I was associated with Thirai Isai
Chakravarthy M S Viswanathan in four projects in all. The first was when he
launched an initiative to raise funds to install a statue for his bosom friend
and acclaimed lyricist, Kaviarasu Kannadasan. The second was when I produced a
14 episode TV biopic on him titled Mellisai Mannarin Isai Payanam (The
Musical Journey of the King of Music). The third was when he was doing the musical
score for the film Vishwa Thulasi, which was produced by my friend “Ramki” Ramakrishnan.
And the fourth was when he performed at the 13th Anniversary
celebrations of Jaya TV in 2012 before a packed Nehru Stadium audience which
included Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, K Balachander, Illaya Raja, Rajnikanth,
Kamal Hasan and the who-is-who
Each of these projects gave me plenty
of opportunities and time to interact with the legend freely and at length. He
was a storehouse of information. About each song he had composed, he had a
story to tell. And these stories invariably involved people who have been the
pillars of Tamil cinema or leading lights of Tamilnadu politics. For, in this
state, both are inseparably intertwined. But despite his close links with the
likes of MGR, Karunanidhi, Jayalalithaa (all Chief Ministers of Tamilnadu) and
N T Rama Rao (once Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh), MSV himself remained
untouched by politics.
In this blog I shall recount some of
the interesting anecdotes relating to MSV. Some may have already appeared in
other media. Some may be untold. But I’m sure his countless die-hard fans would
love them.
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ABOUT HIS FIRST FILM AS COMPOSER
Composer C R Subburaman, for whom MSV was working,
died in 1952. And MSV took upon himself, along with the lead violinist in the
troupe, T K Ramamurthy, the responsibility of completing his “guru’s”
projects. These included Devadas, Chandirani and Marumagal.
One person who used to visit the recording studios in those days was a film
producer from Kerala, E P Eppachan, who took a liking to Viswanathan’s music.
He was so impressed that he booked MSV to compose for his next film, Genova,
featuring M G Ramachandran and the heart-throb of the times, B S Saroja. MGR
had not yet become a legend. But he was emerging as a hero with a mass
following. He was not happy about a newcomer composing music for his film.
But Eppachan stood his ground.
For days the face-off continued, with Eppachan
declaring that it was either film with Viswanathan as composer or no film at
all. MGR finally relented. The first song was recorded and MGR visited the
recording studio to listen to it. At the end of it, he came running up to
Viswanathan and hugged him. “It’s fantastic”, he said in Malayalam. “From
today, you will compose the music for all my films”. The legend called MSV
was born.
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AN EMBARRASSMENT AVERTED
The 1960s saw MSV at his peak. He used to work 18 hours a day, sometimes
on 2 or 3 films simultaneously. He used to compose a song for MGR in the
morning, one for Sivaji Ganesan in the afternoon and a third one for Gemini
Ganesan in the evening...
Many in the industry, who knew him, called him a “Juke Box”. Just give
him the lyrics and he would put them to tune... In 1964, he was composing
music for a film from Poompuhar Productions, a company owned by DMK leader M
Karunanidhi. Every few hours, Karunanidhi's nephew Amirtham would come on his
cycle with a sheet of paper on which some lyrics would be penned. “This one
is by Kannadasan”, he would say. “Or this is by Vaali. Thalaivar
(Karunanidhi) wants you to compose it into a good song...” And MSV would do just
that. One afternoon, Amirtham came with his usual sheet of lyrics and asked
MSV to make it into a song. MSV looked at the poem. “Who has written this?”
he asked. “This is just not poetry. The lyrics are so bad, they just do not
fit into any meter. I cannot compose music for this.”
Five years passed. The DMK, which had managed to capture power in th
state was going through a crisis. Its founder, C N Annadurai, had died of
cancer and the party was going through an internal struggle for power. The
charismatic MGR, who was the vote-catcher of the party with a
larger-than-life image, threw his weight behind Karunandhi and this enabled
Karunanidhi to become Chief Minister without precipitating a split in the
party. To celebrate the occasion of the swearing-in ceremony, MSV and his
orchestra was roped in to enthrall the crowds at the Kalaivanar Arangam. When
the rehearsals for the programme were going on, Amitham landed up at the
venue with a sheet of paper in his hand. “These lyrics are penned by
Thalaivar and he wants you to put them to tune and exclusively play the song
at this evening's function”, he said. MSV looked at the sheet of paper. It
was the same lyrics he had rejected five years earlier...
