Bichu Thirumala (B Sivasankaran Nair) by no means wished to be a lyricist. His coronary heart was in writing tales, performing and directing performs. The graduate in Economics discovered a superb job however the pull of theatre and every little thing related to it was too robust to withstand. He moved to Chennai, then referred to as Madras.

Once I met Bichu for the primary time, he was present process rejuvenation remedy at an Ayurveda hospital in Kochi after he had survived a near-fatal fall from the terrace. The main points of that prolonged dialog about his profession are recorded however the lasting impression is of the person — unpretentious and accessible, a lot like his songs.

When Bichu wrote just a few strains in rhyme and meter as a present to his sister (singer P Susheela Devi) on her wedding ceremony, he “by no means thought this might flip into my vocation,” Bichu stated with a smile. However then life comes up with such unusual issues, Bichu added. “It’s like using an enormous wave that takes one to nice heights and brings you down. You simply must go along with the wave. All you’ll want to do was to be ready for this swing,” Bichu added.

When the stage beckoned

Bichu merely moved with the wave. Theatre was the touchstone of his expertise. In 1962, he wrote and acted in Ballatha Duniyav at an inter-university radio drama competitors. Bichu spent loads of time and power scripting and composing for performs. Actually, hardly anybody is aware of that he was the inspiration behind the formation of Sangamithra Theatres (later Cochin Sangamithra). He even helped within the manufacturing of its first skilled play.

The yr 1972 was a decisive level in Bichu’s life. He met Sathish Sangamithra (Okay J Thomas) who was actively concerned within the actions of varied Malayali Samajams and in addition helmed a cultural organisation referred to as ‘Kala Keralam’ in Madras.

Bichu’s request to Thomas was to assist him produce and stage a play, Dandakaranyam, which he had written. “Bichu stated he would write the songs. This shocked me. However I received to know that he had by then penned just a few devotional songs,” Thomas recollects. The play was staged at Ambattur. Each Bichu and Thomas acted in it. “There was a tune on this play, ‘Manase ashwasikoo…’ that Bichu had written. After the play two folks, filmmakers, got here backstage, enquired concerning the lyricist and requested if they may use the tune for his or her movie,” says Thomas.

These strains had been later used within the movie Njan Ninne Premikkunnu (1975), which had music by M S Baburaj and was sung by S Janaki, a singer who has given life to a few of Bichu’s immortal strains. After all, the tune was totally different from the unique.

In 1975, Thomas returned to Ernakulam. Bichu used to make frequent visits to satisfy his buddy. “On one such go to Bichu persuaded me to stage Dandakaranyam at just a few venues in Kerala. I reluctantly agreed. The identical solid from Madras Chennai got here down and we staged it efficiently in 5 locations.”

A month later Bichu was again once more. “This time the request was to stage the play at an all-Kerala drama competitors slated to be held at Kerala Positive Arts Corridor, Ernakulam. This was once we determined to kind a bunch. We named it Sangamithra Theatres and entered the competitors.”

Bichu wished to incorporate new songs. “Kannur Rajan was our music director. Bichu wrote ‘Thushara bindukkale…’. The play received seven awards.” A lot of the firms in and round Ernakulam wished to stage this play as a part of their common month-to-month artwork programmes. “Cochin Sangamithra was formally launched at a perform at Sacred Coronary heart School, Thevara, by movie actor Jos Prakash,” recollects Thomas.

Director I V Sasi occurred to listen to this tune and wished to incorporate it in his movie Aalinganam (1976). However the music director for the movie was A.T. Ummer and the songs had been listed in his title. ‘Thushara bindukkale…’ received for Ummer the Kerala State award for finest music director and the most effective singer honour for S Janaki.

Even earlier than all this, Bichu had made his movie debut as lyricist with some soulful strains. “It was sheer future. In 1970 I used to be aiding Krishnan Nair Sir within the making of Sabarimala Sree Dharmasastha. The producer of this movie C R Okay Nair persuaded me to attempt my hand at writing songs. He gave me a possibility in his subsequent movie Bhajagovindam, which, nevertheless, was not launched,” stated Bichu, flipping by a diary that had vital names, days, dates and occasions of his life.

Bichu wrote 4 songs in his debut as a lyricist for movie music. They had been set to music by Jaya-Vijaya, with whom he fashioned an outstanding bond leading to various memorable movie and non-film songs. This movie included the melodious ‘Brahma muhoorthathil pranasakhi…’ rendered by Okay J Yesudas.

The yr that cemented Bichu’s profession was 1975. Some songs like ‘Sarvam Brahmamayam…’ (Prayanam), ‘Manase aaswasikku…’ (Njan Ninne Premikkunnu), ‘Neelakashavum meghangalum…’ (Akkaldaama), and ‘Unmadam gandharva sangeetha…’ (Kaamam Krodham Moham) turned hits. It marked the arrival of a brand new lyricist.

