கண்ணதாசன் – 2

Mar 1, 2020 | கண்ணதாசன்

This week I have chosen a melody created by the legendary trio Kannadasan and Viswanathan – Ramamoorty (VR). I picked this song since it has a lot of history and subtle nuances behind it:

  1. Composed for a movie produced by Kannadasan himself – “மாலையிட்ட மங்கை”. The story is that Kannadasan was ill treated by a leading actor of those times. So, he challenged that actor and made a movie with a star who was fading away at that time (T.R. Mahalingam) and successfully made it a blockbuster hit. (At the time Kannadasan booked him for this movie, TR Mahalingam was in deep debt and had sold all his cars and was almost bankrupt. Kannadasan apparently gave his car for TR Mahalingam to use during the movie shooting without hesitation).
  2. Unlike usual practice – Kannadasan insisted to write the songs in this movie first and then Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy (VR) composed the tune for all of them. The most famous song from this movie is “செந்தமிழ் தேன் மொழியாள்”.
  3. T. R. Mahalingam normally sings in a high pitch voice but had a burning long time desire to sing a song in low pitch and expressed his desire to VR. Hence for this song alone VR composed the tune first and Kannadasan wrote the lyrics. But to match even TR Mahalingam’s low pitch voice, the female singer Komala had to sing in a higher pitch. To make sure the lady and male voice sync despite the two different pitches – VR duo picked two different raagas for the male and female voices (Graha Bedham). For the Carnatic enthusiasts the two raagas are – Abhogi and Valaji.
  4. Now the lyrics of the genius Kannadasan: Man suspiciously asking his lover how she got the lip wound
    “ வண்ண பாவை உந்தன்
    இதழ் கோவை தன்னில்
    இந்த காயம் என்ன
    வந்த மாயம் என்ன”
    The next few lines answer the query:
    “ கூண்டுக்கிளி எடுத்து கொஞ்சினேன்
    இதழ் கோவை என நினைத்து கொண்டதோ
    முத்தம் தந்ததோ சொந்தம் கொண்டதோ
    இன்னும் சந்தேகமா”

Wonderful collective effort even for a routine love duet. Simple yet beautiful lyrics capturing the chemistry between the lovers. When heard with the music and the singing, one is amazed with the creativity and originality of these great thinkers.