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Vairamuthu's Algorithm for Lyrics

Topic started by Sathiya Keerthi (@ synergy.nus.edu.sg) on Mon Mar 16 01:09:54 EST 1998.
All times in EST +10:30 for IST.

I recently came across the following (old) article
by Ramesh Mahadevan on how Vairamuthu follows
certain formulas for writing lyrics.

http://www.indolink.com/tamil/cinema/Features/Misc/algorithm/algorithm.htm

I am starting this thread to discuss these and
other formulas in TFM. Did Kannadhasan or Vaali
have any formulas at all?

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Responses:

• From: Sathiya Keerthi (@ synergy.nus.edu.sg) on: Mon Mar 16 01:11:40 EST 1998
  
  Something messed-up the link. Here it is:
  
  http://www.indolink.com/tamil/cinema/Features/Misc/algorithm/algorithm.htm
  
  
• From: Bhaskar (@ freeway.proxy.lucent.com) on: Mon Mar 16 11:51:01 EST 1998
  
  Keerthi Sir,
  
  Indha Link pOi paarthaen, romba romba sirippaga irundhadhu :-))))))))))))))))))))))))
  
  Thanks for the pointer.
  
  
• From: bs (@ www1.access.bt.com) on: Mon Mar 16 15:02:14 EST 1998
  
  SathyaKeerthi:
  Ramesh Mahadevan's article is good,funny & thoughtful.. Well in almost every film VM has got algorithmic songs..
  
  BS
  
  
• From: Sathiya Keerthi (@ synergy.nus.edu.sg) on: Tue Mar 17 01:25:00 EST 1998
  
  Latest-aaga release aana Jeans padaththilum VM thannudaya
  algorithmic approach-ai use paNNi pichchu vaangiyirukkiRaar.
  haira haira hairabbaa -- enakkE enakkaa paadalil VM,
  padaththin heroine-ai describe paNNa use paduththiya oru adjective:
  
  50 Kg TajMahal
  
  I can guess what happened. VM * Kg TajMahal endru ezhudhi
  ARR-Shankar-idam thandhiruppaar; Shankar A'Roy-ukku oru weight
  test vachchu adhu 55.2Kgs endru kaatta, sari short-aaga 50Kg endru
  (if rounded to 60 A'Roy will get upset, you know) round paNNi,
  adhai aimbadhu enbadhaa alladhu fifty endru paaduvadhaa
  endru vivaadhiththu, sari, fifty goes better with ARR's thandhananaa
  endru decide paNNiyiruppaargaL! Aha, OhO, what a scientific approach
  to Lyrics!
  
  IdhE paadalil varum innOru adjective:
  
  Bike-il vandha nandhavanam.
  
  Ingu VM-in formula-vai naanO alladhu yaarO use paNNi, eththanai adjectives-um
  invent paNNalaam. flight-il vandha maadappuRaa, train-il vandha puLLi
  maan, rocket-il vandha veNNilavu are some I can immediately think of.
  Indha particular adjective hero heroine-ai paarththu paadum situation-ukku
  mattumallaamal, general-purpose use-ukkum ubayOgappadum. Ippa, Gowndamani
  Sendhil-ai patri paada ippadi adjectives vENdumendraal, VM adhaRkku ERppa,
  Boat-il vandha kadal paNNi, Ship-il vandha neer yaanai, Lorry-il vandha
  Gorilla endrum kooda nagaichchuvaiyudan ezhuthuvaar.
  
  Ada, innOru adjective-ai vittuttEnE adhE paadalil: fax-il vandha peNkavidai.
  Ennaa imagination! IdhaippOl, courier-il vandha poRchilai endrO, alladhu
  ftp-yil vandha ponnOviyam endrO aduththaduththa padangaLil varum
  paadalgaLil varum endru nambikkai koLLalaam.
  
