The Thirontharam' Song

Colloquialism in Mollywood had never been as hilarious until the trendsetter Bellari Raja in Rajamanikyam rib-tickled the masses with his unadulterated dialogues in Thirontharam’ slang, dominant to certain regions of Thiruvananthapuram. Adding fodder and fuel, the ‘legacy’ was well nurtured by actor Suraj Venjaramood.

That it graduated into a comic staple for both big and small screens is another story. Yet none has so far taken that daring move to belt out a song in Thirontharam slang, like this one made  for a movie LBW. The title song, ‘Thirontharam song’ of the about-to-be-released film is going viral earning close to 10K views on YouTube. “The slang has nothing to be mocked at like the way it is treated generally. It represents simplicity and the natives speak right out of their heart sans tweaks.

Hence, I had no wonder when we were greeted with negative criticism and comments when the song was released on YouTube,” clears Shajeer Sha, director of LBW and composer of the song.

On the YouTube video shot inside the recording studio, singer Shabeer and crew members are in an upbeat mood, tapping the feet and shaking a leg to the straight forward dappanguthu folk style.      

The song is a family affair — of director Shajeer Sha, his younger brother Shabeer Sha and elder sister Shahida Basheer, who cooked up the verses and put it together, deciding to give credits for the sister who framed maximum number of lines.

“Isn’t there so many songs in the Thrissur, Ernakulam and Idukki slangs in Malayalam movies? So we thought it is good idea to dedicate one for our place, particularly when the entire team members of LBW are from Thiruvananthapuram and the location was also set here,” explains Shajeer.

“It all started in our friends circle first. We gathered one day and found out some typical terms popular in the slang. Next was the arduous task of making the permutations and combinations with available material in hand for setting the lyrics,” Shajeer adds.

The makers plan introducing the song in a different way with a welcome note. The studio picture, on silver screen, would go for a replace with actors.