For all the history and legacies that languages often claim, Kilikki is one man’s invention, who not just got an entire tribe to be its speakers but is also set to make it the next new-age lingo. Madhan Karky Vairamuthu, son of celebrated lyricist Vairamuthu who has penned the dialogues and songs for the Bahubali series is to Kilikki what Panini was to Sanskrit and his set of rules and the soon to be launched dictionary-cum-grammar will be to Kilikki what Tholkappiyam was to Tamil, the first grammar ever.

It could well be the next p-language or code language as Madhan has set the rules at their simplest best. Learning this language is actually child’s play as the origin of this language happened ten years ago as he tried to teach Tamil to children in Australia and in the process of answering their questions about complex phenomena in language, wondered if language could be anything but a complex amalgamation of various processes. It is then that he created a language, called it Click, even wrote songs in it, all for the joy of creating a new simple language.

The story of click would have ended there if not for Director Rajamouli’s desire to have a powerful yet crude sounding language that could be spoken by the Kalakeya tribe in the film. This led to Madhan diving into the decade old mini-language and creating an expanded vocabulary with 750 word and 40 grammar rules. That was the birth of a new language. He christened it Kilikki. Creating a new language was a need, as given the brutality and the gore that the tribe was characterised by “using any known or existing language could possibly hurt the speakers”.

Dissecting the language gives some insight into what has gone into its making. While the case markers are inspired by Tamil, the way the number system is formed shows Mandarin influence.