Veteran Malayalam music composer MK Arjunan, popularly known as Arjunan master, passed away in Kochi on Monday, April 6. He was 84.
According to reports, the composer passed away at 3:30 am in his house in Palluruthy, Kochi, on Monday. His death comes with age-related ailments, according to reports.
In a noteworthy career spanning half a century, Arjunan master has composed over 500 songs, many of them popular hits. He began his career by making music for plays for amateur theatre groups in Kerala, soon becoming the most sought after composer in the theatre space. He is known to have composed over 800 songs for plays in Malayalam and continued to compose music for plays even after he established himself in the world of Malayalam cinema.
The music composer entered Malayalam cinema in 1968, through the film Karuthapournami which released the same year. His works are widely regarded as belonging to the golden era of Malayalam cinema, with his style having been influenced by his mentor G Devarajan.
Arjunan master’s long term association with lyricist Sreekumaran Thampi, with whom he has worked with in almost 50 films, is one of the longest and most prolific partnerships in Malayalam cinema’s history.
He won his first-ever Kerala state award for composing songs in director Jayaraj’s film Bhayanakam, which was released in 2018.
Some of his famous songs include ‘Yadukula rathidevane vide’ from the film Rest House, ‘Kasthoori manakkunnallo kaatte’ from Picnic, ‘Nin maniyarayile’ from CID Nazir and ‘Chandrarashmi than’ from Anweshanam.
The composer’s works are celebrated as much as those of veteran composers such as G Devaraj — who was also his guru— as well as V Dakshinamoorthy, K Raghavan, MS Baburaj, etc. According to reports, he was also among the first persons to identify and promote the genius of AR Rahman, allowing the latter to play the keyboard for him.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressed his condolences, noting that the the death was not just a 'tremendous loss to the music world, but to the community as a whole'.