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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.
WILL WE EVER GET BACK A KAVINGYAR LIKE KANNADASAN ??

Read the complete opening post here.

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Responses:

• Old responses
  
• From: Saravanan (@ 195.229.241.231) on: Wed Apr 9 03:35:14 EDT 2003
  
  Mahendra Raj-is the following incident true? I have read about it—
  
  While the recording for the songs of Mahadevi was going on, Kavignar and MSV had a bitter argument as to who should sing the song ‘Kaamugar nenjil needhiyillai’. MSV’s choice was PS, but Kanndasan strongly recommended Jamunarani and insisted that she alone could sing it well. MSV answered that Jamunarani excelled only in seductive songs, and she would not do justice to such a sad, emotional song as ‘Kaamugar nenjil’. This angered Kannadasan, who asked ‘If I recommend a singer for a particular song, would I do so without judging their capacity’?
  
  MSV walked off. TKR taught Jamunarani the notes. Kannadasan told her ‘This is an acid test for you. If you don’t sing this song well, you will branded forever as a “Kavarchi paadagi” alone!’ Jamunarani sang it so well, that the director of the film Natkarni, rushed to MSV and told him that the song had come out well. MSV gave it a listen and grudgingly told Kannadasan that she had indeed done justice to the song.
  
  Another such pathos sung beautifully by Jamunarani for V-R is ‘Kaaviri thaaye. Kaaviri thaaye’ –Mannadhi Mannan.
  
  Jamunarani had some wonderful songs in Kannadasan’s Kavalai Illadha Manithan as well. ‘Kaatil maram urangum’ and ‘Penn paarkka mapillai vandhaar’. Another great song from the film is ‘Kannodu vin pesum jaadai’, in which TS Bagavathi is the chief singer, accompanied by GK Venakatesh, AL Raghavan and Jamunarani. I think SJ too had a solo’ Maalai itta mangaiyumillai’. Did PS have any songs in Kavalai Illadha Manithan?
  
  Mahendra Raj, can you throw any light on Kannadasan’s opinion of various singers? In his ‘Sandhithen Sindhithen’ he devotes a chapter to only one playback singer- Vani Jairam, on whom he heaps unreserved praise. Of course, S Varalakshmi and TS Bagavathi too find mention.
  
  Karuppu Panam: KRV looked so stunning in ‘Ammamma keladi thozhi’- the entire sequence- night- the sailing boat, the city lights in the background- the song is a black & white visual treat. (LRE mentioned this as her favourite among all her songs- Doordarshan’s Malarum Ninaivugal- 1990). ‘Aadavaraam aada varalaam’ featuring Sheela, was another great song by LRE . SJ’s ‘Iraiva iraiva—Undhna Raja sabai ingu vaaraatho’ (Chandrakantha) was a melodious pathos song.
  
  
• From: Subbu (@ 216.52.49.9) on: Wed Apr 9 06:06:53 EDT 2003
  
  M.Raj, Saravanan,
  
  I was a regular reader of the ‘Sandhithen Sindhithen’, which came in Kumudam magazine. He started writing about an artist whom he met that particular week; of course he had valid reasons to write/praise more about that artist. The list included MSV, Pushpalatha, Devika, Vani Jayaram etc.
  
  When he met VJ, she presented KaNNadaasan a bunch of books, it seems. This was mentioned in the 1-page write-up. Also he mentioned that similar to P. Suseela, VJ was also not paid for her work many times. Also he praised both the singers that they never boosted this "non-payment issue" in any forum, but he (KaNNadaasan) was fully aware of it. Another mention about PS and VJ that they had their own freedom in their singing profession and not any interference / influence by any of their family members incl their hubby.
  
  In that series of ‘Sandhithen Sindhithen’, the last write-up was on KVM, if am correct. He mentioned that the chairs (IdangaL) of his (Kannadasan's) set of people will never be filled up by anyone. The "set" included the great history creators like MGR, Sivaji, MSV, KVM, Himself (Kannadasan) and P. Suseela. The only female artist he mentioned was Suseela. With this great touch, he finished.
  
