Tamil poet, lyricist and novelist Kannadasan carved his place in the history of Tamil Nadu with the prolific literary work done in a career spanning four decades. He is also renowned for penning the lyrics of Ilaiyaraaja’s first track as a composer, titled Kola Kolaya from the film Paalooti Valartha Kili.
Actor and Kannadasan’s son Annadurai Kannadasan recounted this incident in an interview with a portal. At that time, Annadurai Kannadasan was working as an assistant director in the production company of this film. As per reports, the producer of Paalooti Valartha Kili asked him to persuade his father to write a song for his film. The Sahitya Akademi award winner asked who is the composer. When the Nanda Nanditha actor replied that it was Ilaiyaraaja, Kannadasan immediately agreed to curate the track.
As per reports, when Kannadasan suggested some lyrics to the veteran composer, he was overjoyed beyond words. Unlike the film Paalooti Valartha Kili, Kola Kolaya became a hit with the audience. S Janaki sang the track.
The Kola Kolaya lyricist left behind a legacy of more than 5,000 songs and 4,000 poems, apart from several essays and novels. His published work totalled 109 volumes including 21 novels and 10 volumes of essays on Hinduism. The track Mayakama Thayakama from Sumaithaangi (1962), one of his stellar hits, was illustrative of the philosophical kind of writing he believed in.
After many years of success, Kannadasan stopped curating songs himself and got his assistants to pen the lyrics as he dictated them. Renowned directors, like SP Muthuraman, and Panchu Arunachalam, among others, worked as his assistants early in their careers.
Like most Tamil literary stalwarts of his time, Kannadasan also made his stint with politics. In his younger days, he was a staunch supporter of EV Ramaswami’s atheist Dravida Kazhagam (DK) movement. It was during this period that he came under the influence of DK leader Salakantapuram Kannan and assumed the pseudonym of Kannadasan (servant of Kannan (Lord Krishna). After the split in the DK, he supported CN Annadurai’s Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and ultimately in 1964 joined the Congress.