Fate has snatched away from us a lyricist who delved deep into literature. The death of Na. Muthukumar is unexpected and I am unable to bear the news as his family.
The Tamil film world has seen only a few lyricists who had a master’s degree in Tamil. After poet Na. Kamarasan and me, he was the first postgraduate in Tamil who entered the film world. In a short span, he wrote many songs. In the life of a writer, the forties is a period that witnesses a transition from emotion to intellect. The death of Muthukumar at 41 tells us that creative writers do not pay attention to their health. This is not an age to die, but an age of achievement. He had already won two national awards. Fate has snatched him from us before he could win a third award.
In the last few years, Muthukumar had written the most number of songs in Tamil filmdom. His poems brimmed with aesthetics. He wrote: “Mazhai mattuma azhagu; Veyil koodathan azhagu (Is it the rain alone that is beautiful? The hot rays of the sun are also beautiful). But in real life he seems to have proved that ‘Vaazhvu mattuma azhagu; Maranam koodathan azhagu’ (Is it life alone that is beautiful? Death is also beautiful).
It may be my greediness that I expect the Tamil poetry tradition to sprout like a plantain, but I am filled with sorrow that a young sapling has been uprooted. A good song has to come to an end before we can listen to its last lines.
I once asked Muthukumar about his native place. He told me that he was from Kancheepuram. I told him that (DMK founder) Annadurai himself personified Kancheepuram. When he participated in the poetry reading session at the World Classical Tamil Conference in Coimbatore in 2010, I introduced him by saying “Prove that you are from Kancheepuram”.
Today, death has converted his silence into poetry. His songs will continue to sing his greatness. I express my condolence to his family and the film world. I reiterate that justice has no place in the court of death.
(As told by the veteran lyricist to B. Kolappan)
