Bhaskara Das (1892-1952)
aka Madhurakavi Bhaskara Das. Born in Madurai as Vellaisamy Thevar. First Tamil film lyricist, writing the songs for the first Tamil talkie, H.M. Reddy’s Kalidas (1931). Already known for several records of his lyrics sung by K.B. Sundarambal, M.S. Subbulakshmi, et al. Worked with the stage group Madurai Balaranjani Sangeeta Sabha, producing many successful Company Natak plays. Turned to politics Freddwith his Khilafat agitational songs (1919), later writing songs about e.g. the Jallianwala Bagh massacre (1919), many of which were banned by the British government. Wrote musical plays like Usha Parinayam, released as 78rpm disc sets by the Broadcast Gramophone Co. Wrote film songs, many addressing reformist themes like temperance and child marriage, for P.V. Rao’s Prahlada and Valli Thirumanam (both 1933), Raja Chandrasekhar’s Raja Desingu (1936) and A. Narayanan’s Rajasekharan (1937).