When Shaan Rahman composed a tune for Thattathin Marayathu , its director Vineeth Sreenivasan wanted a woman to write the lyrics. He felt that a woman could bring in a different perspective. That’s how Anu Elizabeth Jose came up with the song ‘Muthuchippi poloru,’ which became a love anthem.
Since then Anu has become one of the busiest women lyricists in Malayalam cinema. She has written for 17 films; the prominent ones being Thira, Kadal Kadannoru Mathukutty, Honey Bee, Oru Vadakkan Selfie, Philips and the Monkey Pen, Vegam and Jo and the Boy .
“I had zero experience when Thattathin… came my way. However Vineeth ettan [Vineeth Sreenivasan] explained the situation and mood of the song and that’s how I fell into the groove,” says Anu, who also wrote the songs ‘Syamambaram’ and ‘Thattathin marayathe’ for the movie. Her lyrics will also be heard in the new album of music band Agam.
Sasikala Menon, M.R. Jayageetha and Dhanya Suresh are among the few women who are writing a new chapter in the music industry.
Sasikala is a veteran, having started her career at the age of 14 with the movie Sindooram (1976), which had music by A.T. Ummer. That was followed by Agninakshatram and Vayanadan Thampan in which her lines were scored by master composer G. Devarajan himself.
“A newcomer couldn’t have asked for more. I was nervous about working with him because I was told that he was short-tempered. On the contrary, he was encouraging and jovial,” says Sasikala, who later worked with Raveendran and M. K. Arjunan before taking a break of nearly 25 years.
It was Anu’s song that caught the ear of filmmakers and music directors, persuading them to give women a chance to write lyrics. In the meantime, Sasikala made a comeback. She worked with M.G. Sreekumar ( Good Bad Ugly) , M. Jayachandran (Kukliyar) and Bijibal (Jilebi) . She has been writing for music albums as well.
In the case of M.R. Jayageetha, it was her poetic pursuit that led her to Mollywood. She has worked in Wound, Mizhi Thurakkoo (both for M. Jayachandran), Varsham (Bijibal), and Thilothama (Deepak Dev). More projects are in the pipeline.
So, does it matter whether the lyricist is a man or a woman? It doesn’t, say composers Shaan Rahman and Bijibal.
“I have worked with a few of them and each time the experience has been exciting. One was B. Sreerekha who did justice to the situation with her lyrics ‘Kadha poloru’ in Best Actor. In Varsham, it was director Ranjith [Shankar] who suggested that we have a female lyricist for the song related to the aspirations and musings of an adolescent boy. That was how we zeroed in on Jayageetha. She came up with a sweet and tender ‘Kootu thedi…’. Again, it was truly an interesting experience working with Sasikala chechi in Jilebi,” says Bijibal.
But why is it that women lyricists are a rarity in the film industry? As per statistics available with the portal www.malayalasangeetham.info, in the last 80 years, of the 1,000-odd lyricists less than 100 are women. Only Sasikala and Anu have crossed the 10-figure mark when it comes to the number of films.
Has it something to do with a gender bias or the industry’s lack of confidence in women? “It is a reflection of what is happening in all other creative fields where men are preferred over women. All we want is recognition and not consideration. Though there are exceptional women writers, many filmmakers and music composers want to play it safe with tried and tested names,” says Jayageetha.
Anu feels that it is about exploring opportunities. “Many are confused about how to go about it. Also, the male lyricists we have are the best in their work and so naturally joining their league calls for confidence,” she says. Shaan, who has worked with her in four films, adds: “It’s the talent that matters and not the gender.”
A limiting factor for women is perhaps practical difficulties involved, Bijibal observes. “Travel, accommodation, discussions, moving along with strangers…these might pose difficulties for the women. But these are temporary. I am confident the situation is changing…”
The Malayalam film industry is certainly waxing lyrical over women lyricists these days!
Rock route
Malayalam rock band Thaikkudam Bridge is incomplete without Dhanya Suresh. Elder sister of Govind Menon, the front man of the band, Dhanya has written all the Malayalam tracks of the band.
“Govind knew I had a flair for writing. One day, he gave me the tune of ‘Fish Rock’ and asked me to write the lyrics. He said, the song should have names of different fish but it shouldn’t sound like a song about fish! We always work like that, he’d give me the tune and the theme, with a condition that it should have a hook line. It is not easy. You have to work within the beats and have to convey the meaning in the least number of words possible. I do refer books when the song revolves around serious subjects,” says Dhanya from Dubai.
The second runner-up of the fifth season of Vanita Ratnam, a reality show for mothers on Amrita TV, Dhanya is, however, not a huge fan of rock music.
Wordsmiths all
* Among the women lyricists of the past are P. Ganga (Umminithanga) , Latha Vaikom (Ragini) , Gandhari (Chithariya Pookkal) , O. V. Usha (Inquilab Zindabad) , Shakuntala Rajendran (Agni) , Sathidevi (Homakundam- Pathamudayam) , Sherly (Lakshyam) and Sumangala (Chenda) .
* The current crop of lyricists include names such as Gowrylakshmi, Haseena S. Kanam, Sabeena Shahjahan, Jayasree Kishore, Prameela, M. P. Sheeja, Mamta Seemanth, Manju Vani, Meenakshi Sundaram, Preethi Pillai, Priya Menon, Priya Viswanath, Charu Hariharan, Radhika Nair, Renjini Menon, Ria Joy, Saleena Prakkanam…. Actress Kavya Madhavan has written songs for the films One Way Ticket and Akashvani and an album, Kavyadalangal .
(Courtesy: www.malayalasangeetham.info)
