'Nizhalgal' (Shadows, Tamil film, 1980) received critical acclaim and was screened at the "Indian Panorama" section of the International Film Festival of India, 1981. The movie also won the Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Best Music Director for Ilaiyaraaja and Best Male Playback Singer for S. P. Balasubrahmanyam (SPB).
'Idhu Oru Ponmalai' (It's a Golden Evening Time) from the movie was a debut song of lyricist Vairamuthu, who became highly popular in the years and decades that followed. An article in The Times of India titled "The evening is yet to be: Vairamuthu’s ode to Tamil", on March 20, 2020 reveals the admiration other renowned lyricists had for his work: poet-lyricist Gulzar admitted at a public function, “We both are lyric writers. Vairamuthu writes better than me. With his enchanting words, he mesmerises the film world." Javed Akthar, asked to write the Hindi version of his songs in a Tamil movie (Jeans, 1998) that was being remade in Hindi, told the film's director, Shankar, “It is almost impossible to translate Vairamuthu’s thoughts into Hindi. His thoughts are at such a height.”
S.P.B.'s vocal artistry, imbued with rapturous yet measured emotions, and Ilayaraaja's contemporaneous music composition, different from the music evocative of rural life that made him popular early in his career, have together created an uplifting and memorable song. The movie was directed by Bharathiraja.
It is the feeling of discerning viewers at times that a particular film song deserved better visuals, and so, that has resulted in many alternate videos being made and published on YouTube. Joining this movement, 'Idhu Oru Ponmalai' is provided here with a compilation of beautiful footage, mostly from nature, by 'Timeless Music and Talks'. Thanks to Grace, Kolam Yoga, Auroville, for kindly allowing me to use in this video a beautiful kolam image from her Facebook (appears at 1 min 55 sec on the video).
The lyrics have been translated from Tamil into English and displayed as subtitles on the video. As the aim of the translation is to try to bring out the poetry of the Tamil lyrics into English, liberties have been taken from the literal meanings wherever necessary.
For non-profit cultural and educational purposes.
Click this link to watch (3 min : 50 sec): Idhu Oru Ponmalai with English lyrics