  
• From: R.Mahendra Raj (@ 210.186.0.253) on: Wed Apr 9 07:48:12 EDT 2003
  
  bb - I am afraid I do not have the info on the 'Thenali Raman'issue. Perhaps, Manisegaran would care to shed some light?
  
  Saravanan, I concur with your findings above. As mentioned in one of the postings earlier kaviarasar had been known to refrain from commenting about singers. He had not mentioned even about SP Balasubrahmanyam who used to be his 'glass mate'. At one interview the latter said that he became proficient in the Tamil language after singing songs written by kaviarasar in the recording studios. Earlier he used to transcribe the Tamil words into Telugu when singing.
  
  Jamunarani acknowledged that it was kaviarasar who gave her a new lease of life after fighting hard for her as narrated in the above incident.
  
  Conversely, when the veteran playback singers give interviews (from the time he died until todate) in the various periodicals I hardly find them mentioning kaviarasar. Whatever could be reason?
  
  I had a chance meeting with ML Srikanth in Radio Malaysia about 5 years ago and I took the opportunity in asking him about our kaviarasar. He recollected that when kaviarasar heard his voice for his first song ("Kaathal kaathal kaathal endru Kannan vanthaana" - 'Utthirivandri Ulle Vaa' [1971]) he was curious as to who gave this humming voice. When MSV told him that it was a new singer, kaviarasar recommended that he be given further chances as he had the potentiality. He recommended without even seeing him in person!
  
  Vani Jairam was known to mind her own business and did not get involved with the 'politics' of the day. Being a carnatic singer with experience in Bollywood she was a simple person. This could have been the reason kaviarasar singled her out for the column 'Santhitheyn Sinthitheyn' in Kumudham.
  
  Another apparent reason maybe was the award winning song "Ezhu suvarangalukkul etthanai raagam" which she herself liked it very much.
  Although Vaali had known her by sight when she was in her teens he never dreamt that she will be voicing her maiden song written by him ("Malligai en mannan mayangum" -'Dheerka Sumangali' 1974).
  
  
  
• From: RC (@ 63.74.137.105) on: Wed Apr 9 08:35:10 EDT 2003
  
  >> It was Kamalhassan who first supported the collapsing Muthuraman.
  
  I remember reading that it was a film shoot with Sivakumar in Ooty, in a newspaper. I may be wrong, though!
  
  
• From: Ramki (@ 161.150.2.31) on: Wed Apr 9 10:26:27 EDT 2003
  
  Mahendra Raj , an addition to your 'satti suttadhadaa' lines
  
  Erumbu tholai urikka paarka yaanai vanthathadaa
  Nan idhaya tholai urithu paartha nyanam vanthathadaa
  Pirakamunnae irundha uLLam indru vandhadhadaa
  irakkum pinne varum amaidhi vandhuvittadhadaa
  
  The last 2 lines are my favs
  
  
• From: Udhaya (@ 63.198.207.118) on: Wed Apr 9 18:03:44 EDT 2003
  
  aanandhaamaana mazhayil nanaindha maram
  than kilaygalil andha sugaththai vegu naeram thakka vaithu
  than vasap paduthi
  piragu mella mella siru thuligalai
  adhai than maelae sotta vittu
  kudhookalippathaip paarthirukkiraen
  
  neengal ezhuthiyathai ellaam paditha piragudhaan
  andha sugaththai naanum anubaviththaen
  
  Mahendra Raj,
  
  I read the entire thread archive in one sitting and went to bed at 4am elated and exhausted. I have read nearly all prose books that Kannadhaasan wrote, those published as individual books anyway, and much of what I’ve read in this thread is news to me. Mahendra Raj, I laud your spirit, memory, and the way you share your information. You are a class act all the way. I propose that we, the newtfmpage, either establish a refined version of all your recollections once you’re done, and you can certainly take your time doing so, or better still publish these recollections as a book. This would be a phenomenal contribution to TFM fans by newtfmpage should this happen.
  
