The soulful songs of Bichu Thirumala always enthralled the listeners

Bichu Thirumala (B Sivasankaran Nair) never wanted to become a lyricist. His heart lay in writing stories, acting and directing plays. A graduate in economics got a decent job, but was too strong to oppose theater and everything connected with it. He moved to Chennai, then was called to Madras.

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When I first met Bichu, he was undergoing rejuvenation therapy at an Ayurveda hospital in Kochi, as he survived an almost fatal fall from the ceiling. The details of that long conversation about his career are recorded, but the lasting impression is that of the man – clear and accessible, much like his songs.

When Bichu wrote a few lines in poetry and meter to his sister (singer P Sushila Devi) as a gift on her wedding, she “never thought it would become my profession,” Bichu said with a smile. But then life brings such strange things, Bichu said. “It is like riding a giant wave that takes one to great heights and brings you down. You just have to go with the wave. You just need to be ready for this swing,” said Bichu.

when the stage sounded

Bichu just went ahead with the wave. Theater was the test of his talent. In 1962, he wrote and starred in ballatha worldly In an inter-university radio drama competition. Bichu spent a lot of time and energy in scripting and composing plays. In fact, hardly anyone knows that he was the inspiration behind the formation of Sanghamitra Theater (later Cochin Sanghamitra). He also helped produce its first professional play.

The year 1972 was the turning point in Bichu’s life. He met Satish Sanghamitra (KJ Thomas), who was actively involved in the activities of various Malayalee societies and also ran a cultural organization called ‘Kala Keralam’ in Madras.

Bichu requested Thomas to help him in producing and staging a play, dandakaranyayam, which he had written. “Bitchu said that he will write the song. This surprised me. But I found out that he had written some devotional songs by then,” recalls Thomas. The play was staged in Ambattur. It starred both Bichu and Thomas. “There was a song in this play, ‘Mnase Ashwasiku…’ which was written by Bichu. After the play two men, the filmmakers, came backstage, asked about the lyricist and asked if they could sing songs for their film. can be used,” says Thomas.

Those lines were used later in the film. njan ninne premikkunnu (1975), whose music was composed by MS Baburaj and sung by S Janaki, a singer who has given life to some of Bichu’s immortal lines. Of course, the tune was different from the original.

In 1975, Thomas returned to Ernakulam. Bichu often used to come to visit his friend. “In one such meeting, Bichu persuaded me to come on stage” dandakaranyayam At some places in Kerala. I reluctantly agreed. The same actors came down from Madras Chennai and we successfully staged it at five venues.”

After a month, Bichu came back again. “This time the request was to stage the play in an all-Kerala drama competition to be held at the Kerala Fine Arts Hall, Ernakulam. It was then that we decided to form a group. We named it Sanghamitra Theater and entered the competition. .

Bichu wanted to include new songs. “Kannur Rajan was our music director. Bichu wrote ‘Tushara Bindukale…’. The play won seven awards.” Most companies in and around Ernakulam wanted to stage the play as part of their regular monthly art shows. Thomas recalls, “Cochin Sanghamitra was officially recognized as the Sacred Heart College, Thevara. The film was launched by actor Jose Prakash.

Director IV Sasi heard this song and wanted to include it in his film hugging (1976). But the music director of the film was AT Umar and the songs were listed in his name. ‘Tushara Bindukale…’ won Ummer the Kerala State Award for Best Music Director and Best Singer for S Janaki.

Even before this, Bichu made his film debut as a lyricist with some soulful lines. “It was sheer destiny. In 1970 I was helping Krishnan Nair sir make Sabarimala Sri Dharmasastha, The producer of this film, CRK Nair, persuaded me to try my hand at writing songs. He gave me a chance in his next film bhaj govindam, which, however, was not released,” Bichu said, flipping through a diary containing the important names, days, dates and events of his life.

In his debut as a lyricist for film music, Bichu wrote four songs. He was composed for music by Jaya-Vijay, with whom he formed a wonderful bond which resulted in many memorable film and non-film songs. The film included the melodious ‘Brahma Muhurtathil Pranasakhi…’ sung by KJ Yesudas.

The year that strengthened Bichu’s career was 1975. Some songs like ‘Mounangal padukayirunnu…’ (Prayanami), ‘MNS Aaswasikku…’ (njan ninne premikkunnu), ‘Nilakashavam Meghangalam…’ (akaldama), and ‘Unmad Gandharva Sangeet…’ (Kamam Krodam Mohammed) got hit. This marked the arrival of a new songwriter.

