South Indian Cinema's Veteran Music Composer M S Viswanathan Passes Away

Famous music composer, M S Viswanatha, better known as MSV in the film industry has passed away at the age of 87. The veteran music composer, MSV took his last breath at a Chennai hospital on Tuesday. The music maestro was rushed to the ICU of Fortis Malar Hospital on June 27. He had difficulty in breathing and after initially showing signs of recovery, his condition worsened.

MSV has worked in more than 750 films in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam cinema industry. He made his debut in the industry with Sivaji Ganeshan’s Panam in 1952. The music maestro appeared in almost every single TV music reality show in the south as a judge and always supported and encouraged young talents. Not even a single TV music show in the south went on without his songs, be it modern genre or classical rounds.

MSV has composed music with fellow music composer, T.K. Ramamoorthy in around 86 Tamil films during their association from 1950s to 1965. The duo was known as Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy. MSV was famously known as Mellisai Mannar, which means ‘The King of Light Music’. Not only in Tamil, but he has also composed songs for over 1200 films in Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. In August 2013, he was honoured by the title of ‘Thirai Isai Chakravarthy’ by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, J Jayalaithaa and was also presented with 60 gold coins and a new car.

Veteran music composer, Viswanathan had a rough start and childhood. At the age of 4, he lost his father. After the loss of his father, MSV’s mother decided to kill him and then herself to escape poverty and lack of support but MSV was saved by his grandfather. During his childhood, he sold refreshments in a movie theatre for a living and soon, he learned music. At the age of 13, he performed for the very first time on stage in Trivandrum. MSV actually wanted to be an actor and singer, but when he didn’t achieve success in that field, he realized that he had all the talent and skills for composing music.

His music career is a huge body of fantastic work. Some of his brilliant works from Telugu industry are ‘Tenali Ramakrishna’, ‘Anthuleni Katha’, ‘Idhi Katha Kaadu and many more. He has received several prestigious awards. MSV married Janaki, who passed away in 2012. He is survived by four sons and three daughters. The whole film industry and his fans mourn the death of M S Viswanathan.

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