Kottayam: Taking his time to settle down into a chair at Manorama Online’s studio, for the video programme, I Me Myself, the legendary lyricist Yusafali Kechery, turning 80 on May 16 this year, asked "Where’s my wife, Khadeeja?" He wanted to make sure that she was there next to him.
Reassured, he started speaking and the poet’s memories spiralled into words. He lavishly ruminated on his association with composers like Baburaj, Devarajan Master and Naushad, the movies he directed, the songs he wrote entirely in Sanskrit, his films with director Hariharan and so on.
Though he did not pen as many songs as his peers did, lyricist Yusafali Kechery is familiar to us as a classic song writer of exceptional merit. But not many of us know the filmmaker in him. He has written stories, scripts and dialogues for movies, produced and even directed them in the seventies.
However he turns irked by the mention of new age Malayalam films. They don't follow the grammar of film-making, the veteran, who had wielded megaphone for three films, says about the ‘New Generation’ films. Quiz him on today’s Malayalam cinema and he opts not to be diplomatic. We won't be able to put a line to show the steep decadence in quality. That is where Malayalam cinema is now, Kechery points out.
In 1979, he directed directed Neelathamara with Ambika and Ravikumar in the lead roles. M.T. Vasudevan Nair, whose story in the same name inspired the movie, wrote the script. A remake of the same by Lal Jose came out in 2009.
Did Kechery watch the remake? Yes, he has. But no, he did not like it.
“The new Neelathamara does not touch the heart of the audience. Let me repeat, the movie lacks in grammar. Most of them do not know the art of filmmaking. They enter the industry without learning it, commit mistakes and call it 'New Generation’ - Kechery fumes.
How about new lyrics? Same is the case, Kechery says. It was foolish of them to rehash the old song that goes 'Appam palatharam chuttammaayi. Marumone veettil vilichammaayi' to make 'Appangalembadum ottakku chuttammaayi'. The originality of the song is gone then and it is not right to do so, he comments on the hit song of 'Usthaad Hotel'.
Do you always react so sharply? He quips, I feel it has to be strong and sharp when I do. Otherwise, I choose to remain silent.
Being the only Indian lyricist, who has written 9 film songs in Sanskrit, Kechery says his name was considered for Padma awards thrice. "I am old and my mind has become numb. Now, I don’t waste my time thinking about it," he adds on.
He also told us what is the reason behind less number of songs from his pen, who his favourite lyricist and music director are and why Baburaj failed to strike a balance between his passion and his personal life and so on.
The full video of this interview will be available soon at Manoramaonline.com.
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Yusafali Kechery in I Me Myself