Potpourri of titbits about cinema - Kaviyarasu Kannadasan

‘Kavignar’ Kannadasan, the great lyricist, is still remembered for his embellished language. “I am permanent, I’ll remain forever” – these are the words of the legend lyricist that are remembered even today, thanks to his ever-green lyrics. I feel proud that I was a contemporary, who have lived during his time.

Kannadasan was born on 24-6-1927 to the couple Saththappa Chettiar – Visalakshi as their eighth child. His given name was Muthiah. He changed his name to Kannadasan when he started writing poetry. Born in Sirukudalpatti, a hamlet in Tirupatur in Ramanathapuram district, Kannadasan was given in adoption to Pazhaniyappa Chettiar – Sikappi Achi couple, belonging to Muthupattinam. He was put in Gurukulam Higher Secondary School in Amaravathiputhur near Karaikudi. But his education was discontinued with 8th Std., as they couldn’t afford further education. But Kannadasan took great efforts at developing his skills and improving his knowledge. Thanks to his efforts, he joined as the editor of ‘Thirumagal’, a magazine published from Pudukottai, at his young age of 17. His poems were published in that magazine. And, he became the editor of ‘Thirai oli’ in the year 1945 to become the editor of ‘Chandamarutham’, a magazine, published by Modern Theatres in 1947. He joined the story department of the company also. He got the opportunity to befriend many VIPs of the cinema industry through this position. In his later years, he started a magazine of his own, named ‘Thendral’. He resigned from ‘Chandamarutham’ with the aim of becoming a lyricist and met the concerned people in Jupiter Pictures, Coimbatore. At that time, the film ‘Kanniyin kaadhali’ was in the making. K. Ramnath was directing the film. Kannadasan wrote some songs and got introduced to the direction by Venkatasamy, the husband of actress U. R. Jeevarathnam. His lyrics were approved. His song ‘kalangaathiru maname …’ was sung for heroine Madhuridevi by playback singer T. V. Rathnam. Kannadasan’s first song itself became a hit. And, he started writing dialogues also for movies. In the meantime, he plunged into politics too. And, subsequently, he became a film producer too. His first production was ‘Maalaiyitta mangai’. Manorama, who was a stage artiste at that time, was introduced to cinema through this film.

Kannadasan is a great accomplisher, having written more than 10,000 songs! Apart from film songs, he has written devotional songs, poems, articles, short stories, novels, biographies etc., totaling around 5,000.

In the 1977, we had arranged for a discourse by Kannadasan on ‘Arththamulla Indhumadham’ and ‘Bhagavatgita’. (Thirumuruga Krupanantha Warriar was one of the VIPs who attended this discourse.) He asked me whether my name ‘Majordasan’ was my pen name and asked for my given name. When I said Devadirajan was my original name, he said it was the name of the Therezundhur temple deity. He then blessed me and wished me a long and successful career as a writer. But, I couldn’t get photographed together with this genius in spite of this opportunity as well as another one when Kannadasan attended a function of Ki. Aa. Pe. Viswanathan.