By P.V. Gopalakrishnan

The Great Poet Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathiyar lived his times in utter poverty & died unsung in his times. When one reads his poems the reader is sure to experience goose bumps! Such a spirited Poet that he was, his untimely death in 1921 at a very young age of thirty nine, drew only a handful of mourners in his funeral procession!

He is, perhaps, the first ever Poet to have has the honour of being named a ‘National Poet’, that too posthumously! This happened in 1949 after our Indian Independence.

Sequel to the death of Bharathi, his widow Chellammal along with Bharathi’s two daughters, Thangammal & Sakunthala, compelled by their utter poverty, were constrained to relinquish the rights over Bharathi’s works by selling them to AVM for a sum of Rupees Nine thousand five hundred (then a princely sum). AVM have used many of the Bharathi poems in their Tamil films, which became very widely popular.

However, over a process that lasted over five years from 1944 to 1949, the then Government of Madras nationalized the works of Bharathi in 1949, through the offices of four Chief Ministers. Prior to that though there were many notable voices that strongly demanded such nationalization of Bharath’s works, it was during the term of Omandur Ramasamy Reddiyar as Chief Minister it materialized finally. However, it was only by 1955, the works of Bharathi reached public domain when the then Finance Minister C. Subramaniam announced the decision of allowing all to publish Bharathi’s works.

However, unintentional of the Great Poet Bharathi, some of his beautiful poems later turned into film songs, set to mellifluous music compositions by noted Music Directors & rendered by top Artistes in various time frames.

The most recent songs that captured our attention was in the Tamil Film ‘Bharathi’ (2000), wherein Sayaji Shinde portrayed Bharathi. This biographical film on Bharathi had the lilting music of Isai Gnani ILayaraja & delivered few of his poems.

But, going back in time travel, very many films have had Bharathiyar written songs used in various filmy sequences. It all started with AVM who pioneered the way to copiously use Bharathi songs in his films (as he held recording rights for the songs) such as Naam Iruvar (1947), Vedhala Ulagam (1948) & Vazhkkai (1949), all in the amazing music compositions of Sudarsanam. In fact even today, these songs are known in these very tunes that Sudarsanam composed them in.

In ‘Kappalottiya Thamizhan’ some of Bharathiyar’s compositions were featured, in various voices.

To my knowledge, nearly forty songs have been featured in Tamil films, in various situations, which I have enlisted below.  However, there could be few more in addition to my list.

