Two awards were instituted in the name of famous Tamil Poet and lyricist Vaali on his 83rd birthday (October 29) as part of honoring the poet for his contributions towards literature and arts, here on Tuesday.
Speaking at the occasion, poet and lyricist Palanibharathi, said that two awards, one from the field of poetry and the other from any other art’s field, which will be disbursed to selected candidates during the annual celebrations of Vaali’s birthday on October 29 starting from October 29, 2014.
The award will constitute a citation and a cash purse of `50,000 to each of the awardees and the awards titled Kaviya Kavignar Vaali Virudhugal will be borne by Vaali’s family friend Krishnakumar annually.
“We have chosen not to celebrate this year’s birthday since we lost our Vaali earlier this year, after his service to the field of Tamil literature and film songs for the past 55 years,” he noted.
“We will celebrate it in a big way with the annual celebrations which will be hosted by ‘Vaali Publications’ and the awards will be given on the same stage,” he added.
Poet Kasi Muthumanickam said that they will also bring out a book titled Vaali - 2000, a compilation of the songs penned by Vaali over five decades, and another one titled Varalatril Vaali, a journey down memory lane of contemporaries and friends of Vaali, on the same occasion.
Poet Nellai Jeyantha noted that they were planning to bring out three more books namely, Kaaviya Kavignarum Kaaviya Thalaivarum, a book of lyrics penned by Vaali for the films of former Chief Minister and founder of AIADMK party – MGR, Malaikkottaiyum Soorakkottaiyum, which will have lyrics penned by the poet for Sivaji Ganesan, and another one Vaali 100, a compilation of 200 songs of Vaali. “Efforts are being taken to bring out these three books by December this year,” he said.
