Thendral thaalaatum neram - Vasantham varum

Saravanan Natarajan writes:

தேன்மலர் மறப்பதுண்டோ தென்றலே உன் நினைவை....

Today happens to be the birthday of our V. Kumar. Cannot let the day go by without offering our salute to the memory of the humble composer, for the treasures that he has bequeathed that serve as constant reminders of their gentle, unassuming creator.

Let us listen today to a hidden gem from a movie called ‘Vasantham Varum’. Vasantham Varum, despite its optimistic title, found that spring had callously passed it by, for it never got to be released. And the wonderful album that Kumar eagerly worked on was consigned to lie forgotten on the dusty rear shelves of the few audio centers that happened to buy the EP record.

The record gives the year of its manufacture as 1981, and announces the wretched banner as ‘Electra Films’. Vijayan is shown in a ruminative posture on the front sleeve, while Saratbabu smiles at you from the other side. The director of this doomed film was K. Somasundareswar. All the four songs were written by the obscure Mu. Paavanan.

This song, ‘Thendral thaalaatum neram’ is an exquisite guitar-driven composition, one that throws open wondrous vistas of dreamy, languorous romance. Yesudas and P.Susheela merge into the captivating canvas, bringing to passionate portrayal the aching longings of a love-struck couple.

Listen here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6zjDQqMkRU

How bitterly disappointed Kumar would have been at the fate of the film, and its album!

But then, such frustrations were not new to Kumar. So many of his painstaking endeavors were wasted on such stillborn ventures. Numerous were such flowers that were born to blush unseen. Only fervent listeners of Radio Ceylon were fortunate to have listened to such wonderful creations of Kumar like ‘Naano un adimai’ (P.Susheela/Jayachandran), ‘Niilaavai netru paarthathu’ (Vani) both from an unreleased Unnai Naan Sandhithen, ‘Ulagam siridhu naan unnai ennumpothu’ (TMS/P. Susheela) from Perappillai, TMS and Vani weaving magic in ‘Oru paarvai nooru kavidhai’ from Manoranjitham, Janaki’s haunting title track from the same film; SPB and Janaki crooning ‘Rasigan thaan enakku nee’ from an unreleased late 70s venture called Rasigan- have not been able to get much information on these unreleased films. Aval oru Kaaviyam was fortunate, for after years of hibernation in the cans, it was released in a few B & C centers in 1983. Thanks to the myriad TV channels that occasionally telecast this film in their weekday noon slots, Kumar’s enchanting songs like ‘Krishnaprabhu unnidam kudi konden’ (P.Susheela) and ‘Kodi inbangal thedum ullangal’ (Jayachandran/ P.Susheela) enjoy an extended lease of life.

But why talk about Kumar’s painstaking efforts wasted on unreleased films- he often suffers the misfortune of even many of his brilliant compositions being repeatedly credited to others. A seasoned audio center owner in Royapettah was firm in his belief that ‘Thirukkoyil thedi rathi devi vandhaal’ was by MSV; a learned journalist friend was skeptical when I insisted that ‘Enna thavam siedhen unnai manam kolla’ was by Kumar, and a classmate refused to accept that ‘Ennai azhaithathu yaaradhu kanne’ was not by Ilaiyaraja!

Let us attempt to set the record straight, and give the self-effacing Mellisai Maamani his true due. We owe him that.

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