  Jeans padaththil innOru formula paattu irukku:
  
  poovukkuL oLindhirukkum kani koottam adhisayam
  vaNNaththu poochchi udambil OviyangaL adhisayam
  thuNai sellum kaatru mellisaiyaadhal adhisayam
  gurunaadhar illaadha kuyil paattu adhisayam
  
  Shankar, VM-idam, ulaga adhisayangaL ellaavatriRkkum sendru oru paadal
  scene edukkap pOgiROm; adhukku ERppa, oru adhisayap paadal ondru ezhudhi
  thaarungaL endru solli sendravudan VM than veettu thOttaththil ideas
  kidaikka ulaavap pOga, angu avar paarththadhai vaiththE paadalin pallaviyai
  mudiththu vittaar endru nandraaga theriyudhu. Paadalin pallaviyil pOttadhu
  mElE sonna 4 mattum; aanaal avarukku innum niRaya easy-aaga nichchayam
  thOndriyirukkum (seekkiram ivai Kumudhaththil varum); some I can think of:
  
  chinnanjiru vidhai peru maramaavadhu adhisayam
  vaanaththil valam varum minviLakku adhisayam
  
  Veettil avar vandhu bathroom-il water tap-ai thiRandhaal, enna
  aachcharyam: thaNNeer varudhu! udanE avar kuRumbaaga ippadiyum
  ezhudhalaam:
  
  Chennaiyin kuzhaayil thaNNeer varuvadhu aanadha adhisayam
  
  Indha maadhiri adhisaya formula-vai naamum namakku Etrapadi use paduththalaam;
  ARR Tunes-il eedupaadu illaadhavargaL:
  
  ARR songs hit aavadhu puriyaadha adhisayam
  
  endrum, Deva-vin kEli-padaiyinar,
  
  Deva original tune pOttaa adhu adhisayaththilum adhisayam
  
  endrum paadalaam. Thiru Munaa Kaanaa, election results therinjadhum,
  
  J-vukku Vote-u pOtta ThamizhargaLin muttaaLthanam asingamaana adhisayam
  
  Oh, what a variety of formulas does VM have!! No wonder
  he is the favourite for TFM MDs! Enna thandhanaanaa koduththaalum
  adhukku eedaaga avaridam irukku ekkachakka formulas and fill-in-the-blanks
  ideas.
  
  I believe, there are several formula songs from Kannadhasan also.
  kodi asaindhadhum kaatru vandhadhaa pOndra karuththukkaL koNda
  varigaL nichchayam paRppala ezhuthalaam sulabamaaga. At the same time,
  one cannot term a song such as aththik kaai kaai kaai as a routine
  formula stuff (if you carefully see the lyrics you will see what I mean),
  eventhough the word kaai keeps repeating any number of times;
  personally, I consider this song as a masterpiece from Kannadhasan. Vaali-yum
  nichchayam pala formula paadalgaL ezhuthiyiruppaar. It would be interesting to
  recall such songs in this thread. For example, in Pesum Dheivam there is
  a song that starts, aazhiyilE piRavaadha alaimagaLO. Now immediately
  one can guess what is coming in the next lines: kalaimagaL and
  malaimagaL and their properties! That's precisely what Vaali gives.
  Kavinjar wrote a formula title song for the movie, SubhaDhinam
  where this phrase keeps repeating. Does anyone remember details of this
  song? The only line I can remember is: niRaikudam pOndroru thiraippadam
  vandhaal rasiganukku adhudhaan subhadhinam.
  
  Folks:
  Let us recall other formula-songs from TFM.
  
  
• From: NOV (@ 202.184.134.10) on: Tue Mar 17 01:58:31 EST 1998
  
  Aandukku aandu, theithikku thethi, aayiram irukkuthu suba thinam
  Aduththavar nalaththei ninaippavar thamakku, aayul muzhuthum suba thinam
  
  
• From: Kanchana (@ ww-ta02.proxy.aol.com) on: Tue Mar 17 09:36:41 EST 1998
  
  Keerthi:
  That was a funny analysis of kaviyarasu vairamuththu's poetic skills. I believe your statement "enna dhandhanna thALam thandhAlum..." captures why he is where he has been for the past two decades (roughly).
  
