Thursday, March 03, 2005

Lyrics that I fell for

Tamil again. It is the title song from K.Balachander’s “Punnagai Mannan”, beautifully penned by Vairamuthu, extremely feminine and deeply expressive of a longing. The song is the plight of a girl who falls for the “Punnagai Mannan” (Prince of smiles, the closest English approximation) claiming that she is his princess. The song ends on a note that come whatever may, she would be happiest with his love. The song was set to tune by Illayaraja, rendered superbly by Chitra. A very,very sweet song.
I was too kicked to listen to it on FM, that I couldn’t resist the temptation of typing the lyrics as the song proceeded.


The Song:

Edhedho ennam valarthen
Unkayil ennai koduthen
Nee thaaney punnagai mannan
Un rani naaney
Panpadum padagan neeye
Un raagam naaney


Sila Kaalamai naanum sirai vaazhgiren
Unai paartha naal thaaney uyir vaazhgiren
Thookam vizhikiren pookal valarkiren
Sila pookal thaaney malarginradhu
Pala pookal eno udhirginradhu
Badhil enna kooru (an indication to successful and failed relationships)

Poovum naanum veru (beautiful and subtle portrayal of difference, when in many cases women are compared to flowers)

Kula deivamey en kurai theerkava
Kai neetinen ennai karai serkava
Neeye anaikka vaa
Theeyai anaikka vaa (anaikka – in its twin meaning, to embrace and also extinguish)
Nee paarkum podhu pani aagiren
Un maarbil saindhu kulir kaigiren
Edhu vandha podhum indha anbu podhum (love these three lines)

(With due credits to the lyricist and whoever owns the copyright:))

17 comments:

reNUka said...

heyy!!!! think its lyrics and songs season :-) in fact, i like this part of the song 'enna sathham intha naeram' from the same movie where a male voice sings as a third person - but when it comes to emoting the same, he turns as the first person - i am not sure if ppl have noticed this... here it goes:

maanavanae un vizhiyal penn vizhiyai moodu
aadharavaai chaaindhu-vittal aariraro paadu
aariraro ivar yaar evaro bathil solvaar yaaro...

Kumari said...

It is truly a beautiful song!
and guess what i too love those lines you have marked in bold...

but the crux of the matter is "Anu you didn't tell me you were blogging!!!!"

:)

hUmDiNgEr said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
REFLEX said...

Reading between the lines, love panra vanga lukku dhaan indha lines romba pidikkum nu ninaikiren, yaara vadhu badhil solungo

hUmDiNgEr said...

wherez my post???

btw...as reflex said...

whatz happening???
anything special happening in life???

Anu said...

Oh no..i don't know how surya's post got deleted...funny enough! I was wondering what surya was upto...that the comment disappeared almost when reflex asked for a confession!;))..

Renuka...I like that song too.Pramaadham Kavidhai Kavidhai..;) in Guna style!!

PonC......great to have u here..sorry that I didnt tell u, but just wanted to stabilise with my blogging!Now u know..:)

Oye ..Reflex is doing psyche analysis..Dont read too much between the lines..;) its just a beautiful song and there it ends! Do you need sth to happen to appreciate a good song?

saranyan r said...

yabba. u have analyzed it so much that probably even the lyricist wouldn't have thought this much :)

Vani Viswanathan said...

anu, kalaks..
check out the coincidence...i was listening to that song RIGHT when i was checking ur blog....limits illa!!!
hey i think there's sth wrong wid my blog as i can't see any comments...can u try just sending a random comment and i'll see if it's coming?

Amrita said...

Anu,
personally I think that good lyrics always have a special effect on us.I do not understand Tamil but I definitely like some Tamil songs which I heard some months back.(thanks to you). It was called Manjal poosum some song from friends. It was lovely. When I went back to Kolkata, at home I kept playing that song. It was lovely. Though I could not understand the lyrics yet there was something very soothing about them.

Anu said...

Saranyan, who knows what the lyricist thought? And that doesn't really matter i think..u feel happy with a song..might as well analyse!:) (one of the first lessons we had as a part of the cinema elective in college..what the film maker wants to convey is just one aspect of it!!)

Yeah Amrita..I know u love "manjal Poosum" and how u drove ur mom mad..who knows ur mom is now probably sitting and listening to that song..thanks to u...(or me??);))

Vans..i will visit ur blog ...hang on..hey btw, am online on the msgr! came here for my flash assignment and doing everything else:)

Eroteme said...

I just wrote a long comment and then for reasons unknown (or probably known to MS) my browser went blank and hung. :-(
I'll make it short now. Loved this post. Why? 'coz I had heard this songs hundred times but never stopped to understand the lyrics. Now it appears beautiful. Really does. You picked really nice lines. Thanks to you. I didn't quite get the lyrics posted by Renuka. Would someone explain that to me?
Anu, really nice post. Do keep posting such and other interesting tidbits. Glad to know we share common interests (from your profile).

Anu said...

Yeah Varshu, there is really something abt lyrics..not just tamil lyrics..any language for that matter, I believe that the tendency to appreciate and understand any good lyrics comes with your liking for the language as well!

eroteme..Thanks very much for visiting my blog!:)
To explain what Renuka has written, the first two lines talk about how the girl is dependent on the guy now and he oughta protect and take care of her..the lines are addressed to him.."Vizhi" means eyes..and it says, close her eyes with yours..the second line says that she has leaned on you, just sing a lullaby for her..(Oh gosh...this is terrible translation..:( I am so sad..I am killing the song..but can't really translate better..)..Ah, well, let's forget it!:)

Eroteme said...

Anu, :-))
Thanks a tonne for that. I did get the 1st 2 lines (though it took me time to figure out that vizhiyal meant vizhiyaal. I thought she meant vizhiyil which would mean lock (your) woman's eyes in yours!). My confusion lies in the 3rd line:
aariraro: a tamil way of saying lullaby
ivar: (respectful) second person male
yaar: who
evaro: ? (my guess is it is the word for whoever. Technically, isn't it the same as yaaro? I am not able to get the transliteration.)
bathil: reply
solvaar: (respectful) will speak
yaaro: who (with a questioning tone)

Suddenly there is too much of "who" in that last line!!! ;-)

I speak a fair amount of Tamil as it is my mother tongue, but reading Tamil in English can get me tongue tied!!! And I can't read Tamil!

I had stopped by your blog earlier too, but it was that day when I had already exceeded my quota of visits and comments... So I return today. You're welcome. My earlier comment which got lost had something about how sings in many languages (Indian) are equally beautiful. Glad you said it succintly!

Eroteme said...

I believe it was Frost who said:
"Poetry is that which is lost in translation." ;-)

Anonymous said...

Hi Can some one give me the english translation of pachai nirame of alaipayuthe...

Shyam said...

Good to see a blog discussing tamil lyrics. I am a great fan of lyrics in any song and was happy to read your blog. Do keep it coming!!

Thanks,
Shyam

Unknown said...

Hi Anupama,

I stumbled across your blog while I was trying to confirm the lyricist of this song... I should say, I was impressed with your writing… as soft & sweet as the lyrics itself.. keep up!!!!
BTW, though I luv the entire song, stances highlighted by you are the ones that I luv as well.
All the best, keep going!!! - Suresh