CHENNAI : While dialogues like Oru thadava sonna nooru thadava sonna maari in the 1995 Rajini-starrer Baasha and Neenga Nallavara Kettavara? in the 1987 Kamal-starrer Nayagan, immortalised by the actors who spoke them, have stood the test of time, the man whose pen created them is seldom remembered.
Behind the dialogues of over 20 Tamil films, Tamil novelist and film writer Balakumaran passed away in the city on Tuesday after a brief illness. He was 71.
In Irumbu Kuthiraigal, Balakumaran had explained the lives of truck drivers with such detail that one might forget that his life was not in anyway entwined with theirs. Writing dialogues for films from Kamal Haasan’s Nayagan and Rajinikanth’s Baasha to Dhanush’s Pudupettai and Simbu’s Vallavan, no character was alien to him. Many of his works, despite flying off the shelves and winning him a following, especially among women, were not taken seriously in Tamil literary circles — a fact that was true of writers like Sujatha too. Said Tamil poet Manushyaputhiran, “The Tamil language, especially prose, was refreshed at a popular level by writers like Balakumaran.”
“Popular writers are often discriminated against but I consider it a meaningless hatred. Balakumaran was a writer who not only questioned the norms of the society, in terms of sexuality and family relationships, but he was also an aesthetic writer,” he added. He was also known as ‘Ezhuthu Sithar’. Mercury Pookal and Udayar were some of his popular works. He has written around 150 books and over 100 short stories during his time. Speaking on the man, Gandhi Kannadasan, proprietor, Kannadasan Publishers and son of Tamil poet Kannadasan, said, “He manifested a matured spirituality. I have seen people seek his advice and he would oblige, offering simple and practical solutions.”
Balakumaran was as spiritual a man, as his work was progressive, say those who have known him. It is perhaps one of the reasons that he and Rajinikanth shared a close personal relationship. In 1991, he wrote for the Tamil weekly Kumudam on his interaction with Rajinikanth. He was on the sets of Rajini’s Dharma Yuddham in a beachside resort at East Coast Road to interview the actor for the Tamil magazine Kanaiyazhi. It was then that he noticed that the actor’s pants were tucked into his socks. He interrupted the shoot to set it right, he wrote. After the shoot, Rajini walked towards the writer, took the cigarette from Balakumaran’s hand and drew a puff. “I have another to spare. Why this?,” Balakumaran asked. “That’s alright. If you can be the friend that adjusts my socks, I can be the friend who shares a cigarette,” he quoted Rajini as saying.
Balakumaran’s flair for writing captivating love stories did not fade with age, said Kannadasan. “He told me once that he would ask himself ‘Should I write love stories at this age? He then answered his own question, “What does age have to do with writing a good story,” he said. Balakumaran had long since embraced subjects that were considered taboo.
Literary enthusiast and orator Bharathi Baskar, for instance, said that Balakumaran had maintained that verandahs at home were actually constructed to keep menstruating women in the house outside the door, whereas for the world outside it was said to be for resting travellers. Talking about his last days, she said, “When I went to pay my respects, I was told that he wanted to write until his last day. He had asked his assistant to bring his laptop the next day as he wanted to write.”
He was last working on stories from the Mahabarata.