THRISSUR : A day after poet Balachandran Chullikkad slammed the Kerala Sahitya Akademi over the remuneration paid for a lecture, renowned lyricist Sreekumaran Thampi on Sunday trained his guns on the literary body for “insulting him” over a song he had been commissioned to write for the state government.
Speaking to TNIE against the backdrop of his Facebook post on the issue, Thampi said he will not give his ‘Kerala song’ to the Akademi as long as K Satchidanandan remains president.
A few months back, Akademi secretary C P Aboobacker had contacted Thampi asking him to pen the song. His only condition was it should appeal to people of all ages and should be devoid of literary flourish. Although Thampi initially refused, he relented on Aboobacker’s insistence and submitted a song in a week’s time. “He got back to me saying he was not satisfied with the lyrics and it needed some changes. Though I objected, I made changes to the ‘pallavi’ after talking to Satchidanandan. But I didn’t get any response from the Akademi, except for a ‘thank you’ message from Satchidanandan,” Thampi said.
Later, the Akademi put out advertisements in the media for entries towards a ‘Kerala song’. Thampi added that while he had forgotten about the incident, Chullikkad’s criticism reminded him of his bitter experience.
Thampi said Satchidanandan’s behaviour was disparaging and aimed at insulting him. “I was unaware the song will be scrutinised by a committee. I am someone who writes songs only after receiving advance payment. But in this case, I was keen to pen the song,” he added.
Responding to the allegations, Satchidanandan said Thampi’s song was not approved by most of the members of the selection committee.
“It contained some cliched expressions,” he told reporters in Thrissur. Satchidanandan added that the song penned by B Harinarayanan would be selected as ‘Kerala Song’.
Refuting Satichidanandan’s claim that the selection committee had rejected Thampi’s lyrics due to cliched expressions, critic M Leelavathy, a member of the committee, said, “I have not seen the song.”
Minister: Will speak to Sreekumaran Thampi
Leelavathy refused to make any more comments citing ill health.
Cultural Affairs Minister Saji Cherian on Sunday said he would speak to Sreekumaran Thampi to understand what went wrong and resolve the issue. The minister said he would also hold talks with Kerala Sahitya Akademi authorities. He added that it was the special interest of the chief minister to to have a Kerala Song.
Stating that the final decision regarding the selection of Kerala Song was still pending, Cherian said he was unaware of the current stage of the selection process.
C K Anandan Pillai, editor of the magazine ‘Sahithya Vimarshanam’ and former secretary of the Lalithakala Akademi, said the wait for a ‘Kerala song’ has been on since 2016, during which time the Akademi spent over `30,000 in the name of organising meetings and documentation.
“The Akademi’s insult of Thampi was totally unwarranted,” he said.
Pillai added that during the term of Pavanan and M T Vasudevan Nair, the Akademi organised better gatherings of writers and programmes similar to literature festivals without any complaints.