Cinema loses poetic soul with Poovachal Khader’s demise

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The passing away of

Poovachal Khader

further attenuates the

poetic link

of Malayalam cinema songs with

poetry

. Khader, an

engineer

by education, was a soulful poet who stirred the poetic sensibilities of Malayalalis for decades and yet lived an unassuming life.


The light music songs of

Khader

were roaring hits in the late 1970s and ’80s. As Khader teamed up with ace music composer M G Radhakrishnan, a generation of music lovers used to patiently wait for their songs to be broadcast on Akashvani radio at 7:30 every morning.

The songs ‘Jayadeva Kaviyude Geethikal Kettente Radhe Urakkamayo’ and ‘Ramayanakkili Sarikappainkili Rajeevanethrane Kando’ have assumed the envious proportion of classics as they have turned out to be evergreen light-music songs in Malayalam. “Perhaps, these two light-music songs were the most preferred ones for students who participated in school, college youth festivals for decades. They still exude a refreshing charm,” said poet-lyricist Prabha Varma, who had a pretty long association with Khader.

Khader was undoubtedly one of the most prolific lyricists ever in

Malayalam

cinema. He penned around 1,400 songs for about 400 films. For over a decade, Khader was an inevitable ingredient in the new formulaic cinema of the ’80s that came into being with the rise of new stars and star directors like I V Sasi.

“Poovachal Khader was an ingenious person and a prolific poet-lyricist. His songs such as ‘Nadha Neevarum Kalocha Kelkkuvan’ and ‘Adya Samagama Lajayiladhyamay’ marked the first-rate poet in Khader. The fact that Khader, despite being a very busy lyricist, could still maintain the link with poetry underscored his genius,” says poet-lyricist

Rafeeq Ahamed

.

Though major awards never came his way, Khader was not a person to feel a let-down about it. He was happy for the popularity of his songs and never ever nursed any grouse against anybody for denying him an award.

Still, at least a few think that Khader had misspent significant time and talent by choosing to swim along with the commercial interests of cinema, which many times did restrict his poetic talent to match with cinema’s mediocrity. But a writer is known for his good works only. The fact that he produced scores of evergreen songs like ‘Sararanthal Thiri Thazhum Mukilin Kudilil’ and ‘Adyasamagama Lajjayiladyamay, Mouname Nirayum Mouname’ stand testimony to his poetic genius.


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