Ponniyin Selvan Lyricist Ilango Krishnan Shares His Experience Working With Mani Ratnam

Ilango
Krishnan
is
well-versed
in
10th
century
Tamil
and
he
knows
more
about
the
beauty
of
modern
poetry.
In
the
year
of
2019,
Writer
Jeyamohan
called
Ilango
Krishnan
and
said
that
they
need
him
as
the
lyricist
for
Mani
Ratnam’s
Magnum
Opus

Ponniyin
Selvan.
Being
a
die
hard
fan
of
the
Ponniyin
Selvan
novel
written
by
Kalki,
Ilango
Krishnan
said
yes
immediately.
He
had
everything
about
the
novel
on
his
fingertips.
He
got
overwhelmed
and
wrote
some
lyrics
on
his
own
for
various
situations
and
characters
in
the
novel
even
before
meeting
director
Mani
Ratnam
to
impress
him.
But
to
his
surprise,
Mani
Ratnam
had
gone
through
Ilango
Krishnan’s
works
already
and
they
started
working
together.

“The
situation
of
the
sensational
hit
‘Ponni
Nadhi
Paakkanumey’
song
is
all
about
Vanthiyathevan
taking
the
secret
information
from
Aditha
Karikalan
and
delivering
it
to
Kundavai
&
Sundarachozhan.
10th
Century
Tamil
music
doesn’t
have
the
fusion
of
many
instruments.
But
this
song
being
the
first
song
of
the
film,
we
tried
to
bring
it
as
a
celebration
to
the
audience.
At
the
same
time,
nobody
is
aware
of
the
10th
century
Tamil
now.
After
a
long
discussion,
we
came
up
with
the
lyrics
in
a
way
people
could
understand
it.
And
it
worked
really
well,”
said
Ilango
Krishnan
in
a
recent
interview
with
a
media
portal.

AR
Rahman
and
Mani
Ratnam
together
gave
a
lot
of
hits
already
and
they
have
had
a
great
wavelength
for
30
years
now.
Ilango
Krishnan
as
a
lyricist
found
it
a
little
difficult
in
the
beginning
to
get
into
their
meter.
But
the
two
task
masters
made
him
comfortable
to
work
and
slowly,
Ilango
Krishnan
was
able
to
deliver
the
wonderful
lyrics.
His
knowledge
about
the
novel
and
his
efforts
in
bringing
out
the
perfect
lines
for
the
director’s
vision
is
just
astonishing.
Hope
the
proven
Tamil
film
directors
will
use
him
in
their
future
productions.
He
is
definitely
a
great
gift
for
the
Tamil
community.