  Let me share a few pointers on some of the matters discussed so far:
  -Regarding the origin of the lyrics “Ettadukku maaligayil aetri vaitha en thalaivan”, I heard my uncle explain it to me—8 adukku is the 8 measures (1 adukku = 1 jaan) of the human body, i.e. barring deformity, every human’s body is about 8 adukkus of his/her thumb and middle finger’s measurement. Given this meaning, “8 adukku maaligayil aetri vaitha en thalaivan” means, ennai than thalai mael thookki vaithu irundha en thalaivan, ennai vittu vittuch chendraan, (the loss is especially hard because he deserted her after hoisting her up and celebrating her). Further siding with this theory is another song’s lyrics, “8 adukku kattidathil 9 oattai” where the 8 adukku is definitely the human body. Final proof is that, my uncle said he heard this awestruck description of the song by kavingyar Vaali elucidating Kannadhaasan’s prowess in an interview.
  
  -The thogayara “sillendru pootha siru nerinji kaattinilae” is actually an oppaari verse sung by a village girl that Kambar happened to hear during a walk. Kambar kept returning to that street for the next few days hoping to hear the end of that verse, but every time the song would stop at that line because the grieving young widow singing that song was silenced at that spot by other mourners for some etiquette reasons. The great Kambar couldn’t work out how that song would end so he finally convinced the grieving family to allow the widow to finish her song so he could hear it. I heard this anecdote from one of my relatives a long time ago. I don’t know if it’s Kambar’s finished version that we hear or whether Kannadhaasan added the later lines of that thogayara before “sendhamizh thaen mozhiyaal”. Experts can clarify these finer points, but what struck me is Kannadhaasan’s intuition to pick this farm girl’s eulogy via Kambar to fit as a thogayara for a happy romantic song. That’s what I call a masterstroke.
  
  -Kannadhaasan was contributing a weekly writeup of stories, essays, poems to Kumudham around the time of his death. People were to offer topic suggestions or first lines and Kannadhaasan was supposed to pick what he liked to write a poem on. Upon his demise, the editor noted the poignancy of the last kavidhai Kannadhaasan wrote for the magazine, it was titled, “Karuvarai mudhal kallarai varai”. Kannadhaasan chose this one over others topics and despite the editor’s objections about the bad omen, Kannadhaasan insisted on writing this poem. This could have been the last poem he wrote. I remember reading it at an age when it sailed over my head. If someone out there has this, please reproduce it here so I can save it for good, or if you have a link where it appears that would do too.
  
  -One of the most moving pieces eulogizing Kannadhaasan was Vaali’s poem that began, “Nee meesayillaatha Barathy, thaadiyillaatha Tagore”. This wonderful sentiment was later needlessly handled with irreverence by VM in “Kannaik kattik kollaathae”, as “thaadigalellaam Tagoraa, meesaigalellaam Barathyaa thoazhaa”. He may not have meant it as a slight, but still he dented a precious sentiment by one poet to another.
  
  -About Kannadhaasan granting referrals to people in the movie industry: I remember reading a magazine anecdote where Kannadhaasan was quoted as saying something like, “naan sibarisu senja orae nabar, Manorama, avar en peyara kaappathittaar,” or something to that effect.
  
  -I have heard that during one of his “parties” in Kerala, someone brought a very young girl to Kannadhaasan. Kannadhaasan chided the person for bringing such a young girl to him and sent them away. Many years later, in the same situation, the little girl returned through the same source as a grown lady. When Kannadhaasan heard that the lady was the one he refused as a girl, the poet in him came up with the song, “Paavaadai thaavaniyil paartha uruvama idhu poovaadai veesivara pootha paruvamaa”. I don’t mean to add such salacious anecdotes for gossip’s sake, but to appreciate the poet inside the man always alert and resourceful in every occasion. I want to insist that this is a rumour that can’t be substantiated, so don’t ask for proof, I have none.
  
  
  
• From: Lollu Party (@ 61.6.38.132) on: Wed Apr 9 20:56:16 EDT 2003
  
  Uthaya, see here http://www.newtfmpage.com/my/lyricist/kannadasan_raj.html
  
  Maybe this lilnk should be up there in the intro to this thread.
  
  

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