To say he would not put it to tune would lead to a direct confrontation
with the Chief Minister of Tamilnadu and MSV was the last person to relish
such an embarrassment. So he went ahead with cmposing music for the lyrics.
Evening came and before a packed auditorium, the musical performance was
presented. Amongst the songs was the one penned by Karunanidhi.
After an hour of exhilarating music, the serious agenda of the evening
started – the speeches. When Karunanidhi started his speech, he waxed
eloquent about MSV and his talents. He said : “This man is simply wonderful.
Over the years his talent has only improved. Five years ago, he used to
reject lyrics saying they were just not poetry. Today his talent is such that
even things he has once rejected, he is able to put them to tune”. It was a
typical left-handed complement, which left MSV red faced.
The last speech of the day was by MGR, who knew the background of the
spat between Karunanidhi and MSV. He too started off by complementing MSV for
the wonderful music he was composing. “I agree with my good friend Kalaignar
about Mellisai Mannar's talents”, he said. “In fact, his skills have reached
such a peak that if you give him today's copy of Dina Thanthi newspaper,
he'll set the news report to tune and sing it on stage!!”
With this one line, he not only praised MSV to the skies, but also
indirectly told Karunanidhi that he considered the lyrics penned by him as
being equal to the news scripted by a cub reporter in the Dina Thanthi.
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A
POLITICAL IGNORAMUS
Time was when MSV was at his peak. And
he was working two shifts a day often working simultaneously for rivals like
MGR, Karunanidhi and Sivaji Ganesan – persons who could not see eye-to-eye on
anything. He had been commissioned to organise a musical event. And in
characteristic style, he went about inviting all the celebrities he had
worked with. Being MSV, all agreed to come, not realising that the others had
been invited as well.
MSV wanted the event to be compeered
in a humorous fashion and he sought the help of another good friend, satirist,
actor, journalist and political commentator, Cho S Ramaswamy. Cho readily agreed. He sat with MSV to jot
down details about the programme – the cause, the songs, the singers and
finally the celebrity attendees so that he could make appropriate references
and satirical comments.
“MGR has agreed to come”, informed
MSV.
“Good”, responded Cho. “
“And then of course Sivaji Ganesan and
Karunanidhi will be coming too”, said MSV.
Cho’s eyes widened. “You mean to say
you have invited all three of them to the same function?”, he asked.
“Yes”, came the innocent reply.
“And you have the temerity to get me
to be the Master of Ceremonies at an event to which these three people, whom
I keep lampooning in the media every day, are coming?” Cho asked.
“Have I done anything wrong?” asked
MSV. “They are all my friends and I called them...”
Cho could not help laughing at MSV’s
total lack of knowledge outside his world of music. Such child-like innocence
had to be preserved, he decided. And he was not going to spoil the day for
MSV. He contacted the three rivals and fixed their timings in such a way that
none overlapped at the venue. And Cho himself conducted the show with minimal
personalised satire to ensure that the purity of the event was not vitiated.
Years later, MGR broke away from the
DMK and launched his own AIADMK. His lieutenant, R M Veerappan had been
assigned the task of listing out various celebrities from the world of cinema
who could be roped in to become member of the nascent political outfit. And
in the second place in the list was the name of M S Viswanathan.
RMV showed the list to MGR, who took
out his pen and without a second thought struck out MSV from the list. “Melissai
Mannar is common property”, he explained. “He has been created for music. He
should be above politics. Let him do his job without restrictions. Avar oru arasiyal gnanasoonyam (he is
a political ignoramus)”.
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VISWANATHAN... VELAI VENDUM...
It was the year 1963. MSV was earlly at the recording studios, waiting
for lyricist Kannadasan to come. The two were to get the songs for Sridhar's
film Kathalikka Neramillai. The song that was to be composed that day was for
a youth in love with a girl, trying to gain employment in the estate owned by
her father. Kannadasan, famed for his late nights, was a perpetual late
comer. And while they were waiting for him, MSV regaled the rest of the
orchestra with various compositions that came to his mind. He recollected his
visit to the United States a couple of years earlier. Dwight Eisenhover was
then the American President and the Yankees had composed a song for him.
