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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BJD accuses BJP govt of not making effort for special category status to Odisha
Bhubaneswar (PTI): The BJD on Saturday accused the BJP government in Odisha of not making any effort to fulfil the 2014 poll promise of a special category status for the state, and urged Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi to clarify on the long-standing issue.
Addressing a press conference here, BJD MP Sasmit Patra claimed that Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary had on February 10 said in the Rajya Sabha that there was "no proposal under consideration" of the Centre for granting the special category status to Odisha.
“We need clarification from the chief minister. The BJP, in its 2014 election manifesto, had specified that if it came to power, the party would work towards special category status for Odisha. But the BJP government has not moved an inch to fulfil the poll promise," Patra alleged.
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He challenged the chief minister to get a nod from the state cabinet during its meeting this evening so that the state can place a demand for the special category status before the Centre.
The special category status for Odisha is a long-standing demand.
"The issue was raised for the first time in the National Development Council (NDC) in 1979. Thereafter, the assembly passed several resolutions for the special category status for Odisha, as the state often faces natural calamities and therefore requires special financial assistance to boost development. Resolutions to this effect were passed in the 10th and 11th assembly," an official said.
The previous BJD government had also undertaken a massive signature campaign, involving nearly one crore people, which was submitted to the then President.
