Srinivasan (1945–2022) known professionally as Kamakodiyan () was an Indian poet and lyricist who worked mainly in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Ch ...

Life

Kamakodiyan, born Srinivasan, was a native of

Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...

. He later left for Madras (now

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

) and stayed with his cousin K. S. Madhangan, then an aspiring film director. At that time, Srinivasan wrote poems for magazines, catching Madhangan's attention. He gave him the

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

Kamakodiyan, derived from the saint

Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, also called the Sri Kanchi Matham or the Moolamnaya Sarvagnya Peetham, is a Hindu religious center of Vedic learning, located in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu. It is located near the Kamakshi Amman Temple of the Shaktism ...

. Madhangan eventually made his directorial debut with '' Ponnagaram'' (1980), and Kamakodiyan debuted in the same film with the music composed by

Shankar–Ganesh Shankar–Ganesh is an Indian music director duo who has worked on Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Telugu movies for around 50 years. They also directed one movie '' Jagathalaprathapan'' in 1990 Personal life Shankar was the younger brother of ...

. He went on to write lyrics for numerous films with music by M. S. Viswanathan,

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and playback singer popular for his works in Indian cinema, predominately in Tamil cinema, Tamil in addition ...

and Chandrabose. He wrote a book called ''Mellisai Mannar MSV um Naanum''. He was awarded

Kalaimamani The Kalaimamani is the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. These awards are given by the ''Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram'' (literature, music and theatre), a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government ...

in 2019.

Style

Kamakodiyan would write lyrics as the tune was being composed, and would work in tandem with the composer. He lamented changes in the 21st century, where lyricists receive the complete recorded tune via cassette and are asked to write lyrics, but do not work closely with the composer.

Life

Style

Death

Filmography

Lyrics

Dialogue writer

References

External links