Between the 70s and 90s, Bichu wrote some of the most popular songs in Malayalam. His lines contained humour, prayer, love, compassion, encouragement, hope and inspiration. Bichu was versatile and prolific, he composed around 3,000 film songs and many non-film and devotional songs.

Simplicity was the hallmark of Bichu’s songs. His ability to convey a message in him, often tending to philosophy in layman’s language, earned him the admiration of the public and critics alike. Bichu said, “I firmly believe that it is not just the melodies or the light nature of the lines that make certain songs popular.” He then sang a few lines from two of his popular songs – ‘Pavada Venam…’.Angadi) and ‘Ola thambathirunnuyaladum…’ (Pappayude Swantham Appu) – and said to be a sign of universal truth, often forgotten in this crazy world, which gave the lyrics wide acceptance.

Pushing poetry into film songs was not Bichu’s way. He quickly adapted to the changing trends of film music. When he started, it was an exciting affair to compose with a lyricist, music director, singer, producer and director in a jiffy in search of the best song. Soon the first melodies were composed and the lyricist had to write poetry adapted to the music. In situations when he had to match his words with the length and mood of the melody, there was no room for indulging in poetry. Bichu then attempted to be brief, sticking to the brief description given by the director, creating provocative illustrations.

This combined with his amazing ability to write fast made Bichu the first choice of many filmmakers and composers. He ‘teamed’ with a long line of music directors, but was never talked about as part of a team like Vayalar-Devarajan or P Bhaskaran-Baburaj. Yes, he worked in many films with composers like Shyam, but then has also been a part of the success stories of many others like Bichu Jaya-Vijay, KJ Joy, Jerry Amaldev, AT Umar, Ravindran and others.

Apart from singing, Bichu also tried his hand at music direction (in.) Satyam, which was not issued); He wrote the screenplay and dialogues of the film istapaneshwari (1979) and the story of the film Power, Trained in Carnatic music for a few years, Bichu has also sung in several films, beginning with Kamam Krodam Mohammed, Not surprising as he came from a family where music was in his blood – his sister Sushila is a renowned singer, brother Darshan Raman and son Suman Bichu are music directors.

Bichu has written some of the best non-film and devotional songs in the language. Songs like ‘Vishnu Mayyil…’ (Jaya-Vijay, ayyappa suprabhatam, ‘Mamankam…’ (Raveendran, Vasant Geetangal, ‘Appavam Venjumayinin…’ (Shyaam, parishudha gangangal, ‘Cheppadi Kunnil…’ (Mohan Sithara, jungle Book, ‘Japmala Enniye…’ (Oduvil Unnikrishnan, daspushpam, ‘Sharanthal Velichathil…’ (MG Radhakrishnan, AIR Light Song); ‘Pathu Pathungi…’ (Alleppey Ranganatha, Children’s Song Vol 1); “Shankar Meditation…” (Kannur Rajan, Hridayanjali) and many more.

Bichu composed the music for a popular devotional album titled Deepam Makar Deepami Raveendran was wrongly credited. Recently this error was fixed. Ravindran had composed only the background score. All the songs written by Bichu were sung by P Jayachandran. This includes the eternal hit ‘Kulthurpuzhayile Balkane…’. sarna kirtanam, The album had nine songs written by Bichu and set to music by Suman.

verses and pictures

I remember asking Bichu how he combined images, weaves them into meaningful lines, and harmonized them with melodies. His answer was simple: “When a situation is explained, it takes me a few minutes to understand the mood. Then I delve deeper into the repository I’ve stored for years. Here my training in reading epics, classics, poems of great poets and music helps. The more rigorous methods my grandfather, a widely read scholar, took to make me learn a poem, often bear fruit. ,

Bichu won the Kerala State Award for Best Lyricist twice – for thanam vayambum And craving (1981) and Kadinjool Kalyanam (1991). He certainly deserved more, especially when you see that his songs have won acclaim for many singers and music directors many times over.

“If you ask me, I would say the criteria are weird. A good song is a combination of singer, composer and lyricist. I don’t know how you can separate them and judge them separately. But to be honest So these things never bothered me too much. After all, even after the film is over, I feel happy if the song plays.”

This extraordinary wordsmith has left behind a legacy that lives in the hearts of every music lover. He has left an indelible mark crafting timeless songs with his boundless knowledge of subjects ranging from classical literature to street life.