ONV's picks

For the Onam edition of Vanitha magazine, Jnanpith winner ONV Kurup picks 10 songs from over a thousand he has written for movies. Though all of them are in Malayalam, even if you don't understand the lyrics, the music is melodious.

1. Manikyaveenayumayen: He wrote this on the train to the then Madras. Devarajan, the composer and his college days friend, was waiting for him at the railway station. Pretty soon the tune was ready. Since it wasn't legal for ONV to work as a lyricist in those days because of his government service restrictions, he used the pen name "Balamurali". After their initial collaboration, ONV and Devarajan did not work together for a long time. This was the time Vayalar-Devarajan team peaked. ONV says their reunion song "Arikil nee undayirunengil ennu njan..." was semi-autobiographical in spirit about the rekindling of their friendship

2. When M.B.Srinivasan was traveling from Kozhikode to Thiruvananthapuram to compose for the movie Ulkadal, there were some untoward incidents in the train. Though he was very distraught on reaching Thiruvananthapuram, friends helped him calm down and composing "Sharabindumalardeepa..." was part of the relaxing process. ONV fondly recollects MBS jumping with joy on hearing the line "veruthe ee mohangal ennariyumbozhum veruthe mohikkuvan moham"

3. ONV was still depressed and his mind restless about Vayalar's death when Salil Chaudhary hummed the tune to him. "Sagarame Shanthamaka nee..." was born.

4. M.T and Hariharan introduced the Bombayite Ravi to ONV. Superb songs in Nakhakshathangal and Panjagni from that combination. ONV's favorite: "Neeraduvan Nilayil..."

5. ONV compares Johnson's tunes to inviting nests into which birds of poetry happily fly in. So ONV enjoyed writing for Johnson. Great songs like Aadivaa katte, oru naal shubharathri nernu poyi nee (Gulmohar) and Ente manveenayil koodayan oru. Though it is difficult to pick a favorite, ONV chooses Pavizham pol pavizhadharam pol

6. Venu Nagavally was a teacher's pet for ONV. And Raveendran a great friend. Now both of them have passed away. "Sukhamo devi" born from their combination makes it to the list.

7. Raghunath Seth was a Bansuri expert and worked for the films division. ONV says it looked like he was meditating when he was composing. Wonderful songs like Olichirikkan vallikudil onnorukki vachile were his compositions. ONV lists "Aathmavil mutti vilichathu pole"

8. Ghazal expert Ramesh Narayan composed "oru narupushpamayi" for Kamal's Meghamalhar.

9. Dakshinamurthy stayed away from movies for 20 years after composing Vaathilpazhithilude for the movie Idanazhiyil oru kalocha

10. Aadiyusha Sandhya song from Pazhassiraja. ONV says Ilayaraja personally told him that he has never criticized that song as it was mentioned in some media soon after the movie release. I love this song and am happy to see it in his list.