Thirty artistes present ‘Vellai Pookal,’ in a new context
Venkat Raman
Auckland, April 24, 2020
Although much of the world is under lockdown for fear of contracting the deadly Coronavirus, the pandemic has spurred the imagination of people, one of who has given a new dimension to the world of music with his own brand of creativity.
Yugendran Vasudevan, true to his lineage (he is the son of the celebrated singer, the late Malaysia Vasudevan) has brought together 32 artistes, including 21 singers, six instrumentalists and five videographers to present his own version of one of the most popular songs of A R Rahman, a pride of Tamil Nadu and the only Indian winner of two Oscar Awards.
Explosively emotional
Yugendran has retuned, ‘Vellai Pookal,’ a song written by Vairamuthu and picturised (by Producer-Director Mani Ratnam) on actress Nandita Dass for ‘Kannathil Muthamittal,’ an explosively emotional Tamil film focusing on the sufferings of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
Those of us in the know, will appreciate the beauty of Tamil language in the song, which underscores today’s world as countries begin to lift lockdown and gradually return to normalcy.
“Let white flowers blossom all over the world; let the dawn bring peace; may the Sun’s rays fall on the earth; let the child awaken in the embrace of the mother and may the world awaken to the laughter of children.’
The artistes
Each of the singers has added melody to the original rendered by A R Rahman himself. They are (in alphabetical order) Devan Ekambaram, Haricharan, Harihara Sudhan, Ishann Dev, Kishan Naarayan, Nikhil Mathew, Pravin Saivi, Priyanka, Rajaganapathy, Ramya Ramachandran, S P B Charan, Saii Naarayan Prakash, Sam Vishal, Santesh (Malaysia), Sathyaprakash, Shabir, Shakthisree Gopalan, Sharanya Srinivas, Srinidhi, Swagatha S Krishnan, Visashan Naarayan Yugendran and Yugendran Vasudevan.
The supporting artistes were superb- Rajhesh Vaidhya (Veena), Lydian Nadhaswaram (Piano & Merlin), Palakkad Sreeram (Flute), Uma Shankar (Ghatam), Vagu Mazan (Lead and Bass Guitar), Bhuvanesh (Keyboard) and Sruthi Balamurali (Violin).
Their renditions, in their respective homes in New Zealand, India (Chennai), Malaysia and Canada (Toronto) were captured on video by Bhargavi, Kishan Naarayan, T Balamurali, Varshan and VK.
The single-track album has been released by Rambutan Media Works, owned and managed by Yugendran in Singapore and New Zealand.
The inspiration
Inspired by a long-distance short film called, ‘Family,’ featuring Amitabh Bachchan (Hindi), Rajnikanth (Tamil), Chiranjeevi (Telugu), Mammootty, Mohanlal (Malayalam), Ranbir Kapoor (Hindi) Diljith Dosanjh (Punjabi), Alia Bhatt, Priyanka Chopra (Hindi), Prosenjit Chatterjee (Bengali) and Sonalee Kulkarni (Marathi).
“I shared the film with my wife Hayma Malini and she asked, “Why don’t you try something like this?’ I was immediately inspired,” Yugendran said.
The support from singers from various parts of Asia was almost instantaneous.
The first among them were Rajhesh Vaidhya and Lydian Nadhaswaram.
“That was a brilliant start. Each singer performed within the confines of their homes and sent the video clippings to me. From start to finish, it took only three days. The experience was exceptional but not without challenges. I had to liaise with many people. I am based in Auckland and the time difference was a big issue. Thankfully, people were cooperative, probably because everyone was at home!”
About Vellai Pookal
Yugendran chose ‘Vellai Pookal,’ because it emanates peace in a troubled and unsettled world.
“Many of us cannot sleep at night because we spend very days as we keep hearing Covid-19 news from all over the world. This song brings respite as it has beautiful melody and the words are meaningful,” he said.
His sons, Visashan Naarayan and Kishan Naarayan also make an appearance in the video.
“My children love music. I suppose it is in our blood. They prefer English tunes, but my wife and I encourage them to listen to Tamil songs. I always tell them; this is our culture.”
Seven-year-old Darshan Naarayan, their youngest son, also loves music and like the chip of the old block, they would also blossom and spread the fragrance of music all over the world.
Comments from Tamil film celebrities follow.
