Master of Malayalam cinema melodies, MK Arjunan passes away at 84
Thiruvananthapuram: Veteran music composer M K Arjunan, known for his mellifluous melodies in Malayalam cinema, died in the wee hours of Monday at his house in Kochi, family sources said.
He was 84 and was suffering from age related ailments, they said.
In a career spanning over five decades, Arjunan, popularly known as Arjunan master in the 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 the legendary composers of Malayalam cinema like G Devarajan, V Dakshinamoorthy and M S Baburaj.
Arjunan was also known for recording the first song of legendary Carnatic vocalist and playback singer K J Yesudas when the latter was just 16 years old and gave the chance to Oscar winning musician A R Rahman to play the keyboard in a film.
Born in a family in Fort Kochi on March 1, 1936, Arjunan master entered into the world of composing by giving tunes for theatre songs. His first break in cinema came with 1968 movie "Karutha Paurnami" and there was no 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 the doyens of Malayalam movie lyrics like Vayalar and P Bhaskaan but his collaboration with lyricist Sreekumaran Thampi is rated as of the most popular composer-lyricist pair in the industry.
Though he got awards and accolades for theatre songs many times, the composer had to wait till 2017 to receive the best music composer title in a film.
He received the state award for the song in Jayaraj directed movie "Bhayanakam" in 2017. Kerala Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, was among those who condoled his passing away.
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'Someone must be held accountable': HC converts civil suit on Goa nightclub tragedy into PIL
Panaji (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Monday converted a civil suit against Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) saying "someone has to be held accountable" for the tragedy in which 25 people were killed.In a stern observation, Goa bench of the High Court of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ashish Chavan said the local panchayat had "failed to take suo motu cognisance" of the club and had taken "no action despite complaints."
The division bench directed the Goa government to file a detailed reply on the permissions granted to the nightclub.
The High Court, while fixing January 8 as the next date of hearing, pointed out that commercial operations were continuing in the structure despite it having been served a demolition order.
The original petition was filed after the December 6 tragedy by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, the owners of the land on which the nightclub was operating.
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Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, the lawyer representing the petitioner, was made amicus curiae in the matter and has been asked to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
In their petition, Amonkar and Divkar highlighted "the alarming pattern of statutory violations that have remained inadequately addressed despite multiple complaints, inspections, show-cause notices, and even a demolition order".
They contended that these violations posed "immediate threats to public safety, ecological integrity, and the rule of law in the state of Goa."
Investigations by multiple agencies into the nightclub fire have revealed various irregularities, including lack of permissions to operate the nightclub.
The Goa police arrested five managers and staff members of the club, while co-owners Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra have been detained in Thailand after they fled the country.
