‘Thendral vandhu veesaadho’ from Sivagangai Seemai (1959/ Kannadasan Productions)

Saravanan writes:

A vintage classic, this time. A song that moved me to tears when I first listened to it as a child, and had remained close to my heart all these years. And every time I read of a brave soldier losing his life defending his country, lines from this song come to sorrowful recall.

‘Thendral vandhu veesaadho’ from Sivagangai Seemai (1959/ Kannadasan Productions)
Sung by S. Varalakshmi & T.S. Bagavathi.
Lyrics by Kannadasan.
Music by Viswanathan-Ramamoorthi.



Sivagangai Seemai (1959) was Kannadasan’s labour of love, He wrote the script & lyrics and produced the film. It was his second venture in the wake of the success of Maalaiyitta Mangai the previous year. Sivagangai Seemai was directed by K. Shankar, and had a talented star cast led by T.K.Bagavathi, SSR, P.S.Veerappa, OAK Thevar, S.Varalakshmi, Kumari Kamala, M.N.Rajam and others.

Much has been discussed about Sivagangai Seemai- that Kannadasan embarked on this project as a challenge to Sivaji’s Veerapandiya Kattabomman which was also being made at the same time, and this flamed further the simmering animosity between Kannadasan and Sivaji Ganesan. Unfortunately for Kannadasan, Sivagangai Seemai was consigned back to the cans within no time of its release while the successful Veerapandiya Kattabomman was acclaimed as a magnum opus. Kannadasan ended up with a huge financial loss.

Sivagangai Seemai might have been a failure, but it was surely a failure that made history. For it remains among the best historical films made in Tamil. Kannadasan's native soil was the canvas, and he was familiar with its glorious culture, history, geography. He had a keen sense of the period, and his passion ensured that Sivagangai Seemai was much more than a commonplace costume drama. The film is immortal for another irrefutable factor- its wonderful songs composed by Viswanathan- Ramamoorthi.

Kannadasan had not written mere situational lyrics here, the lines and soaked with with poetic magnificence. Each song ought to be savored conscientiously, for the sheer poetry bedecked in V-R’s imaginative tunes feelingly rendered by a galaxy of talented singers fetches this album a place of pride in the annals of Tamil film music.

The film had 16 songs in all:

Saanthu pottu thalalanga - P. Leela, Jamunarani & chorus ( recorded earlier for an abandoned MGR project based on Maruthupandiyar)
Veerargal vaazhum dravidar naattai vendravar kidaiyaadhu -TMS
Muthu pugazh padaithu - S. Varalakshmi & (Radha) Jayalakshmi
Kottu melam kottungadi kummi kotti paadungadi- Jikki & chorus
Chinna china chittu Sivagangaiyai vittu- Jamunarani & chorus
Vaigai perugivara- C.S.Jayaraman & P. Leela
Maruvirukkum koonthal (traditional verse) - V.N. Sundaram
Aalikkum kaigal -V.N. Sundaram
Kannankaruthaa Kili kattazhagan thotta kili - P. Leela & chorus
Kanavu kandaen (happy) - TMS & T.S. Bagavathi
Thanimai nerndhadho - S. Varalakshmi
Thendral vandhu veesaadho - S. Varalakshmi & T.S. Bagavathi
Megam kuvindhadhamma – P. Susheela
Sivagangai cheemai -TMS, Seergazhi Govindarajan, A.P. Komala & chorus
Vidiyum vidiyum endrirundhoam - T.S. Bagavathi
Kanavu kandaen (pathos)- T.S. Bagavathi

* * * *
Circa the last years of the eighteenth century…

The (East India) Company is gradually establishing its complete control of the land using its crafty ‘divide and rule’ policy to subjugate the local chieftains and rulers.
Kattabomman had just been vanquished and hung from a roadside tamarind tree.
Oomaithurai, Kattabomman's brother escapes from the Company's penitentiary and seeks refuge with the Marudu brothers (elder played by T.K. Bagavathi, and the younger played by Mustafa)
From my limited awareness of this history, the Marudu brothers were Poligars (or PaalaiyakaarargaL/ Feudal Chiefs) who were ruling what was known as Sivagangai Seemai(consisting of Thekkoor, Okkoor, Siruvayal, Poongudi, Tirupattoor, Narikkudi, Tirumayam, Mukkulam, Naalukottai and Nattarasankottai).

