- Lyricist
- Kannadasan
- Singer
- P. Susheela
- Music director
- M. S. Vishwanathan
- Movie name
- Neela Vaanam
- Movie release year
- 1965
- Lyrics added on
- 23 Nov 2019
Lyrics & meaning
Beyond the translation
Overall song meaning
This poignant song depicts a mother's deep longing and unconditional love for her child. She pleads with her child to utter the word 'Mother', as hearing it instantly erases all her suffering and fills her heart with divine joy. Through vivid imagery, she compares a childless mother to a garden devoid of flowers or a fruit tree without fruit, emphasizing how central the child is to her existence. The lyrics explore the anguish of distance or loss, questioning whether her maternal bond exists only in memories and imagination. She expresses that without her son, a mother's life loses its purpose and vitality, capturing the raw emotional gravity of maternal devotion characteristic of Kannadasan's lyricism.
Writing craft
Poetic devices
Adukku Thodar (Repetition for emphasis)
“Solla solla thaai manam / Mella mella poi varum”
Words like 'Solla solla' (as you say), 'Mella mella' (gently), 'Vanna vanna' (colorful), and 'Enna enna' (what all) are repeated back-to-back to add rhythm, emphasis, and emotional intensity.
Analogy / Metaphor (Uwamai)
“Malar illaatha thottama / Kani illatha vazhaiya”
The lyrics draw a poignant metaphor between a mother without her son and a flowerless garden or a fruit-less plantain tree, highlighting her feeling of incompleteness.
Edukai (Second letter rhyming)
“Ninaivil vandha nimmadhi / Neril vanthadhillaiya”
Traditional Tamil poetic meter technique where the second consonant matches across adjacent lines ('Sollada' / 'Thunbamae', 'Ninaivil' / 'Neril').
Did you know?
Trivia
The 1965 film 'Neela Vaanam' starred Sivaji Ganesan and Devika. The film's soundtrack was composed by the iconic duo Viswanathan–Ramamurthy, featuring deeply emotional maternal compositions penned by Kaviarasu Kannadasan.
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