Song: Vidai Kodu Engal Naade
Film: Kannathil Muthamittal
Composer: AR Rahman
Lyrics: Vairamuthu
Singers: MS Vishwanathan, Reihanna, Manikka Vinayagam, Febi, Balram
Cast: Simran, Madhavan, Nandita Das, PS Keerthana
June 20, is observed as the World Refugee Day. Over 25 million people around the world have had to leave their homes and countries and seek refuge in a foreign land. Escaping oppression, military control and violence, religious persecution, hate, poverty and more, these refugees fight odds to reach a foreign country in search of hope and a chance to live.
In India, Sri Lankan Tamils escaping the bloody war between Sinhalese and Tamil armies, Tibetans fleeing their homeland and, of late, Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar have sought refuge.
To mark the day, here is a moving song from Kannathil Muthamittal. Composed by AR Rahman to lyrics by Vairamuthu, the song talks of the plight of those forced to leave home and country. Of how the Tamils of Sri Lanka have had to leave behind everything they hold dear — their home by the sea, the forests of palm trees, their smiles — in short their very lives, and march like skeletons in search of refuge.
They say that one day, perhaps, their home town, their motherland, may call them again, but till then they will walk, missing the rivers and fields, and their homes by the sea.