'Trishanku' song that mocked Indira; Mankombu played with fire, but escaped unhurt

ALAPPUZHA: The song ‘Trisanku Sorgathel’ from the movie "Themmadi Velappan" will always be remembered as one daring attempt by lyricist Mankombu Gopalakrishnan. The release of Themmadi Velappan, written by S.L. Puram Sadanandan, produced by G.P. Balan and directed by Hariharan, happened during emergency in India.

The movie which starred Prem Nazir and Jayabharathi demanded a song to be used to scoff at the character of the female lead, the daughter of a rich businessman. Mankombu wrote the song ‘Trisanku Sorgathe Thamburatty’ (matriarch of the delusional world) ironically to mock Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister.

There was even a move to portray the song as being deliberately written to smear Indira. The song turned into a rave and was interpreted differently. In many colleges, students hummed the tunes and burned effigy of Indira Gandhi.

Mankombu felt things getting out of hand when his sister, a student at Alappuzha SD College, came home from class one day and told him how her classmates were head over heels for the lyrics. There was even a clash between two organizations over the name of this song. Fearing incarceration, Mankombu wriggled out from the issue strategically using his prowess with the pen. Bail was unthinkable during those times but Mankombu had a rare genius to come out unhurt from predicaments.

In the 1977 Malayalam film 'Sangam' directed by Hariharan, the idea arose to write a song praising Indira Gandhi's 20-point plan to eradicate poverty and improve the living standards of the poor. Mankombu composed a song praising the 'Twenty Point' project. Producer P.V. Gangadharan translated this song into Hindi and sent it to Indira Gandhi. This resolved the concerns raised by his earlier penned song criticising the government.