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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 (@ 213.121.248.170) on: Wed Feb 5 05:54:24 EST 2003
  
  Another interesting story.
  
  Neethikke thuninthu nindren
  ninaipethallam jeyithu vanthen
  vethanaikku oru maganai
  veetinile valarthu vanthen....
  
  also,
  
  moonedrena vaithatho
  mannavan thalaiyile
  vallartha en kannano
  thanthayin nenjile
  vaaman avathaarame
  ithuthaan ulagile....
  
  these lines immediately flashed when i read your above posting. how apt. these songs are not only on father-son situation but can be for any old-new generation clash and also very very common in business.
  
  maayavanathan episode is related to a thread which discussed about the song 'Kaagitha Odam kadal alai meethu povathu poley' written by Kalaignar. same story but this time it was the turn of the MD. just not finding time and once when pressed he said 'maayavanaathan maayavanathan maayavanaathan... ithanyaa tune'. Kalaignar then wrote the above song and if you follow the tune, you can sing the whlole song with repeating only one word - maayavanaathan.
  I have a small doubt coming up now. i am a bit doubtful if the name was 'maayavanaathan'.
  
  looking forward to your next episode.
  
  
• From: Rajesh. (@ 167.202.196.72) on: Wed Feb 5 11:48:42 EST 2003
  
  Mahendra Raj,
  Your postings are superb ! I really enjoyed reading them. It's really nice to correlate well known songs to such incidents and appreciate kavignar's talent. Keep going !
  
  
• From: bb (@ 206.154.118.2) on: Wed Feb 5 12:42:52 EST 2003
  
  I guess the assistant R Mahendra Raj is referring to is Panchu Arunachalam. I've not read much about his relationship with Kannadasan. Can anyone elaborate?
  
  
• From: s0 (@ 139.95.250.2) on: Wed Feb 5 14:47:23 EST 2003
  
  bb: R Mahendra Raj andha assistant pera solla vendam-nu evvalavo paaththaaru. neenga ippadi pottu-nnu odachchutteengale!
  
  
• From: Lollu Party (@ 61.6.38.132) on: Thu Feb 6 00:10:01 EST 2003
  
  Seems like Kannadhasan was waiting for MSV to compose a song for a MGR movie by Ramana. Unfortunately, MSV who had just finished working three shifts, was sleeping. When Kannadhasan called, he was told that MSV was sleeping and could not be disturbed.
  
  Ramana pleaded with Kannadhasan to write the song first and explained the song situation. Duly, Kannadhasan wrote the Pallavi and went off.
  
  Later MSV learnt that Kannadhasan was waiting for him and rushed to the recording studio. Ramana gave him the song written by Kannadhasan and upon seeing it, MSV burst laughing. The song?
  Avanukkenna thoongivittaan agappattavan naan allava!
  
  
• From: R. Mahendra Raj (@ 210.186.2.112) on: Thu Feb 6 05:06:42 EST 2003
  
  Thanks for the info on Mayavanathan, Geeth. It is indeed heart warming to note that there are Kannadhasan fans out there globally especially amongst the present generation.
  
  As we all know K.Balachander was a trend-setter with controversial story themes in the late sixties and seventies. When KB commissioned Kannadhasan and MS Viswanathan into his team masterpieces were churned out in the likes of "Arangetram" "Aval Oru Thodarkathai" "Aboorva Raagangal" "Moondru Mudichu" "Avargal" "Pattina Previsam" "Nizhal Nijamagirathu" "Thappu Thaalangal" "Ninaithale Inikkum" "Nool Veli" "Varumayin Niram Sigappu" etc. Ever noticed that in each of these films the theme songs will tell the story of the whole film in a nutshell? That is Kannadhasan's speciality according to KB's specifications. While directing the film "Pattina Previsam" MSV came out with a unique tune which KB was instantly impressed. He requested MSV to use his good offices to persuade Kannadhasan to pen a suitable song for this unique tune. Until the late fifties it was the music directors who called the shots when composing songs. The song writers were at the mercy of the former. But Kannadhasan changed all that. When the order was reversed Kannadhasan stuck to it vehemently. Knowing Kannadhasan's principle and temperament MSV cautiously approached him by throwing a challenge to him to equate his tune with a suitable lyric. Kannadhasan, after the initial berating, asked MSV to play the tune on his harmonium. Whilst MSV's fingers were busy with the hamromium keys Kannadhasan completed the whole song in just 15 minutes. The song is "Vaa Nila Nilaa Alle" where every line ends with the syllable "laa". KB, known for everything novel was immensely impressed. When the song was completed at the recording studio Kannadhasan jokingly said that he forgot to include three imprtant "laas" in the song - they were "mother-in"la"w, "father-in-"la"w and "daughter-in-"la"w!! KB wanted very badly to introduce this unique pair into one of his films and he found it two years later in the film "Varumayin Niram Sigappu". Here Kamalhassan acts Kannadhasan and Sri Devi as MSV for the song "Chippi Irukuthu Muthum Irukuthu Thiranthu Paarka Neram Illadi Rajathi". At the end of the song one line goes like this "kavithai ulagam unnai kenjum unnai kandaal kavingar ullam konjum" which was a fact because Kannadhasan and MSV lived like a husband-and-wife team with all the antics! KB was satisfied that he managed to do his part for this team in celluloid form. This also reminds me of the film "Aboorva Raagangal" where KB was at a loss as to how to conclude this controversial story. He approached Kannadhasan to pen a suitable round-up song for the conclusion and thus the song "Kelviyin Naayagane Intha Kelviku Bathil Ethuya" was born in a jiffy. The film became a hit winning regional and national awards. Incidentally KB insisted that Kannadhasan acts himself in a small role in this film. He obliged him. These two genuises were buddies respecting each others' talents. When Kannadhasan's body was lying in state in Chennai after being brought back from Chicago KB refused to pay his last respects. The reason? He could not bring himself to see his lively buddy lying motionless. Even after his death KB makes it a point to infuse Kannadhasan's quotations or songs in his later films and tv serials. So the next time you listen to the song "Chippi Irukuthu..." try and visualise the Kannadhasan-MSV pair. Bye for now!
  
  
• From: OISG (@ 193.188.97.152) on: Thu Feb 6 06:13:25 EST 2003
  
  Mahendra Raj
  
  Some corrections on the music directors.
  
  Arangetram - V Kumar
  Thappu TahalngaL -Vijaya Bhaskar
  
  It is "Kavidhai ulagam Kenjum Unnai KandaL Kavignar idyam konjum"
  
  

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