: It was around this time of the year half-a-century ago that a film called Kattumallika was released. It was produced and directed by P. Subramaniam.
If it is still remembered today, it is primarily for its lyricist. A young civil engineer from Alappuzha had written the film’s 10 songs, which were tuned by M.S. Baburaj. Sreekumaran Thampi went on to become one of the finest and most prolific lyricists in Malayalam cinema. As he completes 50 years as a lyricist, it would be interesting to look back at the astonishing number of melodies he gave Malayalam cinema and light music. He has written close to a couple of thousand songs over the last five decades.
Many of them are among the finest in both our films and non-film albums.
Also, he has written some of the most popular non-film songs ever in Malayalam. Remember the hauntingly beautiful Ennum chirikkunna sooryante… That gem is from the album Ulsva Ganangal (1) , produced by Tharangini, whose audio cassettes used to be awaited by music lovers of Kerala in the 1980s and 90s. It was composed by Raveendran and sung by Yesudas. That album had contained other big hits such as Uthrada poonilave vaa..Paayippaattaattil vallam kali …
Light songs
Like Raveendran, V. Dakshinamoorthy also combined with him to produce some lovely light songs, like Pandu paadiya paattilorennam… and Thuyilunaroo… And there this great light song of his that Baburaj tuned – Maaleyamaniyum…
His film songs, of course, became even more popular, because of the much wider reach of cinema.. When he decided to give up his secure job as an engineer in Chennai and pursue a career in films, Malayalam cinema already had three gifted lyricists in the form of Vayalar Rama Varma, P. Bhaskaran and O.N.V. Kurup.
But, it did not take Thampi long to make his presence felt. He created hits after hits, mostly in the company of Dakshinamoorthy, M.K. Arjunan and M.S. Viswanathan.
With songs like Ponveyil manikkacha… ( Nruthashala ), Yadukula rathidevanevide … ( Rest House ), Hrudayasarassile … ( Padunna Puzha ), Aa nimishathinte … ( Chandrakantham ), Kasthoori manakkunnallo… ( Picnic ) and Karpooradeepathin kaanthiyil … ( Divyadarashanam ) he conquered the Malayali’s heart like few others ever could.
Sreekumaran Thampi, who has penned many popular film songs in Malayalam, has completed 50 years as a lyricist.
