Bichu Thirumala


Bhaskaran Sivasankaran Nair, popularly known as Bichu Thirumala, was an Indian lyricist and poet. He is known for creating the style of arranging beautiful words in Malayalam film songs. In Malayalam cinema, Bichu Thirumala led the group of lyricists who wrote songs for readymade tunes. He won the Kerala State Film Award for the best lyricist two times. His prolific Malayalam film repertoire includes work with eminent composers like Shyam, G. Devarajan, V. Dakshinamurthy, M.S. Baburaj, K. Raghavan, M.S. Viswanathan, A.T. Ummer, K.J. Joy, Shankar–Ganesh, Jaya Vijaya, Raveendran, Jerry Amaldev, Johnson, Ouseppachan, Ilaiyaraaja, A. R. Rahman and the list goes on.

Life and career

Bichu Thirumala was born to C.G. Bhaskaran Nair and Sasthamangalam Pattanikkunnu Veettil Parukutty Amma in Thiruvananthapuram. He was the eldest child of his parents. His siblings are the late Balagopalan, Susheela Devi, Vijayakumar, Dr. Chandra, Shyama, Darshan Raman and Jayalekshmi. He graduated with a BA from University College Thiruvananthapuram. He was married to Prasanna and they have a son named Suman Bichu Thirumala.
Bichu Thirumala debuted with the Malayalam Movie Bhaja Govindam in 1972, which was directed by CRK Nair and with Jaya Vijaya as the music composer.After his modest beginning, Thirumala went on to become one of the most successful Malayalam lyricists and wrote songs for such notable music directors as Shyam, A. T. Ummer, Raveendran, G. Devarajan, and Ilaiyaraaja. In the 1970s he teamed up with music director A. T. Ummer to compose many sweet melodies. Bichu Thirumala penned the lines for AR Rahman's one and only Malayalam music for film, Yodha and the TV commercial jingle "Manam Pole" Mangalyam for REMANIKA. His first song "Brahma Muhoorthathil" became popular as a "Lalitha ganam" or light song since the movie Bhaja Govindam did not see the light of the day. Radio Ceylon used to air the song in the early 1970s.

Notable works

He did not limit himself to only writing songs only for movies. He also penned Christian Devotional Songs. One of the notable works of him was Parishudha Gaanangal, released by Tharangini. That casette had famous Christmas song of Pulkudilil Kalthottiyil, Niranam Palayoor - song about 7 and 1/2 churches of Kerala.

Death

Bichu Thirumala, whose career stalled after a massive accident at his home in 1994, was admitted to S. K. hospital in Thiruvananthapuram with breathing problems and had suffered a heart attack as well. He had been on ventilator support after his condition worsened, and died on 26 November 2021 at the age of 79. His dead body was cremated with full state honours at Santhikavadam crematorium, Thiruvananthapuram on the same day. He was survived by his wife Prasanna and son Suman Bichu.

Awards

Other awards

  • Critics Award
  • Film Fans Award
  • Stallion International Award
  • Vamadevan Award
  • Sree Chithirathirunal Award
  • P.Bhaskaran Award