“Eisen-hover... Boogie woogie...”, went the song and MSV, who had heard this
during his visit was playing the tune on his harmonium when Kannadasan entered.
“Hey, that's a nice tune”, he said. “Lets do
song in that tune.” Within minutes, the song was ready --
“Viswa-nathan... Velai Vendum...”, it went. Sridhar loved the song when it
was played to him. And the name of the estate owner in the film was changed
to Viswanathan to suit the lyrics of the song!
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KANNADASAN'S REVENGE
Poet Kannadasan had a fondness for late nights. This also made him a late
riser. As a result, MSV was usually well into creating tunes before
Kannadasan reached the studios and penned lyrics for the metre. On one rare
occasion, Kannadasn reached the studios early. And MSV, who had been working
late the previous day, reached late. Kannadasan was annoyed. “I've been
waiting for so long”, he grumbled. “Where have you been?”
“Anna, mannichidunga. Naan thoongi
vitten”, (Brother, forgive me. I was sleeping), MSV said sheepishly.
Kannadasan frowned. Then he grunted. “Okay, today I'll write the lyrics
first. Then you compose the music for it”, he said. “That will be your
punishment for coming late..” The song that was penned : “Avanukkenna?
Thoongi vittan. Agapattavan naanallavo...” (What does he care? He just
sleeps. The one who has to suffer is me) went on to become a runaway hit.
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A MELODIOUS AFFAIR...
MSV's relationship with Kannadasan was an interesting one. They were the
best of friends. They would laugh. They would joke. They would argue. They
would fight. And they would often settle scores through music. They would
challenge each other to test the other's limits. And in the process
constantly churned out good music for their fans to lap up.
 One day, Kannadasan, late as usual, reached the studios in a nasty mood.
“Come on, is the tune ready” he asked. And MSV crooned : “La... la la.... la
la... la laa...”
“What the hell is all this la la stuff?” asked Kannadasan. “You think
only you can do it? I can do it too”, he yelled in mock anger. The song that
resulted was the all time hit : “Vaan...
Nila... Nila... alla..” The song was literally packed with “la la”s in
every line.
Many in the industry, who knew them intimately, likened the relationship
between MSV and Kannadasan as a sort of a musical love affair.
Director extraordinary, K Balachander, the man who introduced the likes
of Rajnikant and Kamal Hasan interestingly portrayed this relationship in a
song sequence in his film Varumayin Niram Sigappu, featuring
Kamal Hasan and Sridevi.
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SONGS FOR EVERY OCCASION...
In a state where stage performances were restricted to Carnatic Cutcheris
rendered by vidwans, MSV was amongst the first to introduce popular film
music by orchestras at public events. Very soon, birthdays, political
meetings, wedding receptions all had an orchestra playing film songs. But ome
instrumentalists had a grievance. “When we are called to perform at weddings,
there is no song to sing that goes with the occasion”, they said. “Similarly,
there is no song that we can sing as a thanksgiving to the audience at a
performance.”
Within a week, the MSV-Kannadasan duo had ensured that both these
grievances were addressed. The song “Vaarayo
Thozhi Vaarayo” describes the entire process of a Tamil wedding.
And the song “Vanakkam... palamurai
sonnen” was the thanksgiving the orchestra folk had asked for.
 Once, when returning from a holiday at a hill resort, MSV saw a crowd
gathered outside a house in a village. A loudspeaker was blaring out songs –
his songs. But what was unusual was that the songs were not the usual
rolicking numbers that are played at various functions. They were the
melancholy, philosophical genre. His curiosity aroused, MSV stopped his car
to find out what was happening. A sad faced man in his forties came out. “My
mother died this morning’, he said. “She was a great fan of yours. When she fell sick she called me and told
me that death was knocking at her door. She said that when she was gone, none
of us were to cry or weep. Instead, she said, play the melancholy songs of
MSV. That will take my soul to heaven, she said. So that’s why we are playing
these songs. The funeral is this evening”.
Three weeks back, the scene was virtually re-enacted. Only this time it was the legendary Thirai isai Chakravarthy himself who had died. The entire film fraternity paid homage to him. And the Cine Musicians Guild of which he was the founder, did it in the most befitting manner -- by playing his own music. May the legend rest in peace.
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