WORD WEAVERS

Karky says the style of the lyric, its emotional and visual context, its role in the narrative and its audience are what he considers before writing. Kabilan wants poetry to meet the lyric.

July 10, 2014 06:48 pm | Updated 07:13 pm IST

Life’s a lyric:  Kabilan Vairamuthu and Madhan Karky  Photos: R. Ragu

Life’s a lyric: Kabilan Vairamuthu and Madhan Karky Photos: R. Ragu

In the coming months, around 120 songs from 65 films will carry the name “Madhan Karky” on their credit scrolls. Songs soaked in sentiment or radiating youthful vibes. Slow-paced romantic numbers or peppy party notes that scale up to a shrilling crescendo. Are you ready to listen? The lyricist is on a pen drive!

His brother Kabilan Vairamuthu is not a bandwagon hopper. The novelist-poet sees his new-found passion for lyric writing as an extension of his engagement with Tamil literature. 

The bonhomie between the brothers dissolves the silence of a sluggish Sunday morning at Karky’s office in Adyar, Chennai. What is the role of a lyricist? Do lyricists elevate songs by providing them with a literary lattice in a commercial medium like cinema? Are words written according to the meter of a tune or is the music composed on the basis of a lyric? How necessary is it for lyricists to go beyond the solo/duet, outdoor/indoor or love/loathing brief? The duo takes a behind-the-scenes look at the lyric.

“About 3,000 songs are released every year. Out of this, just two dozens remain in our mindscape. As a lyricist, one hopes to make it to that list. Because of recurring themes and concepts, lyricists have to avoid clichés and come up with fresh thoughts, words and similes to stand out in the crowd. It’s a huge challenge,” says Karky, whose Boom Boom Robo Da and Irumbile Oru (‘Enthiran’), Ennamo Edho (‘Ko’), Nee Koorinaal (‘180’), Ask Laska (‘Nanban’), Konjam Konjam (‘Naan Ee’), Elay Keechan (‘Kadal’), Google Google (‘Thuppaki’) and Maanja (‘Maan Karate’) regaled film-goers with breezy lines and unusual turn of phrases. A word-weaver, Karky says the style of the lyric, its emotional and visual context, its role in the narrative and its target audience are what he takes into consideration before writing.

Kabilan is quite a monologist and sentences flow in impeccable Tamil, “Lyric writing is a recent effort. My dad’s (legendary lyricist Vairamuthu) Kannukku Mai Aazhagu was a poem which eventually became a lyric in ‘Pudhiya Mugam.’ Similarly, I want poetry to meet the lyric when I write. As a lyricist, my role is to help elevate a film by treating a song with not more than what it requires. Though there are songs made exclusively to turn heads at promotions, a song’s staying power ultimately depends on the lyricist’s distinct flourishes and the value he brings to it within its boundary.” Kabilan, who made his debut with Vaa Iravugal in the film ‘Udhayam NH4,’ will also showcase his style of writing in ‘Vennila Veedu,’ ‘Sivappu,’ ‘Poriyaalan,’ ‘Indarajith,’ ‘Jeeva’ and some yet untitled projects. He is also writing the songs and dialogue for actor-director Vijay Adhiraj’s upcoming film. “I met director Vetrimaran, gave him a collection of my poems and conveyed my interest to write lyrics. That’s how the party number Vaa Iravugal happened. I’m not a party-hopper, but the brief that the focal idea of the song must be ‘search,’ helped.” Incidentally, Kabilan published a collection of poems at the age of 18. “More volumes and short stories followed on the theme of aspiration, the Utopian dream for India, teenage angst and puppy love. After my engineering degree at SRM, Chennai, I went to Australia for my Masters in Journalism, where I had the opportunity to interact with the Aborigines. Their concerns were similar to that of other oppressed communities across the world. ‘Boomerang Boomi,’ my first novel, reflected the social divide and the concerns that come with it. ‘Uyirsol,’ my second, deals with post-natal depression. The next one, likely to be out this August, is based on television programming and the essence of the work I do – which is Lifeotainment. To decode the coinage, it’s entertainment that supports, mirrors or inspires life. It’s what guides me in my tryst with television as well.” After conceiving/working on several hit shows for Puthiya Thalaimurai and Pudhu Yugam, Kabilan now has an independent team and produces programmes for different channels.

While Kabilan straddles varied creative fields, Karky, a Ph.D from the University of Queensland, quit teaching at the College of Engineering, Anna University, and is right now focussed on films. “I’m working on the dialogue for directors Venkat Prabhu’s next film with actor Suriya, Aishwarya Dhanush’s ‘Vai Raja Vai’ and S. S. Rajamouli’s ‘Mahabali.’ Simple songs fresh in content have always succeeded. I maintain a log book and whenever there’s a new song, I fill up the Metadata. I try to recall or browse all the lyrics that were written for similar situations and try not to repeat the ideas or the words. That way, there’s freshness,” explains Karky whose “kuviyamila” in the Enamo Edho number in “Ko” sparked off a lively online debate. “Since the song was about a love-struck photojournalist, I used ‘kuviyamila’, meaning out of focus.

The emotions and situations are the same, only the way we dress them up is different. From Puraa vidu thoodhu to WhatsApp, the means of communication has changed, but the feelings conveyed in the words ‘I love you’ remain the same. As lyricists, we try to stay in tune with the times and look at all the new clothes and accessories that love can don!” Talk about being clued in to technology, and Karky, who is famous for his monthly tweetups, says, “Social media helps me in many ways. I’m able to connect and get feedback from people. I keep observing what young people speak, what they wear and what they like to do, etc. Everyday, I allot an hour to just tracking news and trends. Once a month, I tweet and meet up with a random bunch of people for discussions.”

When the topic veers towards Vairamuthu, Karky is clinical, “He had big dreams for me. So I guess he has still not accepted me as a lyricist-dialogue writer. In a few interviews though, he had mentioned that he liked the lines in Irumbilae , Ask Laska and Ennamo Edho …” To Kabilan, who also grew up reading dad’s writings that “are vibrant as the sheen of the sun” or relishing mom’s thoughts that were “serene as a mountain river,” the family environment provided a “beautiful foundation” for literary pursuits.

Switching to quasi-philosophical mode, Kabilan says, “When I write, I try to connect with my own emotions. There’s a lot of self-interrogation. I believe that through writing, we can help people connect with forgotten values. We have become a gadget generation in a commodity-driven world. Manithargal manithargalaaga irrukka uthavuvathu (help human beings be human beings) – that’s the fundamental cause that drives me to write.”

JUKEBOX

KABILAN ON KARKY: I love Ennamo Edho for its poetic merit, Google Google for its fun element and Ask Laska for its inventive flair.

KARKY ON KABILAN: It’s tough to differentiate Kabilan the novelist, poet and lyricist because a sense of fearlessness drives all his writings. Sample the line “Kuruvigalaaga vaguppukku vandhu karuvigalaaga maarugirom…”

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