) Ability to convey his message through his songs.

(i) Kavingyar came out of Congress but had great admiration for Kamaraj. He wanted to convey his respect and desire for an ever lasting association with Kamaraj. Hence

‘Andha sivagami maganidam sedhi solladi – yennai
serum naal parka solladi’

came in the movie ‘Pattanathil Bhoodam’. In the movie , the song was set as it to praise Lord Muruga..

Kamaraj’s Mother’s name is Sivagami !!

(ii) Similarly

Nalandana … Nalandana…
Udalum Ullamum Nalandana..

Nalam Pera vendum nee Yendru
Naalum Yen Nenjil Ninaivundu
Ilai marai kaai pol porul kondu
Yevarum ariyaamal sol indru….

Was written in ‘Thillana Moganaambal’ for as the meeting song between Sivaji and Padmini after sivaji’s injury.

But, this song is actually written with C.N. Annadurai in mind when he was ailing in the hospital and kavingyar was away from him .

One more great song by KVM in the raag Sivaranjani.


WILL WE EVER GET BACK A KAVINGYAR LIKE KANNADASAN ??

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: geeth (@ 195.226.230.37) on: Mon Feb 17 08:29:21 EST 2003
  
  mahendra raj, aasaiyaa threadukku vanthu paartha kathai yethum sollaama poyitteengaLe.
  
  i noticed that kavinjar had given great songs for Director Sridhar. it must have been a special combo in those days. can you touch on this combo please.
  
  
  
• From: R. Mahendra Raj (@ 203.106.163.161) on: Tue Feb 18 05:38:09 EST 2003
  
  Thanks Geeth for the comments.
  
  Yes, Sridhar and Kannadhasan were buddies ever since they started to work together from the "Meenda Sorgam" era circa.1959/1960. "Sumaithaangi" (1963) was a joint effort by both these stalwarts. Whilst shooting the song scene "Manithan Enbavan Deivamaagalam" Kavinjar reminisced his first day of arriving penniless in Chennai way back in the early 40s. It was the very spot in the beach where he was shooed away by policemen for sleeping for the night. He then asked Sridhar to do the song scene with his own eight "Ambassador" cars giving the spotlight on Gemini Ganesh, the hero, instead of the usual studio lights. The scene was not to show of his wealth but to show how a penniless man can achieve such a transition in life purely on true grits. It was a well known fact in the film circles that Kavinjar rarely visited shooting scenes or song recordings even if it were to be his own scriptings. But this scene was an exemption as he wanted to motivate the viwers through his own example. Anyway the song is a gem of a motivation theme even till todate. Incidentally, this was the only film in which Sridhar appears in a very, very minor role.
  
  A retired public prosecutor down here (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia) was a close friend of Kavinjar. Each time he goes to Chennai to visit Kavinjar he brings along some foreign beverages for the latter. Typical of Kavinjar, he will immediately call up his buddies like Sridhar, MSV, Balaji etc. for distribution. In the end he gets nothing and settles for the local brew. Such was his genorisity.
  
  Another incident which Sridhar was involved was when Kavinjar was in one of his jovial moods. One afternoon he disguised his voice over the phone and called up MSV to say that he is speaking from Kavinjar's house and that Kavinjar had just passed away! MSV immediately broke down on hearing the news and called up Sridhar and a few others to pay an immediate visit to Kavinjar's house. On reaching they found him happily sipping his favourite brew. Dumbfounded, they could not ask him straightaway. They then joined him for a few rounds. Only later. did Kavinjar intimate to Sridhar that it was he who called and in the same tone said that he was curious to know who will be the first to pay their respects should he really croak. He thanked Sridhar and MSV and at the same time jokingly said that he would not die now as only a handful had turned up!
  
  The other incident involved MGR. As it is a well-known fact that ever since "Meenda Sorgam" and seriously from "Thean Nilavu" Sridhar made it a point to use Kannadhasan in all his subsequent films. For Sridhar capitalised on the emotions of love in nearly all his films and who could be an authority on love songs other than Kavinjar?
  
  When he made "Urirmai Kural" with MGR in 1974 there was political animosity between the former and Kavinjar. But for sentimental reasons he insisted on Kavinjar to pen the song "Vizhiye Kathai Ezhuthu" to which the latter obliged. During the picturisation of the scene MGR, being sharp eyed and knowing Kavinjar's work, asked Sridhar as to who was the actual author for this song. Sridhar admitted that it was Kavinjar's and that Vaali's name had to be used because of the political animosity concerned. MGR rebuked Sridhar saying that an artise must be given due credits for the work done and that his difference with Kavinjar was of no relation to the song. Anyway, even though MGR tried to amend the credits it could not be done as the records had been been already published bearing Vaali's name.Bye the bye, KJ Jesudoss got a new lease of life from this song onwards and shot to popularity overnight.
  
  Do you know the very first scene by Jayalalitha when she faced the camera was the song picturisation of "Kannan Ennum Mannan Peyrai Solla Solla" penned by Kavinjar? Sridhar was known to shoot a song scene first in all his movies for sentimental reasons. Perhaps it could be this very reason that she contributed and consented to officiate Kavinjar's statue in T.Nagar, Chennai in late 1994.
  
  I will try and refresh my memory re- Sridhar/Kannadhasan combo and give inputs later.
  
  Coming to another great producer & actor K. Balaji I would like to share the all-time gem of an info with all of you.
  
  When Balaji was producing "Neethi" (1972/3)the remake of the Hindi "Dushman" he told the scene situation of the hero smashing his bottle on the road whilst pledging not to drink from the very moment. He asked Kavinjar to do a suitable song for this situation. Kavinjar came up with the song "Naalai muthal kudikka matteyn" but Balaji protested saying that the scene calls for an instant surrender to drinks. Kavinjar coolly reminded Balaji (this part must be reported in verbatim as otherwise it will lose its punch) - "dey, neeyum oru kudikaaran naanum oru kudikaaran. Entha kalathildaa oru kudikaaran indrodu kudikka matteyn endru sathiyam seythu irukiraan?". Balaji agreed with Kavinjar that tipplers are noted for postponing such decisions. The song became an instant hit. The lyrics in it are such a gem that we can actually hold an intellectual discussion having them as a theme.
  
  Bye for now, and again can please anyone do something about this thread going haywire?
  
  
• From: geeth (@ 195.226.230.37) on: Tue Feb 18 08:48:28 EST 2003
  
  naaLai muthal kudikka maatten
  sathiyamadi thangam
  indru(?) raathirikku thoonga veNum
  oothukiren konjam...
  
  a very popular song in Ilangai vaanoli. very interesting to know the background of the song.
  
  i don't think Neethi did well. it came right after Vasantha Maaligai and i remember my paatti (an ardent Sivaji fan) telling 'ithenna ore kudikaaran padama varuthu'.
  
  nice mahendra raj, see u soon.
  
  
  

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