CHENNAI: It was the coming together of Mellisai Mannar and Isai Gnani Ilayaraja to celebrate the life and contribution of a celebrated film lyricist who died young but whose songs continue to be on the lips of the Tamil cinema-going public. The occasion was the release of the DVD of a documentary film, Pattali Padaipaliyana Varalaru (The story of how a common man turned into a creator of art) on Makkal Kavignar Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram at Vani Mahal here recently.
Like the English poet John Keats, Pattukottai Kalyanasundaram died young, at the age of 29. It was only three years after he gained a foothold in the Tamil film industry that he was snatched by the cruel hands of fate in 1959. Pattukottai penned his first song for the film Pasavalai, released in 1956. The song, Kutti aadu thappi vanthal kulla narikku sontham, captured the imagination of the Tamil people and there was no looking back for him.
The poet went on to pen several rousing songs espousing the cause of self-respect and social justice for several blockbusters starring MGR, such as Chakravarthi Thirumagal, Mahadevi, Arasilangkumari and finally Nadodi Mannan, before he succumbed to injuries sustained in a fall at his house in Royapettah after a sinus operation. MGR was bedridden at the time after suffering a fracture during film shooting. In a short span of three years Pattukottai wrote for 87 films, penning up to six or seven songs for each film, according to P Saron, director of the documentary.
At a time when songs were written for the hero, MGR created situations in his films and transformed his persona to suit Pattukottai’s songs. “When he became the chief minister MGR said that while he could not say who constituted three legs of the chair, the fourth one was Pattukottai,” the 37-year-old director recalled.
It was the Viswanathan-Ramamurthy music director duo who composed music for Pattukottai’s first song in Pasavalai. Recalling the episode Saron said the music directors, along with lyricists like Kannadasan and Marudakasi, were struggling to compose a song for the situation in the film when Pattukottai approached them, seeking a chance. After much ado, he was permitted and a lyricist was born.
It was apt that M S Viswanathan accepted the first copy of the DVD, priced at `325, from Ilayaraja before an august gathering including CPI leader R Nallakannu, IAS officer V Irai Anbu and Mannar Mannan, son of Bharathidasan. Pattukottai was a disciple of the Puratchi Kavignar.
Ilayaraja recalled how Pattukottai, having come face-to-face with poet Vaali and having listened to his composition, predicted that he had a bright future.
Saron said the documentary captured the poet’s struggle to rise from a life of poverty, converting his experiences into a work of sublime art.