AR Rahman pays tribute to M K Arjunan, master of Malayalam cinema melodies

Veteran music composer M K Arjunan, kwn for his mellifluous melodies in Malayalam cinema, died in wee hours of Monday at his house in Kochi, family sources said. He was 84 and was suffering from -related ailments, y said.

Music composer AR Rahman took to his Twitter handle to pay tribute and express grief on his demise. Sharing a throwback black-and-white picture with M K Arjunan, Rahman said that he will never forget love he showered on him during his childhood.

Arjunan was also kwn for recording first song of legendary Carnatic vocalist and playback singer K J Yesudas when latter was just 16 years old and gave chance to Oscar-winning musician A R Rahman to play keyboard in a film.

About M K Arjunan

In a career spanning over five decades, Arjunan, popularly kwn as Arjunan master in industry, set scores for over 200 songs in nearly 600 movies. Most of his songs were all-time super hits. His evergreen melodies have placed master Arjunan among legendary composers of Malayalam cinema like G Devarajan, V Dakshinamoorthy and M S Baburaj.

Born in a family in Fort Kochi on March 1, 1936, Arjunan entered into world of composing by giving tunes for atre songs.

His first break in cinema came with 1968 movie "Karutha Paurnami" and re was looking back after that.

"Kasthoori manakkunnallo kaattee", "thanka bhasma kuriyiyta", "yadukula rarhi devanevide", " chettikulangara bharani naalil" are among his evergreen hits.

Arjunan master worked with doyens of Malayalam movie lyrics like Vayalar and P Bhaskaan but his collaboration with lyricist Sreekumaran Thampi is rated as of most popular composer-lyricist pair in industry.

Though he got awards and accolades for atre songs many times, composer had to wait till 2017 to receive best music composer title in a film. He received state award for song in Jayaraj directed movie "Bhayanakam" in 2017. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was among those who condoled his passing away.

(With PTI inputs)