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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 (@ 210.186.0.118) on: Thu Mar 20 04:18:17 EST 2003
  
  Thanks Mani. The thread is getting livelier with your inputs!
  
  Re - 'Aboorva Raagangal' please refer my earlier thread. Just for the record, KB was impressed with the climax song ('Kelviyin naayaganae')and regarded Kannadhasan as a saviour to his predicament who came in the nick of time to put a finishing touch to this controversial story. Just to express his thanks and gratitude he included the scene where Kannadhasan acts out as himself and a patient of Nagesh, the doctor. This scene was shot when the filming of 'Aboorva Raagangal' had already ended. Actually there was no relevance of this scene (Kannadhasan/Nagesh) to the plot of 'Aboorva Raagangal'. Perhaps it was KB's imitable style of saying thanks to kaviarasar and making him even more popular through this visual.
  
  Bye the way both Nagesh and Thangaveloo (comedians) were ardent fans as well as personal friends of kaviarasar. The latter can also be seen often glorifying Kannadhasan's name throughout the film 'Lalitha' (1977).
  
  Re - the interview by Bairoji and Poobalan. I was told by the latter that both were mesmerized when Kannadhasan started to talk so much so that they did'nt realise that the tape had long stopped. Poobalan intimated to me that throughout the interview he (Poobalan) was admiring the grey matter inside Kannadhasan's head!
  
  However, lets not go into technical details for it will put a damper to the aim of this thread. Lets'just grasp the essence and only the overview for the benefit of kaviarasar's fans.
  
  As regards to "Nenjikku Nimmathi" are you sure this song was excluded from the film 'Naangu Killaadigal 1970'?
  
  About the controversial song 'Ethirpaaramal nadanthathudi' ('Thani Piravi 1966). As was well known in the film circle Chinnappa Devar and MGR were actually old time buddies stretching to the days when MGR was struggling to make it into the industry whilst Devar was known as sandow for acting the same in minor roles. They were in the same neighbourhood and once when Devar came to visit MGR in his house he was shocked to find MGR, his brother Chakrabani and mother had not taken any meals because they had no means. Devar immediately went back to his house's kitchen and stealthily took three to four handful of uncooked rice and put them into his short khaki pants which he was fond of wearing at that time. To escape the vigilant eyes of his mother he took the back exit and headed towards MGR's house and emptied the rice onto a pot and asked MGR's mother to cook. Such was the friendship of Devar and MGR. Of course, for one period of time they had had bad blood between them when Devar went ahead to produce films without MGR. That is a different story altogether.
  
  From "Thaai Solle Thattathe'(1961)the bond between MGR/Devar/Kannadhasan began to grow. Initially, Kannadhasan handled the script of this film but almost half way through he could'nt proceed due his many commitments in other films. He excused himself and told Devar that he will concentrate on the songs alone.
  
  Prior to this Kannadhasan handled the scripts of MGR's masterpeices which were all period films mostly based on ancient kingdom stories. When MGR was booked to act in 'Thirudaathae (1958)' [produced by AL Sreenivasan, elder brother of Kannadhasan] he requested Kannadhasan to give his best in the scriptwriting as this movie , his first in a modern social theme, should set standards of some sorts. That film was a hit and and the next big social theme hit to follow was 'Thaai Sollae Thattathae' (1961) with MGR's insistence that Kannadhasan should do the scripting.
  
  Devar, being a diehard Muruga devotee, as mentioned earlier in this thread, became obsessed with this idea of persuading MGR to act as Lord Murugan for a song scene in 'Thani Piravi' (1966). Of course, MGR when approached was apprehensive at first as his image in the eyes of DMK will be severely damaged if he acts in a puranic role. Being also shrewd that such a role may even garner support from temple-going men and women voters who also form a sizeable chunk of the Tamil Nad population MGR agreed to take the risk. He obliged Devar's insistence but with the condition that the role must be one without he having to do any movements as in other song situations. Kaviarasar penned the song "Ethir paaramal nadanthathudi" and it became the talk of the town as it was the first time people got to see MGR in such a role although during his formative years he had had acted in such minor roles in puranic films. The first stanza of the song itself conveys the song situation message indirectly!
  
  Incidentally, in a duet song "Kannathil ennadi kaayam" in the same film kaviarasar made one indirect reference to MGR when the word 'chinnavar' ("....chinnavarai poe keylum kannadi mun nindru paarum") is mentioned. MGR was known as 'chinnavar' whilst his brother Chakrabani 'periavar' in the film circle.
  
  By the way, MGR fondly addresses kaviarasar as "aandavare", a direct reference to his hit song "Oru koppayilae en kudiyiruppu" where he claims to be God ("naan padaipathinaal en peyr iraivan"). Kaviarasar addresses MGR 'saami'! What a name for a person who belonged to an almost aethist party! Could it be that Kannadhasan knew all along of MGR's spirituality hence the sarcastic nickname!?
  
  So there was nothing wrong in penning the song "Ethirpaaramal nadanthathudi" was'nt it!?
  
  Anyway, MGR looked cute without his trade mark moustache and overgrown for a teenaged Lord Murugan! This song scene was politicised, of course, by both his (MGR's) supporters and opponents alike during the election period at that time.
  
  Mani, your turn to add on.
  
  
  
• From: R.Mahendra Raj (@ 210.186.0.118) on: Thu Mar 20 04:28:43 EST 2003
  
  SK I agree with you that kaviarasar was very much attached to Modern Theatres. He had, time and again, referred to his prime of life days which were spent in Modern Theatres, Salem and yearned for those carefree days. In a recent issue of Kumudham weekly there was an article on Mordern Theatres Ltd. building in Salem. In that article it was mentioned that this was the place where kaviarasar started his career as a songwriter.
  
  I also agree with you that he was compelled to compose lyrics for lifted tunes from popular Hindi/English songs. Although he hated to do this nevertheless he carried on for the love and sake of MTL.
  
  If time permits I will narrate some incidents which took place in MTL involving kaviarasar.
  
  
• From: Sankar (@ 203.124.138.34) on: Thu Mar 20 04:35:01 EST 2003
  
  In the Film Aadhi Parasakthi, there is one great song by TMS - ' Solladi Abhirami'...In this song, the last stanza starts as
  
  Sengkaiyyil Vandu galim galim endru
  Jayam Jayam endrada....
  and goes upto
  Malar pangayame unnai paadiya pillai mun
  Nilavu ezhunthada...
  
  This particular stanza was adapted by kavingyar from Kutraala Kuravanchi by Thirikooda Raasappa Kavirayar where there is on song describing how the hereoine Vasanthasena plays ball with her friends. Edutthu aalvadhu enpadhu kavingyarukku kai vaandha kalai..
  
  
• From: Ramki (@ 161.150.2.31) on: Thu Mar 20 07:43:49 EST 2003
  
  Manisekaran, 'nenjukku nimmadhi' was picturised on Bharathi and jaishankar and the song is there in the movie.
  
  
• From: Saravanan (@ 195.229.241.233) on: Thu Mar 20 10:38:28 EST 2003
  
  sk- Perhaps you got confused with the song 'Pozhuthum vidiyum poovum malarum poruthiruppaai kanna' from Vallavanukku Vallavan-1965.It bears a remarkable similarity to the song 'Nenjukku nimmadhi' from Naangu Killadigal-1969. Both are Modern Theatres-Veda-PS-Kannadasan songs. Both songs appear in the respective films.
  
  Sankar- that was interesting. The original 'Senagayil vandu' was also heard in the film Kuravanji-1960, sung by CSJ & PL.
  
  Mahendraraj- please continue your interesting posts.
  
  

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