News

A memorial for
Kannadasan

A house in Sirukootalpatti is now a memorial for one of Tamil film music's evergreen favourites. M Chockalingam, a judge of the Madras High Court, inaugurated the Kannadasan memorial museum on June 25. Film director Bharathi Raja unveiled a bronze statue of the man who was called kaviarasu, or "king of poets".

Kannadasan was born in 1927, and was given the name of Muthiah. He didn't get much formal education, but grew into one of the most sung Tamil poets of this century. In a poetic career of about 37 years (1944-81), he wrote 4,000 poems and about 5,000 film songs. He also wrote 21 novels and 10 booklets on Hinduism, having rediscovered religion after a long journey through atheism. He also translated the Bible into Tamil.

Kannadasan died at 54, on October 16, 1981, in Chicago. His range extended from swashbuckling MGR hits like Ponal poghutam poda to tender lullabies like Kannin kalaimalai from the Kamala Hasan-Sridevi starrer Mooram Pirai.

HMV has recently released a five-volume compilation of Kannadasan's songs in its Legends series.
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