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Veeranadai album cover
Lyrics & meaning

Nethi Pottu Polae

From Veeranadai · 2000

Lyricist
Seeman
Singers
Swarnalatha, Gopal Rao
Music director
Deva
Movie name
Veeranadai
Movie release year
2000
Lyrics added on
1 Sept 2021

Lyrics & meaning

♫ Tanglish lyrics
↻ English translation
Neththi pottu polae….ae….ae….ae…
Nelaa….aa….aa…aa….vaanaththula
Alli thelichchathu pol…ooo….oo….oo….
Azhagazhagaa…aa….aa….aa….natchathiram
Etti parikattumaa…aa…aa….aa…
Tholaidhooram…mm….mm….poganumae….
Aa…..aa….aa….aa….aa….aa….aa….aa…..
Oororam odum odai neerum
Om peraththanae ooyaamal koorum
Oororam odum odai neerum
Om peraththanae ooyaamal koorum
En raasaavae neengathaan
Onnum pesaama ponathaal
Chinna manasu modhuthae malaiyilae
Intha usurum veguthae ulaiyilae
Oororam odum odai neerum
Om peraththanae ooyaamal koorum
Naan neththu neenga paaththu aalaanaen
Unakkaaga thenam kaaththu
Kannu pooththu noolaanaen
Naan neththu neenga paaththu aalaanaen
Unakkaaga thenam kaaththu
Kannu pooththu noolaanaen
Aasa payira paadhi vachchen paavi maathaan
Angae veli karuvae molachchirukka
Mosam ponaen naan
Kannukkulla neruppa vachchu
Oodhi vittathu yaaru
Kaadhu rendum ketta pinnae
Katcheriyaa kooru
Oororam odum odai neerum
Om peraththanae ooyaamal koorum
En raasaavae neengathaan
Onnum pesaama ponathaal
Chinna manasu modhuthae malaiyilae
Intha usurum veguthae ulaiyilae
Aa…..aa….aa….aa….aa….aa….aa….
Aa…..aa….aa….aa….aa….aa….aa….
Like a round bindi on the forehead...
...shines the moon in the sky.
Like handfuls of scattered blossoms...
...glisten the beautiful stars.
Shall I reach out and pluck them?
Must I travel so far away?
Aa... aa... aa...
The stream flowing beside the village
Endlessly murmurs only your name.
The stream flowing beside the village
Endlessly murmurs only your name.
My beloved, because you...
...walked away without saying a single word,
My fragile heart crashes against a mountain,
And my life burns inside a boiling pot.
The stream flowing beside the village
Endlessly murmurs only your name.
Only yesterday, your gaze made me blossom into a woman,
Waiting for you every single day,
My eyes grew tired and I wasted away like a thread.
Only yesterday, your gaze made me blossom into a woman,
Waiting for you every single day,
My eyes grew tired and I wasted away like a thread.
I planted the crop of my longing on this wretched land,
Where only thorny wild shrubs grew as a fence,
And I was left ruined and deceived.
Who set this spark inside my eyes
And blew it into a burning flame?
Once someone has lost their hearing,
Tell me, what use is a music concert?
The stream flowing beside the village
Endlessly murmurs only your name.
My beloved, because you...
...walked away without saying a single word,
My fragile heart crashes against a mountain,
And my life burns inside a boiling pot.
Aa... aa... aa...
Aa... aa... aa...
Male
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Female
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Female
Female
Female
Female
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Beyond the translation

Overall song meaning

This song from the movie 'Veeranadai' (2000) is a poignant folk lament spoken from the perspective of a young rural woman longing for her beloved who departed in silence. The lyrics vividly connect her internal emotional turmoil with the surrounding natural world—the night sky filled with stars, and the stream flowing past the village that seems to tirelessly whisper her lover's name. The emotional progression shifts from gentle wonder about the cosmos to deep anguish over abandonment. She describes how his gaze matured her, yet waiting for his return has worn her out until she turned as thin as a thread. Using rural metaphors of farming, desire, and fire, she laments that her hopes of love were overrun by thorny obstacles, leaving her soul burning in pain.

Writing craft

Poetic devices

Simile (Uwamai Ani)

Neththi pottu polae... Nelaa vaanaththula

Compares the round moon in the night sky to a bindi (pottu) worn on a woman's forehead.

Monai (Alliteration)

Oororam odum odai neerum

Repetition of the initial vowel sound 'O' across 'Oororam', 'odum', and 'odai'.

Iyaipu (End Rhyme)

Chinna manasu modhuthae malaiyilae / Intha usurum veguthae ulaiyilae

Rhyming of line endings 'malaiyilae' (on the mountain) and 'ulaiyilae' (in the furnace).

Metaphor (Uruvagam)

Aasa payira paadhi vachchen

Directly compares her feelings of love and affection to a crop ('payir') cultivated in a field.

Hyperbole / Cultural Idiom

Kannu pooththu noolaanaen

Uses the traditional Tamil colloquial idiom 'kannu pooththu' (eyes blooming/weary from waiting) and hyperbole 'noolaanaen' (becoming thin as a thread due to longing).

Did you know?

Trivia

The song 'Oororam Odum Odai Neerum' is from the 2000 Tamil action drama film 'Veeranadai', which was directed by lyricist and politician Seeman. The film's soundtrack was composed by Deva, known for incorporating rich rural folk melodies and rustic instrumentation into late 90s Tamil cinema.

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