Lyricist - Vayalar Ramavarma

Vayalar Ramavarma (28 March 1928 – 27 October 1975), often known as Vayalar, was a modern Malayalam language poet and lyricist from the southern Indian state of Kerala. His famous works include Sargasangeetham, Mulankaadu, Padamudrakal, Aayisha, Oru Judas janikkunnu.

Vayalar was born in the village of Vayalar, in Alappuzha district, Kerala. His parents were Vellarappally Kerala Varma and Vayalar Raghavaparambil Ambalika Thamburatty. He was awarded the Kerala Sahithya Academy Award (Kerala literary academy award) in 1961 for Sargasangeetham, the President's gold medal for best lyricist in 1974, and the Kerala state film award for best lyricist three times. The Vayalar award for Malayalam literature, given on 27 October (the anniversary of his death) each year, was instituted in his memory.

Vayalar wrote about 2000 songs for 223 Malayalam movies and for several plays. Decades after his death, the movie songs he wrote are still popular among Malayalis.[citation needed] Among his most popular songs is the one he wrote for theatre, the KPAC naatakagaanam, "Balikudeerangalae".

Many of his poems contain romantic notions about "revolution" and about the triumph of science over religion. He was associated with the leftist political movement in Kerala.

The "Vayalar-Devarajan" collaboration was a prolific lyricist-composer combination which lasted till the death of Vayalar.

Vayalar was married to Bharathy Amma. The couple has four children: Sarath Chandran, Indulekha, Yamuna and Sindhu. Vayalar's only son Vayalar Sarath Chandra Varma is now a popular lyricist in the Malayalam film industry. Recently, his widow, Bharathy Thamburatty, wrote a book about Vayalar, Indradhanussin Theerathu, which became controversial.

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