Fairy Falls and Lyril Falls - Kodaikanal

After exploring Kodaikanal, I started looking at the phrase “city of waterfalls” rather differently.

The hill station has waterfalls of every kind. Some are major tourist attractions, while others appear almost unexpectedly beside narrow roads, wooded slopes and quieter neighbourhoods. Their appearance also changes considerably with the season. A small trickle during the dry months can become an impressive cascade after the rains.

Fairy Falls and Liril Falls belong to this quieter side of Kodaikanal. Both are around the Pambarpuram area, away from the crowds normally associated with places such as Silver Cascade.

They are not the biggest waterfalls in Kodaikanal. That is not why I remember them.

Fairy Falls

Fairy Falls is located around five kilometres from central Kodaikanal in the Pambarpuram area.

The setting attracted me more than the size of the waterfall.

Trees and thick vegetation surround the place, and the waterfall drops over a dark rocky face into a small pool below. A small water-retaining structure nearby adds another element to the landscape. When I visited, the area felt much quieter than many of Kodaikanal's familiar sightseeing stops.

During the monsoon, the character of Fairy Falls changes considerably. With more water coming down the rock face and the surrounding vegetation turning greener, the waterfall becomes much more impressive.

The Kodaikanal Municipality itself lists Fairy Falls among the town's places of interest and describes it as a small waterfall and picnic spot about five kilometres from town.

That description is actually useful because Fairy Falls should not be approached expecting a massive waterfall. Its appeal lies more in the combination of water, rocks, trees and relative quietness.

Liril Falls

Not far from Fairy Falls is another small waterfall with a rather unusual claim to fame.

It is commonly known as Liril Falls.

Its older name is Pambar Falls, and it would probably have remained just another small Kodaikanal waterfall if an advertising team had not arrived here in the 1970s.

In 1974, the original television commercial for Liril soap was filmed at Pambar Falls. The advertisement featured Karen Lunel enjoying herself beneath the waterfall in a green swimsuit, accompanied by the catchy Liril jingle.

For people who grew up watching Indian television advertisements, that commercial became almost inseparable from the brand.

The waterfall eventually became popularly known as Liril Falls.

This is one of those rare instances where an advertisement became so strongly associated with a location that it gave the place a new popular name.

A Waterfall Made Famous by Advertising

The story behind the advertisement is interesting too.

Director Kailash Surendranath reportedly searched several locations before selecting the waterfall at Kodaikanal. The idea was to find a place that looked natural, visually striking and secluded.

The advertisement went on to become one of the best-known campaigns in Indian advertising history.

Seen today, Liril Falls itself may appear surprisingly small. Anyone expecting the dramatic waterfall remembered from the commercial might even wonder whether this could really be the same place.

That contrast makes the visit interesting.

Advertising had taken a relatively modest Kodaikanal waterfall and turned it into an image remembered across India for decades.

Two Small Falls Worth Looking For

Fairy Falls and Liril Falls will probably never compete with Kodaikanal's larger viewpoints and better-known waterfalls.

They do not need to.

Fairy Falls appealed to me because of its wooded setting and the way the water drops quietly through an area away from the main tourist rush. Liril Falls is interesting for an entirely different reason: a small waterfall in Kodaikanal became part of Indian popular culture because of a television commercial made more than fifty years ago.

If you are already exploring the Pambarpuram side of Kodaikanal, it is worth looking for both.

And, as with most waterfalls in the hills, the experience depends heavily on rainfall. Visit after the rains and the same rock face that looks ordinary in the dry season can look completely different.

Happy travelling.