  kavi maRaindhadhum thamizh maRaindhadhum
  poruL kuRaindhadhum iruL niRaindhadhum
  kAlam enbadhA thALam enbadhA
  pulamai enbadhA pudhumai enbadhA
  [borrowing from the last stanza of kaNNadhAsan's formula song kodi asaindhadhum :-) ]
  
  Some more "list" songs from yester-years:
  mAlai soodum maNa nAL--nichchaya thAmpoolam
  andRu vandhadhum idhE nilA--periya idaththup peN
  
  
  
• From: Pagalavan (@ bbn-cache-4.cisco.com) on: Tue Mar 17 10:33:36 EST 1998
  
  SK
  
  some more:
  naan pEsa ninaippathellam - paalum pazhamum
  uRavu enRoru sollirunthaal - idhayaththil nee
  
  
• From: Sathiya Keerthi (@ synergy.nus.edu.sg) on: Tue Mar 17 23:33:32 EST 1998
  
  Kanchana:
  
  UngaL kavidhai azhagu. I tell you, you are very
  good at writing lyrics that perfectly suit a
  given thandhanaanaa.
  
  Pagalavan:
  
  Adadaa, naan pEsa ninaippadhellaam paadalai
  indha formula vagaiyil sErththutteengaLE!
  Padu sOgamaayittEn :-(
  Kanchana: What do you say about this?
  
  
• From: Kanchana (@ ww-te03.proxy.aol.com) on: Wed Mar 18 00:25:11 EST 1998
  
  Keerthi:
  ungaL pArAttukku nandRi. Tell you what, when you become an MD, I'll be more than happy to write lyrics for the thandhanaanaa from your KB :-)
  
  Re nAn pEsa ninaippadhellAm:
  The entire song answers one question, viz, kaNavan-manaivi mana niRaivukku enna vENdum? So, it is technically a list song but is meaningful and fits the situation/characters.
  
  I was trying quite hard to come up with some of these formula songs from the kaNNadhAsan era, but found most of them to be meaningful even if they are in list, answer, puzzle formats. Do they constitute formula songs? neenga enna ninaikkireenga?
  
  
• From: Pagalavan (@ bbn-cache-4.cisco.com) on: Wed Mar 18 00:54:51 EST 1998
  
  SK
  
  I listed both naan pEsa ninaippathellaam and uRavu enRoru for their structural oRRumai. But both these are meaningful and situation oriented as Kanchana pointed out.
  
  IMHO, VM writes algorithmic approach based songs for all those "summa oru love song ezhuthunga sir" kind of requirements. He does not prefer to use this for situation oriented songs (and that is the difference between his and the list I added above).
  
  
• From: Sathiya Keerthi (@ panorama.nus.edu.sg) on: Wed Mar 18 01:32:37 EST 1998
  
  Pagalavan & Kanchana:
  
  I get what you are saying. Even when writing a song
  that fits a movie situation (as opposed to a general
  purpose kaadhal song) I think one can follow an
  algorithmic approach. By this, what I mean is that
  a theme is set-up and is followed again and again
  a number of times, via different examples. One
  song that comes to my mind is from Kulamagal Radhai:
  
  pagalilE chandhiranai paarkkap pOnEn
  avan iravilE varuvadhaaga oruththi sonnaaL
  
  kadalilE meen pidikka naanum pOnEn
  meen tharaiyilERi pOnadhaaga oruththi sonnaaL
  
  padagilE manadhai Etri naanum pOnEn
  paadhaiyilE mOdhumpadi oruththi sonnaaL
  
  aalayaththil aaNdavanai paarkka pOnEn
  avan arththa jaama poojaiyilE paarkka sonnaaL
  
  maalai ondru kaiyil koNdu naanum pOnEn
  avaL malarai mattum udhirththuvittu pOga sonnaaL
  
  The point is: I can easily follow the algorithm
  and write many more similar lines! Even with
  this generalization I am unable to come-up with
  many examples. I guess even VM doesn't have too
  many such formula songs!
  
  

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