CHENNAI: Hitting out at composers and lyricists working with the Tamil film industry at present, acclaimed poet and lyricist Vaali said that he found cinema music today insipid and “spoilt”. Speaking at a programme organised by the Cine Musicians Union to felicitate yesteryear composers M S Viswanathan and T K Ramamoorthy, Vaali said that after their era, there have been only “tune-makers and no real music composers”.
The composer-duo was bestowed Lifetime Achievement Awards by the CMU, on Sunday.
Acknowledging the fact that working with composers like AR Rahman, Harris Jeyaraj, Ilayaraja and even Thaman had kept him lyrically alive in the cinema industry, he rued the fact that his lyrics “had come to this (level)”.
He continued, “Sometimes, upset poets and friends ask me ‘What happened to your songs?’ and I have only one answer - For this writing I am paid lakhs of rupees!”
Emphasising how strong his conviction was, he said, “The reason why I am saying these things publicly is that people don’t say I am a has-been complaining in my backyard.” He then pointed out that he composed lyrics for the song 'Kalasala' in Simbhu-starrer 'Osthe', that released last month.
The lyricist who turned 80 last year was at his peak composing songs during the Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy era from the 60’s to the 80’s. As a parting request he asked that composers include more acoustic sections for the scores of musicians who were losing their livelihoods “to an advanced keyboard and equipment”.
Music directors Vidyasagar, SA Rajkumar, Dhina and singers P B Sreenivos and K J Jesudas and actor Y Gee Mahendra were present on the occasion.