Remembering Bharathidasan on his death anniversary..

Saravanan Natarajan writes:

On the anniversary of Bharathidasan’s demise today, let us salute the great bard, recall his prolific output, and of particular interest to us, his involvement with Tamil cinema….

While many of Bharathidasan’s verses have become part of Tamil film music history, he also wrote lyrics specifically for a few films in the early years. His first film as a lyricist was Sri Ramanujar (1938/ Yessel Films), though Balamani (or Pakka Thirudan/ 1937/ Sri Shanmugananda Talkies), released a year earlier was the first to carry his lyrics. He wrote both the script and lyrics for Kaalamegam(1940/ Sri Dhandapani Films). He then joined the Modern Theatres and wrote for films like Subadra-1946, Sulochana-1947, Aayiram Thalai Vaangiya Aboorva Chinthamani-1947 and Ponmudi- 1950. The last film for which Bharathidasan penned lyrics was Valaiyaapathi (1952/ Modern Theatres), for which he wrote the dialogues as well. And when his line ‘Kamizhnthidum poovillelaam’ was altered to ‘Kulungidum poovillellam’ without his consent, Bharathidasan is said to have stormed out in indignation from the Studios, never to return.

Meanwhile, the trend of using verses from Bharathidasan’s poetry collections for film songs had caught on. Or Iravu - 1951(‘Thunbam nergayil yaazheduthu nee’) set the trend. And R. Sudarsanam used Bharathidasan’s lines again in Parasakthi-1952 (‘Vaazhga vaazhga vaazhgave’). Over the years, both while Bharathidasan was alive and afterwards, many composers have set his verses to tune:

MSV-TKR did it in their very first film Panam-1952 (‘Pasiyendru vandhaal oru pidi soru’) and later in among their last films together- Panchavarnakkili –1965 (‘Thamizhukkum amuthendru peyar’); Govindarajulu Naidu (‘Andha vaazhvu thaan endha naal varum’/Andaman Kaidhi / 1952), S.Dakshinamoorthi -of course he was the composer for Valaiyaapathi as well- (‘Adho paaradi avare en kanavar’/ Kalyani/1952), G.Ramanathan (‘Pandian en sollai thaandipponaandi’/ Thirumbippaar/ 1953 & ‘’Neelavaan aadaikkul udal maraithu’ /Gomathiyin Kaadhalan/1955), Aadhi Narayana Rao & M.Ranga Rao (‘Thaayagame vaazhga thaayagame vaazhga’/ Poonkothai/ 1953), T.G.Lingappa (‘Vennilavum vaanum pole’ / Kalyanam Panniyum Bhramachari/ 1954), C.S.Jayaraman (‘Aalaiyin sange nee oodhaayo’ / Rathakkaneer/ 1954).

T.R.Papa (‘Thalaivaari poochootti unnai’/ Rangon Radha/ 1956), T.R.Ramnath (‘Aadarkkalaikkazhagu thedappirandhaval’/ Naane Raja/1956), R.Sudarsanam again (Vetkkamillai vetkkamillai’ /Kuladeivam/1956 & ‘Valiyor silar eliyor thamai’ / Manimagudam/1966), S.Rajeswara Rao (‘Paadi paadi paadi vaadi’ & ‘’Orey oru paisa’/ Petra Manam/ 1960), Kunnakkudi Vaithyanathan (‘Engengu kaaninum sakthiyada’/ Namma Veettu Deivam/1970), Shankar-Ganesh (‘Chithira Cholaigale’/ Naan Yaen Pirandhen/1972), Ilayaraja (‘Kaalai ilam parithiyile’/Kannan Oru Kaikkuzhandhai/1978), M. B. Srinivasan (‘Amma undhan kai valaiyaai’/ Nijangal/ 1982) and Vidyasagar (‘Thoongum puliyai’/ Puratchikkaran/2000).

And at times the same song has found place in more than one film: ‘Sange muzhangu’ was heard first in En Magal (1954/ composed by C.N.Pandurangan) and later in Kalangarai Vilakkm (1965/ composed by MSV). ‘Pudhiyadhor ulagam seivom’ was heard first in Chandrodhayam (1966/ composed by MSV) and again in Pallandu Vaazhga (1975/ composed by KVM), though in the earlier song, the lines after the opening were from other works of Bharathidasan.

Tamil film music has thus been gloriously enriched time and again by the immortal verses of the great Paavendhar.

Vennilavum vaanum pole: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAAcBLfMvp0
Thunbam nergaiyil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLV7EQJULdY
Thamizhukkum amudhendru peyar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2mIZcb7uqg
Sange muzhangu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJpIXpghZrc
aalaiyin sange nee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIjMn2d8vas
Chithira solaigale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsLa1gumBA8
Puthiyadhor Ulagam seivom:: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2NWLQ_IuGQ
Amma undhan kai valaiyaai: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwfb9DY4syo


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