Alphabetically, Song	Film	Year	Music Director	Sung By
Aaduvome Palli	Naam Iruvar	1947	R.Sudarsanam	D.K.Pattammal
Bharatha samudayam	Vazkkai	1949	Sudarsanam	D.K.Pattammal
Chinna kuzhandaigal pol	Kappal ottiya Thamizhan	1961	G.Ramanathan	P.Suseela
Chinnanchiru kiliye	Manamagal	1951	C.R.Subbaraman	MLV, V.N.Sundaram
Cooli Miga ketpar	Nalla Thangai	1955	G.Ramanathan	G.Ramanathan
Engirundo vanthan	Padikkatha Medhai	1960	K.V.Mahadevan	Sirgazhi Govindarajan
Enru thaniyum intha	Kappal ottiya Thamizhan	1961	G.Ramanathan	Tiruchi Loganathan
Kaani nilam vendum	Andaman Kathali	1952	Govindarajulu Naidu	MLV, C.S.Jayaraman
Kakkai Siraginile	Chakradhari	1947	M.D.Parthasarathi	V.Nagaiah
Kalviyil sirantha	Vedhala Ulagam	1948	R.Sudarsanam	T.R.Mahalingam
Kannan mana nilaiyai	Ezhai pdum paadu	1950	S.M.Subbiah Naidu	MLV
Katru Veliyidai	Kappal ottiya Thamizhan	1961	G.Ramanathan	P.Suseela, P.B.Srinivas
Kuyile unakku	Manithan	1953	S.V.Venkatraman	MLV
Madhar thammai	Penn	1954	R.Sudarsanam	T.A.Mothi
Manadhil urudhi vendum	Kalvanin kathali	1955	Govindarajulu Naidu	TMS
Mangiyathor nilavinile	Pavai Vilakku	1960	K.V.Mahadevan	C.S.Jayaraman
Nenjil uramum inri	Kappal ottiya Thamizhan	1961	G.Ramanathan	Sirgazhi Govindarajan
Nenju Porukkuthillaiye	Parasakthi	1952	R.Sudarsanam	C.S.Jayaraman
Oadi vilayadu papa	Vadhala ulagam	1948	R.Sudarsanam	T.S.Bhagavathi, M.S.Rajeswari
Oadi vilayadu papa	Kappal ottiya Thamizhan	1961	G.Ramanathan	Sirgazhi, Jamuna Rani
Parukkulle Nalla Naadu	Kappal ottiya Thamizhan	1961	G.Ramanathan	Sirgazhi Govindarajan
Senthamizh naadenum	Raja Rajan	1957	K.V.Mahadevan	U.Sarojini
Sindhu nadiyin misai	Kai Kodutha Deivam	1964	MSV-TKR	TMS, L.R.Easwari
Solai malar oliyo	Naam Iruvar	1947	R.Sudarsanam	T.R.Mahalingam, T.S.Bhagavathi
Solla Vallayo Kiliye	Koondu Kili	1954	K.V.Mahadevan	T.V.Rathinam
Thaneer vittom valarthom	Kappal ottiya Thamizhan	1961	G.Ramanathan	Tiruchi Loganathan
Thayin manikodi pareer	Naam Iruvar	1947	R.Sudarsanam	D.K.Pattammal
Theeradha vilayattu pillai	Vedhala Ulagam	1948	R.Sudarsanam	D.K.Pattammal
Thoondir puzhuvinai pol	Vedhala Ulagam	1948	R.Sudarsanam	D.K.Pattammal
Vande matharam enbom	Kappal ottiya Thamizhan	1961	G.Ramanathan	Sirgazhi Govindarajan
Vazhiya Senthamizh	Naam Iruvar	1947	R.Sudarsanam	Devanarayanan, T.S.Bhagavathi
Vellai kamalathile	Gowri Kalyanam	1966	MSV	Sulamangalam Rajalakshmi
Vellai thamarai	Thai Ullam	1952	V.Nagaiah, A.Rama Rao	MLV
Velli pani malai	Kappal ottiya Thamizhan	1961	G.Ramanathan	Sirgazhi, Tiruchi Loiganathan, L.R.Easwari
Vetri ettu thikkum etta	Naam Iruvar	1947	R.Sudarsanam	D.K.Pattammal
Viduthalai Viduthalai	Naam Iruvar	1947	R.Sudarsanam	T.R.Mahalingam

Kavimani Desiya Vinyagam Pillai had composed a song, ‘Paattukkoru pulavan Bharathiyada’, in honour of Bharathi which too had featured in the film ‘Paithiyakkaran’ (1947), composed by C.R.Subbaraman & M.S.Gnanamani.

Here below we are giving links to some of the videos containing Bharathiyar songs in films.

Chinnam chiru kiliye:

Engiruntho vandhan:

Katru veliyidai Kannamma:

Mangiyathor nilavinile:

 

Parukkulle nalla nadu:

Theeratha vilayattu pillai:

Sindhu nadhiyin isai:

Aaduvome pallu paduvome:

Nenju porukkuthillaiye:

Oadi vilaiyadu papa:

Suttum vizhi sudar thaan Kannamma:

These days, you hardly get to hear Bharathi’s lyrics in Tamil films. For that matter, you hardly even make out what the lyrics are, in most songs. Those were the times when lyrical beauty held a song close to your heart. This is the reason as to why we can still remember the words of the old film music. Gone are those days, now rhythm & tune override lyrics and if at all one could make them out in the whole din, they cannot live in your memory.