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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: R. Mahendra Raj (@ 210.186.2.122) on: Mon Mar 17 02:48:04 EST 2003
  
  When I wrote about the background to 'Vasantha Maaligai (1972)' songs I forgot to include one pertinent point.
  
  Kannadhasan was engaged in writing the songs in one of the rooms of the studio purportedly owned by Rama Naidu who was also the producer of 'Vasantha Maaligai'. As usual he was surrounded by personnel involved in this film including the director and Kannadasan's assistant etc. Rama Naidu happened to pass by this room when he noticed the crowd around Kannadhasan who was casually lying on the bed dictating the songs.
  
  Naidu called for the director into his room and admonished him for treating the studio as a hotel room. At the same time he wanted to see the copies of the songs which Kannadasan had written for this film to determine further!
  
  When Rama Naidu was shown the copies the following day he was very.very impressed with it so much so he ordered a new bed and fittings to replace the old one in the studio! He directed that Kannadhasan could come anytime and do his work in this room!
  
  That reminds me of another incident. When I was staying in the Atlantic Hotel, Chennai some yhears ago, a senior hotel attendant whom I had had befriended took me to the suite where kaviarasar used to compose lyrics. According to the attendant, kaviarasar will request that the a/c be switched off and the ceiling fan to be activated. The other request will be to shut the bathroom door completely as he cannot stand the smell of antiseptic (fennoil). He will then take a pillow from the bed and place it on his lap to rest his forearms and sit cross-legged on the floor. The moment the story situation is told to him he will focus his eyes on the ceiling above like a yogi in deep meditation. Woila! the words come out perfecting the story's situations. All will be over in just a matter of two hours or so and then he will settle down to relax with his favourite drink with associates! This was a routine affair in Atlantic Hotel, it seems according to the hotel hand.
  
  This again reminds me of another local incident.
  
  Somewhere in the mid seventies, when kaviarasar used to frequent Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia he was staying as a guest of a veteran trade unionist in the latter's office which was furnished with hostel facilities. It was the season of Krishna Jayanthi and the government-owned radio station's Indian Services officials decided to interview kaviarasar on this topic since he was in town.
  
  V. Poobalan (an ardent fan of kaviarasar and later retired as head of Indian Section, Radio Malaysia) and the late Bairoji Narayanan, a veteran boradcaster and a devout vaishanavite iyengar, were assigned to carryout this task. The latter was sceptical as to whether this cinematic poet who was known earlier for his aethistic beliefs could talk about Krishna Jayanthi. Reluctantly he accepted the task and went with Poobalan to see kaviarasar in his room.
  
  Kaviarasar was lying on the bed when they entered and straight away without wasting time Bairoji Narayanan told him the raison de' etre of their visit. Without mincing words kaviarasar started to talk extensively on this topic even when the reel tape had ended! He was lying down throughout the interview!
  
  On the way back Bairoji Narayanan regretted his prejudice against Kannadhasan. He told to Poobalan that being a vaishnavite iyengar himself he was nothing compared to the vast knowledge of kaviarasar on Krishna Jayanthi.
  
  Bye the way, the late Bairoji Narayanan was an authority on Tamil cinema affairs in Radio Malaysia as well as the print media. He is none other than the elder brother of cine actor Malaysia Ravichandran (new generation actor Hamshavarthan's father). Incidentally, from the very first film (Kaathalikka Neramillai 1964) Ravichandran shot to popularity due to the numerous popular songs by Kannadhasan which he mouthed.
  
  Well folks, so much for speaking on "sleeping on the job" topic!! I notice that suddenly there is a terrifying silence out there. What happened to you folks? Why no comments? At least that will keep me moving. Kannadhasan is vast like the ocean. One can keep writing and writing on him. So, until I hear from you all folks bye for now!
  
  
• From: geeth (@ 213.121.248.170) on: Mon Mar 17 04:41:50 EST 2003
  
  mahendra raj, what else can we comment other than 'romba nallaa irukku'. there is a lot of eagerness everyday to visit this thread. looking forward to your next visit.
  
  
• From: lav (@ 192.39.39.106) on: Mon Mar 17 07:39:23 EST 2003
  
  I agree with what Geeth says. I also keep looking for updates in this thread.
  
  

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