Tamil music composer Deva recently held a concert at Chennai and actor Rajinikanth was one of the celebrity attendees of the Sunday event. The Rajinikanth - Deva duo have one too many hit albums in the late 80s-early 90s and taking the stage at the Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, the Superstar spoke about how underrated was Deva's work. 

#Thalaivar Speech at #Deva Sir Concert

When Singapore Former President Nathan died, his fav song "Thanjavuru Mannu" was played in his Final Journey. Singapore, Malaysia..even Thailand media was covered this news..but in TN, single media was not covered this news#DevaTheDeva pic.twitter.com/QJbSJJ5mKd

— Rakks ❤️ (@kadalaimuttaai) November 20, 2022

Rajini recalled the time Deva's music was played at the funeral of former President of Singapore SR Nathan and how that significant incident was not covered in any of the Tamil media. SR Nathan was an Indian-origin Singapore citizen who was the only person till his death in 2016, to have served the Singapore Presidency for two terms. 

இதுதான் அந்த நிகழ்வு #DevaConcert #DevaHits #Singapore #nathan https://t.co/t2eyV4EMji pic.twitter.com/mQc3busVXE

— ஐடி பொண்ணு 👩‍💻 (@itponnu) November 21, 2022

When he died at the age of 92 in August 2016, SR Nathan's funeral ceremony included the Thanjavooru Mannu Eduthu song which Deva had composed  for the Tamil movie Porkkaalam (1997).  Speaking about the same, Rajini said,

 

"SR Nathan grew up in Malaysia but was a Tamil-origin Singapore citizen. As his last wish in his will, he had asked for the Deva composed Thanjavooru Manna Eduthu song to be played, which is from the Cheran directed Porkkaalam and has lyrics by Vairamuthu. When he (SR Nathan) passed away, the song was played in the crematorium in front of all the world leaders..

 

I had never heard of a (Tamil) song being played at such an occassion before..It was even translated for Television broadcast in countries like Singapore, Malayasia, Thailand and Hongkong and was covered by all their media. 

 

But this incident of significance was not given any coverage in the Tamil Nadu media. How bad would he (Deva) have felt..So please highlight such incidents in the future and write about them."

Thanjavooru Mannu Eduthu and its lyrics tell the tale of a dollmaker who moulds a doll of a beautiful lady with sand, clay and water from different lands of Tamil Nadu, and eventually gives life to it. The song was picturized on actors Murali (late) and Meena (who was also a front-seat audience at the Deva concert where this incident was being recalled).  It was SR Nathan's favourite song as he saw it as a metaphor for Singapore's multiracial heritage.