KOCHI: ‘Devadaru poothu, en manassin thaazhvarayil’. This mellifluous track won the hearts of many in the 1980s and still features in the list of Malayalis’ evergreen love songs. The light and simple, but poetic lyrics are one of the major reasons for the longevity of the song. Chunakkara Ramankutty was one of the few lyricists who ruled the music world of popular cinema by associating with some of the gifted composers of the golden era of Malayalam cinema.
Though Chunakkara, as he was fondly known, has penned lyrics for many films, his association with music director Shyam is rated as one of the most successful lyricist-composer combos of Mollywood. Other than Devadaru Poothu, the duo has presented some of the memorable songs of the 1980s including Sarathkala sandhya kulir choodi (Engane Nee Marakkum-1983), Poovaya poo and Oru malarthoppithile (Love Story-1986), Aalippazham innonnaayi en (Nale Njangalude Vivaham-1986), Nishagandhi poothu chirichu (Nanni Veendum Varika - 1986), Ambarapoo veedhiyilu (Irupatham Noottandu-1987), Shyama meghame nee (Adhipan-1989), and Hridavaniyile gaayikayo and Ee neelaravil snehardranayi njan (Kottayam Kunjachan-1990). “The last time I called Raman, we talked for some time. I asked him to hum ‘Devadaru poothu’, and he did. He was a good singer. Moreover, he was a good human and a good friend.
Whenever I used to go to Thiruvananthapuram, I have tried to find time to visit Raman, Bichu (Thirumala) and Poovachal (Khader). We were like a team,” veteran composer Shyam told TNIE. The ace music director said he cherished the songs he had composed with Chunakkara as some of his personal favourites. “For almost all of our songs, he had penned the lyrics to my tunes. He was a composer’s writer. Song composition during our time was a process in which camaraderie plays the keynote. We were good friends and it is a personal loss to me,” he said.
Chunakkara loved to pen lyrics as per the situation in the movie plot. The best examples are Chinnukutty, urangiyille from Oru Nokku Kanan (1985), which begins in the format of a telephone call between Chinnukutty and Unni Mol (both portrayed by Baby Salini), and Neeyarinjo mele manathu (Kandu Kandarinju - 1985), sung by actors Mohanlal and late Mala Aravindan, which is like a casual talk between two drunk people.
Chunakkara was a former employee of the State Industries Department. He entered the artistic arena through dramas, which were a very popular medium in Kerala during the 1960s. After penning songs for nearly 100 popular dramas, his major break was the lyrics that he wrote for light music aired through Akashavani. He entered Mollywood as a lyricist through ‘Ashrama’ (1978). He was the winner of the Gurushreshta Award instituted by Sangeetha Nataka Akadami in 2015. His wife Thankamma had died earlier. He is survived by daughters Radhika, Renuka and Ragini.