30 Facts About Vairamuthu

Vairamuthu Ramasamy was born on 13 July 1953 and is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry.

Vairamuthu is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world.

Vairamuthu entered the Tamil film industry in the year 1980, with the film Nizhalgal, an Ilaiyaraaja musical, directed by Bharathiraja.

Vairamuthu has been honored with a Padma Shri, a Padma Bhushan and a Sahitya Akademi Award, for his abundant literary output.

Vairamuthu was born on 13 July 1953, to Ramasamy and his wife Angammal, who were agriculturalists based in the village of Mettoor, in the district of Theni, Tamil Nadu.

From a very young age, Vairamuthu was drawn towards the language and literature of Tamil.

Vairamuthu began writing poems from the age of ten and by his early teens, he was noted as a prominent orator and poet in his school.

Vairamuthu completed a 2 year Master's program in Arts in the field of Tamil literature at the Madras University.

Vairamuthu is married to Ponmani, a Tamil scholar and former professor at the Meenakshi College for Women.

Vairamuthu quit his career as a translator to work full-time in the film industry.

Vairamuthu later had three further collaborations as a writer with the director in Thulasi, Vanna Kanavugal and Vanakkam Vathiyare.

Vairamuthu penned the dialogues for Andru Peytha Mazhaiyil, which was directed by the National award-winning cinematographer Ashok Kumar.

Rahman and Vairamuthu became heavily sought after, collaborating on several films throughout the next 25 years.

Vairamuthu is known for his work in the 90s and early 2000s with composer Deva, on popular soundtracks such as Annamalai, Baasha, Aasai, Once More, Arunachalam, Nerukku Ner, Vaali, Kushi, and Panchathanthiram.

Vairamuthu has penned lyrics for the theme songs of many Tamil television shows and jingles for advertisements, the most notable among them being the theme for the Tamil soap opera Chithi.

Vairamuthu has written 37 books which include collections of poetry as well as novels in the Tamil language.

Vairamuthu introduced the work of foreign poets to Tamil readers in his Ella Nadhiyilum En Odam.

Vairamuthu has been a speaker at many prominent Tamil conferences in the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Australia, Japan, Canada, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Maldives, Switzerland and Sri Lanka.

The core of Vairamuthu's poetry portrays his pleading to the human to appreciate nature, pointing to the incredible truth that fire is fire as long as it burns, Earth is Earth as long as it spins and Man is man as long as he struggles.

Vairamuthu has set up a foundation, the Vairamuthu Educational Trust, which provides funding to underprivileged families for education of their children.

Vairamuthu is the founder of the Vetri Tamizhar Peravai, which aims at uplifting society.

Vairamuthu donated a hospital building to the people of his native village of Karattuppatti, and started a library in the name of the poet Kannadasan, in his village of Vadugapatti.

Vairamuthu has made contributions to victims of war as well to those of natural calamities.

In January 2018, Vairamuthu delivered a speech on the 7th century Vaishnavite mystic poet, Andal during a discussion on Andal at the Srivilliputhur Andal Temple where he quoted the research of an American scholar who said that Andal belonged to the Devadasi community, a religious system practiced in parts of South India in which a where young girls used to be married to the deity of the temple before they attain puberty and will spend the rest of their lives in the service of the temple.

Vairamuthu said that Andal had lived and died at the Srirangam temple in Tiruchirappalli according to the scholar.

Vairamuthu later issued an apology claiming that his speech was intentionally twisted by vested interests and that he has expressed regret for a mistake he did not commit and said that he only intends to glorify Andal and he has been working on many great Tamil poets.

Journalist Sandhya Menon tweeted allegations against Vairamuthu messaged to her by a woman.

Vairamuthu denied all allegations and said they are "filled with ulterior motives".

Vairamuthu said that he is ready to face any legal action and said let the court decide.

Reihana had mentioned that she has known about the harassment faced by multiple women in the film industry with Vairamuthu in the past and that it is an "Open Secret".