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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Niqab incident: Nitish Kumar perhaps revealing his true colours, says J-K CM
Srinagar (PTI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday criticised his Bihar counterpart over the niqab incident and said that Nitish Kumar might be slowly revealing his true nature.
"Nitish Kumar, who was once considered a secular leader, may be slowly showing his true colours," Abdullah told reporters here on the sidelines of a function.
Abdullah said Kumar removing the face veil of a Muslim woman doctor was wrong and cannot be justified by any means.
"We have seen this kind of incident here several years ago. Have you forgotten how Mehbooba Mufti removed the burqa of a legitimate voter inside a polling station? That act was wrong, and this act (of Kumar) is also wrong.
"If the (Bihar) chief minister did not want to hand over the order to her (Muslim woman), they could have kept her aside. However, to humiliate her like this is totally wrong," the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.
Kumar stirred a huge controversy after he removed the face veil of a Muslim woman at a function earlier this week.
