Chennai: The death on Sunday of the poet and lyricist Na. Muthukumar at the young age of 41 has come as a rude shock to the Tamil film industry, which is just recovering from the loss of veteran lyricist and writer Panchu Arunachalam.
Muthukumar succumbed to high fever and jaundice at his residence in Chennai. He is survived by his wife Jeevalakshmi, son Aadhavan and 8-month old daughter Yogalakshmi. He won the national award twice for his lyrics — for the song Aanandha Yaazhai Meetugirai from Raam’s Thanga Meengal and Azhage Azhagu from director Vijay’s Saivam.
Muthukumar has written the lyrics for around 2,000 songs and holds the record of penning the maximum number of film songs in a year for the last three consecutive years including 2015 when he penned around 100 songs for more than 30 films.
The soft spoken lyricist has worked with almost all noted composers including Ilayaraja, A.R. Rahman, Harris Jayaraj, Vijay Antony, Joshua Sridhar, G.V. Prakash and Yuvanshankar Raja. He had developed a special rapport with composers Yuvanshankar Raja and Prakash and their combo songs were huge hits.
“Can’t believe this, Na Muthukumar is no more. He’s written more than 200 songs in my films. A huge loss! May god give strength to his family” G.V. wrote on his micro blog. Prakash’s music career commenced with Muthukumar’s song Veyyilodu Vilayadi in Veyyil.
Muthukumar started his career wishing to become a director. He joined noted filmmakers Balu Mahendra and Hariharan and worked under them as an assistant. Fate had other things in store. His passion for poetry and writing drew him to song writing and he debuted as a lyricist with Seeman’s Veeranadai.
A resident of Kanchipuram, Muthukumar lost his mother at a young age and was brought up by his dad, a teacher and avid reader with a huge collection of books. He completed his graduation at Pachaiyappa’s college in Kanchipuram and did post graduation in Tamil literature in Chennai’s Pachaiyappas college.
He wrote the dialogues for two films including Ajith’s Kireedom. He had authored several books and also brought out a collection of poems. He also wrote a series in a Tamil magazine. His last few films include Ko 2, Theri and award winning Kakka Muttai, Papanasam, Naan Mahan Alla, Amma Kanakku. More than 100 songs penned by him for several films are yet to be released.
The last song he wrote the lyrics for is said to be in Vishal’s Kaththi Sandai. Muthukumar had the habit of presenting books as gifts since he strongly believed that knowledge could be acquired only through endless reading.
Condoling his death, ace Vairamuthu said, “Muthukumar wrote maximum number of songs for the last few years in Tamil cinema and his lines were always beautiful. Too soon to leave. This is not an age to die, it is an age to achieve”.
His close friend actor Vivek said, “I know him from Saamy days. I used to call and immediately appreciate his lines no sooner I come across something interesting.
“He wrote a song Uyire Uyire for my film Naan Thaan Bala and he would say that it is very close to his heart. It came as a big jolt to me when I heard news of his demise. I can relate to his family’s feeling for having lost him at such a young age. Not only the Tamil film industry has lost a great lyricist, but his death is a big loss for Tamil literary world”.
Karunanidhi and Vijayakanth condoled his death. His body was cremated at the Velankadu burial ground on New Avadi Road on Sunday evening.
