Kalyanasundaram, Pattukotai (1930-59)

Tamil lyricist, born in Pattukotai, TN. Son of folk composer Arunachalam Pillai. Worked as farmer and labourer in salt flats, later as organiser of the peasantry in the Thanjavur delta. One of his early poems was used in a play, Kannin Manigal, staged at the Tamil Nadu Farmers’ Conference, Dindigul (1954). His best-known work was in C.V. Sridhar’s Kalyana Parisu (1959). His last film was A. Kasilingam’s Kalai Arasi (1963). Wrote 196 often propagandist songs in over 55 films in a brief 9-year career, many of them for MGR’s films. Although his lyrics bore the stamp of Pa. Jeevanandan’s brand of Marxism, they also showed the vitality of the folk idiom and the reformist ardour derived from poets like Subramanya Bharati and Bharatidasan. Published his poetry extensively in journals like Janasakthi. His biography is by P.E. Balakrishnan (1965).

Music