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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: Sankar (@ 203.124.138.34) on: Sat Mar 1 02:28:15 EST 2003
  
  Also, I am amazed with the 'Question & Answer' type of songs of Kavingyar..
  
  Just to name a few
  
  Oruthi oruvanai ninaithuvittal from Saradha
  Kannilae Neer Edharkku - Policekaran Magal..
  
  
• From: R. Mahendra Raj (@ 203.106.49.8) on: Sat Mar 1 10:40:38 EST 2003
  
  Sankar, I will touch on your second query first.
  "Kodi asainthathum Kaatru Vanthatha" (Paarthal Pasitheerum 1962)
  "Nanomo Innum Naanomo" (Ayirathil Oruvan 1965)
  "Thottukollavaa" (Maatukaara Velan 1970) etc. In fact, I had compiled this bit under the classification "question & answer songs by Kannadhasan" which was aired over radio. Give me some time to look for the recording.
  
  As regards to the relationship of Shivaji and Kannadhasan - they were both pals during their budding stages. They all (including MGR, SSR) belonged to the same political party - DMK. In fact, Shivaji's trip to Tirupathi in the mid fifties changed the course of Tamil Nad political history. The party was using Shivaji to promote their ideals through the film media. As it was a well known fact that spirituality under any guise was considered a taboo to DMK at that time. Even our kaviarasar had once rubbed off his vibuthi and kunkumam on his forehead so that he will be allowed to speak at a DMK political rally! He was forced to become an aethist when being in DMK and strongly followed its ideals although deep in his heart he was still a spiritual person.
  
  Shivaji's trip to Tiruppathi incurred the wrath of both the leaders and supporters of DMK which resulted in him coming out of the party. Kannadhasan took it seriously and even had a slight brush off with Shivaji. After this incident they both became bitter enemies. This was also the time when the party began to promote MGR in place of Shivaji. The rest is history.
  
  During this time he produced "Sivagangai Seemai' with SSRajendran in the lead just to prove that he too can make a film like "Veera Pandiya Kattabomman" (1959) without Shivaji. The timing of the film was such that it failed in the box office despite having a good story line and punchy dialogues.
  
  During this wilderness Kannadhasan did write a few songs for Shivaji films such as "Bhaga Privinai" etc. But when Shivaji produced "Pasa Malar" in 1961 he had to engage Kannadhasan through an intermediary to pen the songs. When the film was released it became a milestone of sorts for the Tamil film industry. Shivaji, realising that one feature of the film's success was attributed to the songs, arranged for a grand dinner reception with its attendant booze etc. for Kannadhasan. At that function he publicly embraced Kannadhasan saying that "kavingyan endral nee thaanda kavingyan".
  Shivaji further noted that the lines 'nathiyil vilayadi kodiyil thalai seevi' (song: Malarnthu Malaraaga)was a literature song well diluted so that even the illiterate folks could understand the essence. After this incident, their animosity was forgotten. Practically it was kaviarasar's songs for the next decade or so in all of Shivaji's films. Incidentally both joined Congress later.
  In Shivaji's subsequent film "Kunkumam"(1963)under the banner of Rajamani films (his mother) Kaviarasar even wrote the title song "Kunkumam mangayin mangalam kunkumam" and added the line "rajamaniyin annayin neytryil kaatum kunkumam" having Shivaji's mother, Rajamani, in mind at that time. The kumkuman on Rajamani's head was prominent despite having a frail body. Kaviarasar was a keen observer all right.
  
  When Shivaji produced "Puthiya Paravai" it was Kannadhasan again for the songs. Kaviarasar had a mental block as to the right type of lyrics for a pathos song. During one of his visit to Shivaji's house one early morning he observed the latter in a tense mood looking for an attire wich had been misplaced by one of his household member. He was heard mumbling that there is no peace in his own house. Eureka! kaviarasar got the starting lines "Engey Nimmathi Engey Nimmathi". When Shivaji settled down later after all the tension Kaviarasar asked him to exhibit the action and reaction of a person who is in search of peace through bodily movements. When Shivaji did just that Kaviarasar immediately completed the rest of the song in Shivaji's house itself. Imagine getting an inspiration from the hero himself through the latter's frustration! Incidentally, this was the only song till todate to have accomodated a full orchestra (100 instruments).Music: Viswanathan Ramamurthy.
  
  Bye for now!
  
  
  
  
  
• From: haris (@ 67.123.4.234) on: Sun Mar 2 01:28:57 EST 2003
  
  Mahendra Raj, Sankar-
  
  Thanks for all the useful info. This is of good benefit for all the tfm fans.
  
  

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