Song: Desam Gnanam Kalvi
Composer: R Sudarsanam
Lyrics: Udumalai Narayana Kavi
Actors: Sivaji Ganesan
Singers: CS Jayaraman
Film: Parasakthi
On Kalaignar Karunanidhi’s first death anniversary, our song of the day is ‘Desam Gnanam Kalvi’ from the 1952 film Parasakthi. Karunanidhi’s screenplay and dialogues for Parasakthi and many other memorable films fueled the Dravidian movement and his political career. He worked on Rajakumari, Manohara, Poompuhar, Paasa Paravaigal, Panam and more. At the age of 92, he wrote Ramanujar, which aired as a serial on Kalaignar TV till he became inactive.
In ‘Desam Gnanam Kalvi’, Sivaji Ganesan sings of his decision to pretend to be mad, saying that only money has come to matter in the world, and it comes before knowledge, education and all else. The film was a powerful commentary on society and politics, and faced many protests upon release but was a huge success. The dialogues by Karunanidhi were so popular that they were sold separately in cassettes and records and are still quoted in films.