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Scaling creative heights

Photo: G. Moorthy

SPONTANEOUS Candid expressions

For a person with a distinguished track record, poet and lyricist R. Vairamuthu appears to be as simple and uncomplicated as his rendering style. Though we had to wait a good 12 hours to meet the Sahitya Akademi Award winner, his opening words “you are the first to interview me at my farm house,” calmed us.

It is not difficult to gauge instantly why the five-time national award winner for best lyricist prefers his farmhouse to write. For the area, spread over seven acres at the Kodai foothills, is swathed in green with strong breeze wafting across. “Nature has always been a big source of inspiration for creative writers. You may call it escapism. Every time you are closer to it, you get new ideas,” he takes off.

Attired in a blemishless sandal-coloured kurta and pyjama he speaks in chaste Tamil that is music to our ears. Constantly reminded of his roots, nostalgia overtakes him as he recalls his childhood days replete with struggle. And it is a fact that emotions from incidents of yesteryears power him to take to the pen.

“Memories of the time when people from Mettur and surrounding villages were forced to vacate their land to facilitate construction of the Vaigai Dam are painful. It is still green in my mind. We were so ignorant that when the Government asked us to leave, we paid little attention to it. Only when water engulfed the area and rose to knee-deep height, we sensed danger and decided to leave. As a four-year-old kid, I held on to my mother’s hand and we moved across to the neighbouring Vadugapatti Village. It was a mass exodus and a pathetic situation as we became refugees in a free country,” the poet in him comes to the fore as he describes this personal incident of displacement in his inimitable style.

Reminiscent of his past, a large photograph capturing the exact location with his house in the vicinity decorates his drawing room. “The sense of belonging runs so deep that it really hurts me even now, for it was difficult to part with my land, cattle, life and soul,” Vairamuthu reveals his emotional attachment to his native village.

He also feels that it is an added advantage if one is a participant than a mere observer. “If the creator becomes a stakeholder in his creation rather than an observer, it becomes an excellent creation. Any art work based on the ‘lived’ experience has a lasting impact on the people. Only the one who experiences the pain can bring out the desired effect. Unless you feel the pain, there is no point uncapping your pen. Every good creation has life in it. Craftsmanship comes later.”

His love for the language has its roots in the 1960s when the native language got a major push from political parties. Groomed under a climate that favoured rationalist thinking and progressive writing it was only natural for Vairamuthu to go with the tide, which ultimately ignited the poetic zeal in him. Soon he discovered a poet in him. Even as a student he rose to great heights through ‘Vaikarai Megangal’, which later became a prescribed text in many educational institutions.

Having etched his mark in the higher echelons of poetry, his next focus was to do something for his society and forayed into popular culture. He launched himself as a lyricist through the number ‘Pon Maalai Pozhuthu’ in the movie ‘Nizhalgal’. “My own experience and the privilege of becoming a poet gave me the chance to enter the film world as a lyricist, I am a poet first and then a lyricist. But being a lyricist I am able to see a larger world as it opens new vistas; it took me to the world of peasantry, daily wage labourers, the industrial working class and the illiterate masses.”

Justifying his decision to write for films, Vairamuthu says: “My men are not scholars to comprehend poetic exuberance. To reach out to them, I took up this mantle. People from serious literature should enter tinsel world and take progressive ideas to the masses in a larger way. Many great literary figures became popular among the masses only after their works got into the realm of popular media.”

But he does not mess up with poetry and film lyric.

“Poetry is intrinsic and the creations are mostly of my experiences. On the other hand lyrics, even though they are churned out from experience they remain mostly visualised experiences. It is like writing for a love sequence relating personal experience of love to that of the character. Sometimes visualised experiences through observations also take centre stage. Penning a lyric for a drunkard character is derived from such experience,” he explains.

He is at present busy compiling an anthology of the best 1000 numbers from among his 6000 film songs starting from the movie ‘Nizhalgal’ to ‘Endhiran’. He has created an endowment in Madurai Kamaraj University to facilitate workshops, seminars on Tamil. Besides, he has also agreed to become a visiting professor and encourage young Tamil writers.

In recognition of his contributions to the Tamil language and literature, the Tamil Nadu Open University and Madurai Kamaraj University have conferred doctorates on him.

Having accomplished so many feats if anything he still aspires for is to meet Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of modern Singapore.

“His contribution to the development and transformation of Singapore from being a third world country with little natural resources into one of the wealthiest nations in the world is truly amazing,” he says without a wink.

Vairamuthu definitely feels music maestro Ilayaraaja and film director Bharathiraaja are trendsetters in Tamil filmdom.

“The desire to succeed was so strong in us and it paid rich dividends. We had the thirst to do well. It was art and its sake at the forefront rather than the economy. We worked hard day and night to bring out the best and the creations that emerged out of this combination stood the test of time. It also helped us to accept challenges. Take for instance folk numbers. We paid more attention to the folksy flavour, which was found missing earlier. The reach of those numbers is phenomenal,” he says and sings “Vettiveru Vaasam Vedalapulla Nesam…” the lyrics of the popular song from the movie ‘Muthalmariyathai’ before signing off.

He indeed leaves us with a lasting impression that is soaked in the earthy smell of the soil.

INSPIRATION

Kahlil Gibran
William Shakespeare
Walt Whitman
William Wordsworth

FAVOURITE SONGS

Idhu Oru Ponmaalai.
Chinna Chinna Aasai.
Uyire Uyire.
Ayiram Thamaarai.
Manitha, Manitha.
Kanavu Kaanum Vazhkai.

MOVIES HE LIKES

Parasakthi
Devadas
Ratha Kanneer
Nadodi Mannan
Nayagan

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