Day after complaint ‘Wink song’ lyricist, singer firm: No insult to Prophet

P M A Jabbar, a Sunni Muslim scholar who now works as a salesman at a supermarket in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday told The Indian Express that he was teaching at a madrasa in Kerala in 1978 when he wrote the lyrics. Taken aback at the allegation that the song insults the Prophet, Jabbar said there is no derogatory reference to the Prophet or Islam in it.

Thalassery Rafeeq K, who had composed and first sung Jabbar’s poetry, said its theme is about love between Prophet Muhammed and his wife, Khadija, and the lyrics are not derogatory.

Jabbar said, “I have seen it (the song as picturised in the film)…. A schoolgirl is raising her brows and winking at a classmate from the audience — it is quite natural to see such reactions of love. Neither the song nor the song sequence insults Islam in any manner.”

Written as a ‘mappila pattu’ — literally “a Muslim song”, such numbers are associated with Muslim tradition and sung at social events — Manikya Malaraya Poovi has become a runaway hit, due largely to the wink and twirling of eyebrows by debutante actor Priya Prakash Varrier and co-actor Roshan Abdul Rahoof. By Thursday evening, the song had notched up nearly 21.7 million views on YouTube.

A ‘mappila pattu’ singer with Doordarshan, Rafeeq said that over the last four decades the song has featured in hundreds of stage performances and other social functions, as also aired on radio and TV.

Jabbar said he had written it specifically for Rafeeq, who had at the time “asked for a new song”.

Rafeeq said, “When the filmmakers (of Oru Adaar Love) wanted to include this song, we agreed…we did not take any compensation. They have retained the original tune I had composed. As it gained popularity on the internet, the song has gained a unique slot in history of mappila pattu in Malayalam.”

He said there is now a demand to translate the song into other Indian languages.

Apparently perturbed by the complaint, the filmmaker had initially announced that the song would be withdrawn. Lulu later changed his stand, citing growing support for the song.

CM Pinarayi Vijayan defends song

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday defended the song Manikya Malaraya Poovi and stated that the complaint against it is “not accidental”, and shows the growing intolerance towards freedom of art and free thought. Intolerance will not be allowed, be it from any quarter, he posted on Facebook. —ENS