In 1994, when my brother was in the 6^th standard, he opted to participate in the Fancy Dress Competition in our school.

After much thought he decided to go as “Thevar Magan.”

Thevar Magan was a smash hit Tamil movie where our famous actor Kamal Hassan essays the role of a foreign returned guy who turns into a proper villager and works for the good of his village.

Kamal  marries a village girl in the movie and the song he sings to woo her was big hit at that time. The song was “Inji iddupallagai”

My brother procured the costume and the false mustache of the character Thevar Magan (Thevar’s son)  and practiced for days, to sing that song.

But to his woe, on the day before the competition the school announced that the participants were to talk or sing only in English. They were not to use any vernacular language, be it Tamil , Hindi or any other.

It was too late to get  another costume and go as somebody else. So my brother hit upon a novel idea. He translated the Tamil song, word for word into English and sang it at the competition

What he sang was:

Ginger hipu beauty

Yellow Redu beauty

Lovely smiling beauty

Unforgetable beauty ..you onlyeee!

He brought the roof down with his histrionics. Fortunately for him the judge was a lady and when he sang “ unforgettable beauty you onlyeee”, he pointed to her .

Needles to say the resounding claps took a long time to subside. He walked away with first prize ofcourse.

For a whole year afterwards this song was on every boy’s lips in our school. Many of the boys in fact  encouraged their siblings and cousins to try this idea in their school competitions. Most of them too, went on to win prizes for it.

Now many years later when I listen to the Tanglish Hit “Why this Kolaveri di?” I am jolted. This song sounds very much like the translated one which my brother sang in school.

My brother had been a forerunner of sorts. He had popularized the first Tanglish Love song.

Just as  the song,  “why this kolaveri di?” became  an instant hit, my brother’s  song “Ginger hipu beauty” too had it’s share of fame at that time.

I wish he had uploaded it on Youtube. It would surely have received thousands of hits!

As told to talkalittledo by: Shadir Bughari.  Written by : Gulsum Basheer @ talkalittledo

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