The evergreen lyricist
S. R. ASHOK KUMAR
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Poet Vaali was overwhelmed by the encomiums showered on him.
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— PHOTO: M. Karunakaran
With the golden gift: Vaali.
When the Kannadasan Arakkattalai wanted to felicitate poet Vaali, a host of others joined hands. Not surprising. Author of over 10,000 songs, Vaali has written lyrics for a whole range of Tamil heroes from MGR to the latest. At 75, he is still nimble with words obliging the composer and the director. His charm is he can weave in catchy English words when the situation demands it.
The function, ``Endrendrum Vaali" on last Sunday got off to a flying start with Gangai Amaran's troupe belting out some of the best melodies of Vaali. S. P. Balasubramaniam sang a couple of numbers and before one could ask for more, his son Charan and Venkat Prabhu took over to present "Kalluri Salai."
The songs were interspersed with speeches as the invitees wished to say a few words.
Early indication
The actual felicitation began with Muktha Srinivasan, who recalled that he was able to find the spark in Vaali even in those early days. Nagesh shared a few anecdotes connected with those days when both were young. Ilaiyaraaja presented a chain and recollected that they first met for "Badrakali" and the song was "Kannan Oru Kaikuzhandai."
Prakash Raj compared Vaali with Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Sanath Jayasurya and Inzamam Ul Haq who have scored 10,000 runs. Parthiban presented a bouquet containing peacock feathers. Sivakumar gave a portrait he had painted observing that Vaali was also a good artist. Director Shanker said the people at the American Embassy, where he went to get his visa, were impressed only when they came to know that the song "Mukala Mukabala" was from the film he had directed. Such was the reach of Vaali's songs, he said. Manorama had come straight to the function in spite of the fact that she had travelled 3,000 miles and was tired. ``I just didn't want to miss this," she said.
Generous
Maestro M. S. Viswanthan sang a song written by Kamakodian and said that magnanimity was a quality both Kannadasan and Vaali share. When Kannadasan was not well he would ask producers to get the song written by Vaali. Similarly Vaali is known to have asked a producer to approach Kamakodiyan for a film. Kannadasan's son Gandhi endorsed MSV's statement. Kamal Haasan said that the poet was facile with both pen and brush. Director Bharatiraja showered encomiums on the poet.
The organisers presented Vaali with 100 gold coins. In his acceptance speech an overwhelmed Vaali thanked everyone, especially MSV to whom he owed his name and fame.
The only discordant note in the entire event was time factor with delayed start and speeches endlessly extending. The venue was in Nandambakkam, in the outskirts of the city, making commuting as such a problem. One can imagine the situation when nobody adheres to schedule and the felicitation drags on till 11 p.m. Then the music began.
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Chennai and Tamil Nadu
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