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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 (@ 195.226.230.37) on: Thu Feb 27 00:44:01 EST 2003
  
  mahendraraj, nice writeup on bottle songs of kavinjar. that reminds me of the great bottle songs in Vasantha Maaligai. did kavinjar write all the songs in that movie. who can ever forget the mesmerising one -
  kudippatharkku oru manam irunthaal, avaLai maranthu vidalaam
  marappatharkku oru manam irunthaal, kudithu vidalaam
  aanaal iruppatho oru manathu....
  
  and the all time classic - yaarukkaga....
  
  not to forget the bottle party song -
  oru kiNNathai yenthukiren
  pala eNNathil neenthukiren.....
  
  must have been a great party time in Vasantha Maaligai sets !
  
  
• From: geeth (@ 195.226.230.37) on: Thu Feb 27 00:57:42 EST 2003
  
  i have read years before about a song situation in '16 Vayadhiniley' where kavinjar wrote the song 'aatukutti muttayittu'. Barathiraja and Illayaraja were discussing about the song situation and especially on the saranam where BR explained that the lady (with sweet voice) will appear out of the fields and to kamal's and sridevi's surprise it will be a old woman. they felt that the punch line in this saranam should be something like 'chinna vayasu eNNangaL' but they were unable to tell kavinjar that. Kavinjar's seniority and status were too high when compared to BR (first movie) and IR (early stages) at that period of time. they could only explain the situation and found it difficult to suggest lines to him.
  and for that saranam, kavinjar finished with a punch line - pazhaiya nenapputhaan peraandi, pazhaiya nenapputhaan..
  there were claps and appreciation !
  
  
• From: lav (@ 192.39.39.31) on: Thu Feb 27 06:36:08 EST 2003
  
  Nice thread. Though I am born and brought up in TN (Studied my PG in Karaikudi and I had been to Kannadasan Manimandapam there too), I did not have much chance to know so much about Kannadasan. Now, in UK, I am an ardent fan of this thread. Good work by all of you.
  
  
• From: R. Mahendra Raj (@ 203.106.49.202) on: Thu Feb 27 10:06:00 EST 2003
  
  Well folks it is indeed heartening to see your inputs as well as feedbacks.
  
  Yes, when kavingyar saw the Telugu version of 'Vasantha Maaligai' ,as mentioned earlier, after first penning the song 'kalaimagal kai porule' we wrote the subsequent ones the following day but with the nostalgia still fresh in him. Thats why all the songs mentioned above are sort of inter-related with alcohol as the theme.
  
  Re-'16 Vayithinile'. Once a reader asked K.Bhagyaraj in his weekly "Bhagya" as to whether the former had the chance to meet up with Kaviarasar. He replied that the first time ever he saw our legend was when the latter was in session with Bharathiraja and Ilayaraja to compose two songs for '16 Vayahtinile'. Bhagyaraj was the assistant director for that film. He just stood there speechless while Ilayaraja was giving the saranam Kaviarasar penned all the lines in a jiffy especially for the song 'aatukutti muttai ittu'. Hitherto he Bhagyraj)was used to seeing lyricists struggling with the appropriate lines for song situations but this was totally a new experience for him. He could'nt believe his eyes as Kannadhasan appeared simple and humble throughout although being a veteran in the cine industry and working with green horns like him (Bhagyaraj), Barathiraja and Ilayaraja.
  
  Sankar, as I had mentioned earlier in this thread MSV sometimes gets his facts mixed up. Typical of him! That reminds me of one incident when kaviarasar was in a studio composing songs for a film on the same floor where MSV was struggling to lend tune for the song "sindunathiyinil isai.." (Kai Kodutha Deivam - 1964). He went over to the studio where kaviarasar was in and asked him whether he could change the line 'sundara teluginil paatisaithu' especially the word 'paatisaithu'. His argument was that it sounded like 'patti setthu' (grandmother died)when read in combination. Kaviarasar in all frankness told him that he did not write this song but Bharathiyar. Without waiting for him to finish the sentence MSV started looking for Bharathiyar in the studio!
  According to Kaviarasar music is MSV's world and he his not bothered by any worldy affairs. There are lots of stories of this kind which I will narrate later. Hence when MSV tells sosmething especially where it involves dates, names of persons etc. one should not take it seriously.
  
  When I wrote about MGR-Kannadhasan relationship earlier I forgot to mention one pertinent incident.
  
  When BR Banthulu was producing and directing 'Aayirathil Oruvan'(1965) MGR insisted on a motivational song to be sung on the ship's deck in the middle of the ocean. Banthulu tried his best to extract such a song from Vaali and other cine poets but not to his or MGR's satisfaction. Finally, Banthulu, a long time friend of kaviarasar, hesitatingly suggested the latter's name to MGR. During this period their political rivalry was at its peak. MGR had repeatedly told all and sundry that his political animosity with kaviarasar should in no way interfere with their respective professions. But it was the producers who dared not ask Kannadhasan in for fear of reprisal from MGR. Of course, Devar was an exception.
  
  MGR agreed to the suggestion which set Banthulu to telephone kaviarasar in his home. Setting aside all formalities he (kaviarasar) asked Banthulu of the song situation and before he could finish he gave him the first stanza over the phone and promised that he will come to the studio the following day to complete the same. The stanza was "atho antha paravaigal pola vaazhavendum, itho intha alaigal pola aadavendum". MGR was satisfied with the stanza at the first glance itself. Kaviarasar came the following day as promised to complete the song. MGR was impressed with this song and he requested for two more songs from kaviarasar amongst which were the classics "odum megangale oru sol keliro" and "naanamo". MGR commented to those present in kaviarasar's absence that no one can beat the genuis in Kannadhasan. He remarked that all the other poets were blank as to motivation in the middle of the sea for them to be inspired to come out with a suitable song. But the genius Kannadhasan saw the birds and waves in his mind where others had failed to notice in their imagination - they only noticed the vast ocean below and the sky above.
  
  Incidentally this song "atho antha paravai pola", it seems, has been translated with a few changes here and there to serve as the national anthem for Vietnam. I read this piece of info sometimes ago.
  
  See you all on March 3 as I am very busy with some important office meetings.
  
  
  
• From: Sankar (@ 203.124.138.34) on: Fri Feb 28 11:46:59 EST 2003
  
  I am looking for references from any of you regarding the views of Kavingyar about nadigar thilagam and vice versa.. do you have any to share ??
  
  

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