Between 70s and 90s, Bichu wrote a few of Malayalam’s hottest songs. There was humour, prayer, love, pathos, encouragement, hope and inspiration in his strains. Bichu was versatile and prolific, penning round 3,000 movie songs and a number of other non-film and devotional songs.

Simplicity was the hallmark of Bichu’s lyrics. His skill to infuse in them a message, typically tending to philosophise within the layman’s language, endeared him to the lots and the critics alike. “I firmly imagine that it isn’t simply the tune or the sunshine nature of the strains that make some songs common,” Bichu stated. He then sang just a few strains from two of his common songs — ‘Paavada venam…’ (Angadi) and ‘Ola thumbathirunnooyalaadum…’ (Pappayude Swantham Appoos) — and stated that the trace of common reality, fairly often forgotten on this mad world, is what received the songs large acceptance.

Pushing poetry into movie songs was not Bichu’s approach. He rapidly tailored to the altering developments of movie music. When he began, composing was an thrilling affair with the lyricist, music director, singers, producer and director getting right into a huddle looking for the most effective tune. Quickly the tunes had been composed first and the lyricist needed to write verse that suited the music. In such conditions, when he needed to sync his phrases with the size and temper of the tune, there was no house to bask in poetry. Bichu then tried to be succinct, sticking to the temporary given by the director, creating evocative photos.

This coupled with an uncanny skill to put in writing quick made Bichu the first-choice of many filmmakers and composers. He ‘teamed’ with a protracted line of music administrators however was by no means spoken of as a part of a group like Vayalar-Devarajan or P Bhaskaran-Baburaj. Sure, he ‘teamed’ up in quite a few movies with composers reminiscent of Shyam however then Bichu has additionally been a part of the success tales of many others reminiscent of Jaya-Vijaya, Okay J Pleasure, Jerry Amaldev, A T Ummer, Raveendran and others.

Aside from lyrics Bichu tried his hand at music route (in Sathyam, which was not launched); he wrote the script and dialogues for the movie Ishtapraneswari (1979) and the story for the movie Sakthi. Bichu, who was educated in Carnatic music for just a few years, has additionally sung in lots of movies beginning with Kaamam Krodham Moham. Not shocking as he hailed from a household the place music was of their blood — his sister Susheela is a well known singer, brother Darshan Raman and son Suman Bichu are music administrators.

Bichu has written among the finest non-film and devotional songs within the language. Songs like ‘Vishnu maayayil…’ (Jaya-Vijaya, Ayappa Suprabhatham); ‘Maamankam…’ (Raveendran, Vasantha Geethangal); ‘Appavum veenjumayinin…’ (Shyam, Parishudha Ganangal); ‘Cheppadi kunnil…’ (Mohan Sithara, Jungle Guide); ‘Japamala enniyen…’ (Oduvil Unnikrishnan, Dasapushpam); ‘Shararanthal velichathil…’ (M G Radhakrishnan, AIR Gentle Songs); ‘Paathu pathungi…’ (Alleppey Ranganath, Youngsters’s Songs Vol 1); ‘Sankara dhyana…’ (Kannur Rajan, Hrudayanjali) and lots of extra.

The music that Bichu composed for a well-liked devotional album titled Deepam Makara Deepam was wrongly credited to Raveendran. Solely lately was this error corrected. Raveendran had solely composed the background rating. All of the songs written by Bichu had been sung by P Jayachandran. It included the everlasting hit ‘Kulathurpuzhayile balakane…’ One other devotional album that deserves point out is Sarana Keerthanam. This album had 9 songs written by Bichu and set to music by Suman.

Verses and pictures

I keep in mind asking Bichu how he managed to conjure up photos, weave it into significant strains and mix it with the tunes. His reply was easy: “When a state of affairs is defined, I take a couple of minutes to know the temper. Then I plunge deep into the reserves saved by the years. Right here my studying of the epics, classics, poems by nice poets and my coaching in music assist. All of the rigorous strategies my grandfather, a widely-read scholar, employed to make me be taught a poem typically bears fruit.”

Bichu received the Kerala State Award for Finest Lyricist twice — for Thenum Vayambum and Trishna (1981) and Kadinjool Kalyanam (1991). He actually deserved extra particularly once you discover that his songs have received laurels for thus many singers and music administrators many a time.

“In case you ask me I’ll say that the standards is unusual. tune is a mixture of the singer, composer and lyricist. I don’t know how one can separate them and choose them individually. However frankly, this stuff have by no means actually bothered me an excessive amount of. In any case, even after the movie fades away, if the tune lingers I’m completely satisfied.”

This extraordinary wordsmith leaves behind a legacy etched within the hearts of each music lover. He has left an indelible mark crafting timeless lyrics matched seamlessly along with his boundless information of topics working the gamut from traditional literature to avenue life.