The Company gets a hint of Oomaithurai’s whereabouts and Major Welsh (played by Wahab Kashmiri) comes to arrest Oomaithurai. The Marudu brothers realize the strength of the company's army and ammunition and do not want an open confrontation. They plead for Oomaithurai's life.
But Major Welsh does not set much store by dignity or compassion; and in the very presence of the Marudu brothers make bold to arrest Oomaithurai. This brings matters to a boiling point- in the film, S.S.R, called Muthazhagu, the fiery army chief of the brothers, has been purveying inflammatory remarks all the while, and in time the younger Marudu is also provoked into challenging the Company's men.

Welsh and co. beat a hasty retreat, but make no secret of the action against the Marudhu brothers that is sure to follow. The senior Marudhu in fact chastises the younger for precipitating the state into war.
It is at this juncture, when the rumble of the white man’s guns seem imminent, when turbulent clouds of war loom threateningly...and the feudal land and its traditions seem on the verge of being annexed by the almighty Union Jack...that the wives of the Marudhu brothers sing this heartrending lullaby to their little children-the infants who are blissfully unaware of the historical forces that are crisscrossing their destinies. This lullaby is sung in the shadow of the clash between sword and gun...You know which is set to win...

This lullaby was picturized on S. Varalakshmi and Tambaram Lalitha who essayed the roles of the wives of the Marudu brothers. S.Varalakshmi sings for herself and Bagavathi sings for Tambaram Lalitha.

* * * *

We’ll keep for another day dwelling at length on Varalakshmi (she was the enchanting common factor to both Veerapandiya Kattabomman and Sivagangai Seemai) and Bagavathi (a favorite singer of Kannadasan, he had her sing ‘Annaiyin naattai pagaivargal soozhndaar’ in Maalaiyitta Mangai and ‘Kannodu vin pesum jaadai’ in Kavalai Illadha Manithan). In fact both these gifted singers find laudatory references in Kannadasan’s Sandhithen Sindhithen.
Kannadasan lives on in songs such as these. Though a fire-spewing Dravidian orator at that time, his essential humanity and aversion to blood and gore came through in this lullaby and he expressed it in sublime pathos.

Many of us would have been struck with gloom at each reading of the lines ’Rose a nurse of ninety years, set his child upon her knee - Like summer tempest came her tears-‘Sweet my child, I live for thee.’ (Alfred, Lord Tennyson/ Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead); admiration tinged with sorrow would have overcome us when we read “You ’re wounded!” “Nay,” the soldier’s pride touch’d to the quick, he said: “I ’m kill’d, Sire!” And his chief beside, smiling the boy fell dead’ (Robert Browning/ Incident Of The French Camp); we would have been plagued with despair at ‘Two noble sons fell by their guns, their names in glory shine; And a mother weeps on the River Thames, and a mother weeps on the Rhine’ (Eric Bogle / The Thames And The Rhine); but ‘Thendral vandhu veesaadho’ is in a league of its own….each line is resplendent with poignant lyrical beauty, and moves the listener to moist eyes, and to sigh at the futility of war and the wanton devastation that it brings in its wake.

The two women wonder wistfully whether tranquil times will visit their abode ever again…they sing musingly of the rich culture, glorious traditions and ancient history of their land and speculate if all this would be snatched away by the war, and express helplessness over the deprivations that their children may have to endure. The highpoint is of course, Varalakshmi’s emotional cascade, proclaiming with pride the courage of their warriors who are to take leave of their womenfolk and children and march on to the warfront, at the same time she tremulously expresses apprehension about their fate, whether their valiant men would return from the battlefront, or perish fighting for their land….

A song. A saga.

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