Tamil Lyricist Na Muthukumar Passes Away

Journalist, poet, lyricist, author, dialogue writer. Na Muthukumar’s demise is a hard blow to Tamil cinema.

Na Muthukumar funneled his eye for detail, love for journalism and awe of Kannadasan into his songs. Tamil cinema will sorely miss him. (Photo Courtesy: YouTube / KTV)

Tamil poet, lyricist and dialogue writer Na Muthukumar succumbed to jaundice this morning. He was 41, and is survived by his wife and two children (a son and a daughter). Incidentally, Na Muthukumar is a distant relative of DMK founder CN Annadurai.

Na Muthukumar has penned songs for hundreds films. He has also won the most Filmfare Awards for Best Lyricist - Tamil. He is the recipient of two national awards for his beautiful songs in Thanga Meengal and Saivam.

His legacy, are his innumerable songs that blend modern Tamil poetry into filmy tunes that linger long after the movie has seen its time under the sun.

Muthukumar’s Creative Process

His creative process would mould itself to the music director. AR Rahman would give him complete freedom, to the extent that he would be allowed to go beyond the given tune itself. Yuvan Shankar Raja and director Selvaraghavan would more or less be collaborators, in a sort of combined creative process. He came up with four songs in a single night, for Pudhupettai.

Here’s one his more poignant songs from 7G Rainbow colony, a Selvaraghavan film.

The language of the eyes in beyond understanding
Wait all you want, the woman won’t melt
For one face to disappear, for another to take its place
The heart is no mirror
You cannot hide the sea in your palms

Here’s the song, with a poor translation. But try imagining it in your mother-tongue and it will make more beautiful sense.

No Racy Numbers For Muthukumar

The demand to come up with a ‘hit’ song was ominously present almost throughout his career. Sometimes, he would be given less than an hour to come up with lyrics.

For someone who used to work almost twenty hours a day, Na Muthukumar would exude a surprisingly nonchalant and laid back air. His songs range from the philosophical to English laden racy numbers.

Honestly though, he was one of the few lyricists who could deliver beautiful ideas to the layman, while keeping the language contemporary, much like his inspiration and predecessor, lyricist Kannadasan. Very early into his career, he took a firm stand against writing raunchy or misogynistic lyrics; one of the very very few to do so.

Here’s one his National Award winning songs, from the movie Thanga Meengal.