Bichu was also the writer of many songs in Fazil’s most famous movie Manichithrathazhu – coining another of his catchphrases for the song ‘Pazham Tamizh Paatu’. Perhaps the duo’s most celebrated song is ‘Aayiram Kannumai Kathirunnu Ninne Njan’ (I waited for you with a thousand eyes) which came in Nokkethadoorathu Kannumnattu. He mixed such commonplace words into the songs and made it so meaningful,” Jerry says. For (musician) Ravindran he wrote ‘Thenum Vayambum’ (a song in the movie by the same name). Jerry speaks of the song ‘Aalorungi arangorungi’ that Bichu wrote for him in Fazil’s movie Ente Mamattikuttyammaku. He wrote with a poetic beauty,” Jerry says.
Long syllables were not made short and vice versa. He would hum it and then write words for it. When I gave him a tune he would learn it. I came to realise he is not only a lyricist, not only a poet, but he can sing too. I met him in 1980, when I was a newcomer and he was already a senior lyricist. “He was an extraordinarily gifted songwriter. Jerry’s music and Bichu’s lyrics made up the three most beautiful songs in the film, beginning with ‘Mizhiyoram’ and ending with ‘Manjadi Kunnil’. Jerry came to the scene as the 70s ended and a new wave of cinema came along with director Fazil making Manjil Virinja Pookkal, a film which would introduce among others, actor Mohanlal. Bichu was a master of writing lyrics to fit the meter of a song perfectly – there will be no need to stretch a syllable or shorten it,” Kamal says, a fact reiterated by Jerry Amaldev, one of the most gifted composers in Malayalam cinema. The good thing was they all knew music, they knew to sing. But for the next lot of lyricists like Bichu, Poovachal Khader or Kaithapram, it was the other way around. “Vayalar, Bhaskaran Master, ONV, Sreekumaran Thampi had all written songs and given it to composers. Lyricists of his generation began learning to write words for the tunes that came to them. At the time he came, the practice of setting tune to written songs was slowly changing.
A director who saw the poetry Bichu scribbled for his sister to sing called him onboard. He began writing songs in the 1970s, as his sister Susheela Devi began singing in films. Bichu Thirumala’s filmography is huge – the man wrote thousands of songs for films and for light music albums.
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