SONGS OF SON OF THE SOIL
Lyricist A Maruthakasi Brought Tamil Film Songs Closer To Cultural Roots And People’s Hearts
R Rangaraj 27.07.2020
On the banks of the Kollidam river, an old lady would sing folk songs to her grandchildren. One of them was so influenced by these songs that he wanted to write poems. The passion led to A Maruthakasi, born in a farmers home to go on to write songs that cine icons like MGR, Sivaji Ganesan, Savithri and Bhanumathi hummed and danced to.
The centenary year of the man who went on to write more than 4,000 songs for Tamil films is hardly being remembered by the industry to which he gave 25 years.
Born on February 13, 1920 at Melakudikadu in Trichy district, Maruthakasi studied only upto intermediate level at Government College in Kumbakonam as he had to return to agriculture to help his family. Yet, from a young age his love for Tamil literature and his flair for writing poetry made him want to chart a different path.
Rajagopala Aiyer, brother of famous Tamil film lyricist and music composer Papanasam Sivan, had a great impact on the life of Maruthakasi. The young Maruthakasi used to write songs for plays which impressed Aiyer and noted singer Trichy Loganathan who recommended Maruthakasi to T R Sundaram of Modern Theatres in Salem to write for films. Maruthakasi got to write his first song “Penn Enum Maaya Peyaam” in 1949 for the film for ‘Mayavathi. His songs for ‘Ponmudi’ in 1950 and “Vaaraay Nee Vaaraay”, “Ulavarum Thenral” sung by Trichy Loganathan for ‘Mandhirikumari’ became big hits and Maruthakasi became a much sought after lyricist. It was also the beginning of his successful working partnership with Ka Mu Sheriff.
Maruthakasi soon acquired a reputation for writing lyrics in accordance with the tune. This particularly came in handy while writing songs for films dubbed or remade from other languages, especially Hindi, a trend at the time. His son Maruthabarani, who seems to have imbibed his father’s talent of writing Tamil songs for tunes of other languages, said that when a line in a song in Tamil had to be fitted for the Malayalam words “Malayalam Ende Malayalam”, Maruthakasi came up with the line “Malaiyaagumae Thiru Malaiyaagumae”, to go with the lip-sync and the production unit greeted the line with all-round cheer.
Many times, filmmakers, despite working with other lyricists, would turn to Maruthakasi when it came to remakes. For instance, one of his evergreen songs “Neela Vanna Kannaa Vaadaa” in ‘Mangaiyar Thilakam’ (1955), re-make of a Marathi film, was initially assigned to Kannadasan. But when filmmaker L V Prasad wasn’t impressed by the song, he approached Maruthakasi and the rest is history. His magic with words was also felt in ‘Alibabavum 40 Thirudargalum’ (1956), another film that was based on the tunes of a Hindi film. The lyricist Udumalai Narayana Kavi wanted only fresh songs as he had a distaste for the black, round-shaped Hindi LP records, calling them ‘karuppu dosai kal’, and recommended Maruthakasi who delivered with chartbusters like “Azhagaana Ponnu Naan Adhukaetha Kannudhaan” and “Ullasa Ulagam Unakke Sondham”. Soon he began writing songs for all the leading music directors such as S V Venkataraman, G Ramanathan, K V Mahadevan, S Dakshinamurthy and the duo Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy.
He was among the first to change Tamil film lyrics from a Sanskrit-dominated, mythology-oriented period to a format that was closer to the Tamil people, incorporating contemporary ideas, while at the same time stressing on the cultural roots, especially with relation to traditional crafts and agriculture. Many of his songs were rooted to the Tamil Nadu soil, bearing a stamp of nativity. Of course, he did his share of mythologybased films ‘Sampoorna Ramayanam’ (1958) starring N T Rama Rao, Sivaji Ganesan, Padmini and T K Bhagavathy, and Lava Kusa which became popular among the masses. But he preferred social films.
The humane qualities of Maruthakasi came to the fore on several occasions. He gave opportunities to Pattukkotai Kalyanasundaram early in his career. He was one of those who recommended T M Sounderarajan for ‘Thookku Thookki’, though initially actor Sivaji Ganesan wanted only C S Jayaraman to sing for him. After the film TMS became a regular fixture for Sivaji. Maruthakasi also played a vital role in the career of Vali, whose song “Sirikkinraal Inru Sirikkinraal” for ‘Nallavan Vaazhvaan’ was not accepted by the film crew, who and invited Maruthakasi to write the song instead. Maruthakasi insisted on retaining Vali’s song which helped his association with C N Annadurai and MGR (hero).
Like a few other illustrious colleagues in the film industry he tried his hand at film production. The film ‘Alli Petra Pillai; remake of a successful Hindi movie ‘Tangewali’ was lost without a trace. When his coproducer K V Mahadevan rued the fact that they were debt ridden, Maruthakasi shrugged and said, “Aanaakka Andha Madam, Aagaatti Sandhe Madam". He converted his pain into art and used these lines as pallavi for the film ‘Aayiram Roobaay’, which said that they can either reach the skies or descend to the level of a platform.
Meanwhile, Kannadasan had risen to dizzying heights, and Maruthakasi, already facing a huge debt burden, found his opportunities shrinking. He decided to quit and moved back to his village, cutting off all ties from 1963 to 1967. In 1967, after MGR, who was his close friend, recovered from the shooting incident involving M R Radha, and decided to resume work and sent word for Maruthakasi to return and write for his films. Maruthakasi returned, recorded a song but the film was suddenly shelved. MGR continued to support him. It was Maruthakasi's rustic songs like “Kadavul Enum Mudhalali Kandedutha Thozhilaali Vivasaayi”, for ‘Vivasaayi’, which added to MGR’s pro-farmer, image. Devar backed Maruthakasi’s second innings with Thaerthiruvizha, and other films. In the later years, he wrote lyrics for a few films starring Jaishankar, Rajinikanth and Sivakumar. He was conferred the title Thiraikkavi Thilakam. His works were nationalised by the Government of Tamil Nadu.
A man, deeply moved by the Cauvery, agriculture and the traditions of the working class in Tamil Nadu, wedded to self-respect, he will always remain the true son of the soil through his words.
(The writer is president, Chennai 2000 Plus Trust)
A MARUTHAKASI (1920-1989)
