Jnanpith For Vairamuthu: A Disaster In Our Cultural Milieu

The conferment of this year’s Jnanpith Award upon Tamil film lyricist Vairamuthu is a matter of both condemnation and deep regret. This stems from two primary reasons: first, his literary merit; second, the sexual harassment allegations against him.

Modern Tamil literature, beginning with creators like Bharati and Pudhumaipithan, continues to produce world-class works of immense richness. To grant India’s highest literary honour to someone entirely unfit to stand in that lineage is a travesty. By the very standards we use to define Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Gabriel García Márquez, Franz Kafka, Tarashankar Banerjee, Shivaram Karanth, Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, or Pudhumaipithan as litterateurs, no writing of Vairamuthu’s can be classified as literature.

Writing encompasses various genres: serious literature, entertainment, and propaganda. Some works oscillate between these categories. Even in entertainment, certain moments reach literary heights. Texts written for propaganda can possess refined literary qualities. Conversely, parts of serious literature can be flat or diluted. Therefore a work cannot be elevated or dismissed solely based on its genre. One might ask: can the works of Vairamuthu, who operates in the mass or popular sphere, not possess literary quality?

Vairamuthu’s Literary Merit

Popular writing aimed primarily at entertainment and didactic writing intended to project specific ideologies are both honest forms of expression. Their objectives and manifestations are transparent and devoid of pretense. Vairamuthu’s writings, however, are fundamentally characterised by affectation and hypocrisy. Ego is their driving force. Operating under the self-illusion of profound knowledge, Vairamuthu employs fictional techniques merely as a vehicle to showcase it.

The incidents, dialogues, and the very trajectory of his narratives are marked by an artificial strain. His characterisations appear as if cast from pre-existing molds. Everything functions solely to serve the ideas he wishes to impose. A true literary work does not operate primarily to project a "message"; even if a perspective emerges, it must do so organically through a literary journey.

The bedrock of literature is a quest free of preconceived notions. Vairamuthu operates from the diametrically opposite position. The ideas or thoughts he presents in his works are not his own; they are information culled from various books. He constructs fiction merely to peddle borrowed ideas and secondhand thoughts.

In his poetry, he employs the same template to construct something that resembles poetry. It is this reliance on ornamental rhetoric, hollow imagery, the vending of ideas, and artificial linguistic structures that prevents his poetry from even approaching the heights of modern Tamil verse.

If one deconstructs his texts, it is easy to see that "ready-made" progressive ideas and imagery from the Vaanampadi poets (a 1970s progressive literary movement) are forcibly thrust into an artificial linguistic structure. Works like ‘Kallikaattu Ithikaasam’ and ‘Moondraam Ulaga Por’ (The Third World War) wear a mask of social concern. There is a significant body of non-fiction in Tamil that discusses the themes of these "stories" with much greater density, evidence, and genuine concern. Merely presenting an idea in the form of a story or poem does not make it a creative work. Handling an idea pretentiously, without honesty or true conviction, is the authentic expression of counterfeit writing.

It is precisely because he has been churning out such writing by the truckload that many litterateurs rose in protest when he received this high honour. There are as many people opposing this award on the grounds of literary standards as there are those opposing it due to the sexual harassment allegations. A literary work is a journey where the starting point is known, but the destination is not. It is the process of putting forth a truth that reveals itself in a journey without a specific target, precondition, or motive. Even if there is a goal, it is a pilgrimage that transcends it. The journey of searching and the path itself are paramount here. For popular works, entertainment and amusement are primary. For propaganda, the chosen motive is key. A literary work operates beyond these two. Vairamuthu fits into none of these. His works lack the open-ended search of serious literature, the charm of entertainment, or the honest intent of propaganda. Artificial fictional structures and the projection of a self-image are the foundations of his writing. Therefore, any literary recognition given to his writing will only cause pain to a serious reader of literature.

Vairamuthu As A Film Lyricist

Vairamuthu can be called a talented film lyricist. Bringing the modern metaphorical language of ‘Puthukkavithai’ (Modern Poetry—free verse) into film lyrics and infusing songs with a contemporary feel can be cited as his unique contribution. This is why no one protested when he won National Awards for film lyrics; it was not considered an insult to the Tamil language. However, when he receives literary honours like the Sahitya Akademi Award or the Jnanpith, those who respect literature find it intolerable. Beyond the fact that Vairamuthu has no connection to literature, this award lowers the prestige of Tamil in the eyes of other languages.

While acknowledging Vairamuthu as a talented lyricist, his standing in the film industry cannot be equated to that of legends like Kannadasan or Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram. Vairamuthu lacks the natural flow and the continuity of tradition found in these pioneers—qualities that allow their lyrics to seamlessly fit a cinematic sequence while simultaneously expanding to embrace the profound depths of life itself. Their verses possess a timelessness that his lacks. Most significantly, he is severely lacking in organic expression. Even upon a first reading, it is evident that he painstakingly labours to construct word-patterns. His relentless drive to foreground his own erudition and personal opinions protrudes jarringly from his work.

Incompetence aside, many allegations arise regarding the "manner" in which Vairamuthu "acquired" the Sahitya and Jnanpith Awards. It is said that he secured these by employing aggressive lobbying tactics at various levels. There is a story that Vairamuthu, hearing that senior writer Vannanilavan was part of the Sahitya Akademi selection committee, went to meet him with "tokens of respect" like fruit baskets. Upon realising it wasn't Vannanilavan who was on the committee, but Vallikkannan, another senior writer, he took the fruits back with him. Vannanilavan himself wrote about this incident on his Facebook page.

Cultural Disaster

Beyond Vairamuthu’s literary standing, this award is reprehensible for another significant reason. Bestowing such a prestigious honour upon an individual facing serious allegations of sexual misconduct effectively trivialises the accusations and insults those who came forward. To this day, Vairamuthu has offered no responsible answer, explanation, or expression of regret. Instead, he confronts these allegations with an air of being beyond accountability. Recognising such an individual through this award sets a dangerous and regressive precedent.

An award is a cultural act; the recognition and respect it confers carry deep symbolic meaning. A cultural milieu that recognises an individual—one characterised by hypocrisy, outbursts of self-aggrandisement, the peddling of ideas as literature, and the arrogance of failing to address grave allegations—as a literary achiever is a disgrace to all those within it. For anyone who holds faith in high literary values and rigorous standards, the granting of this award is a cultural disaster that must be condemned.

(Views expressed are personal)