M S Viswanathan

Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015) (or M.S.V.), is a popular south Indian music director for five decades. He is popularly known as "Mellisai Mannar" (Tamil, for "The King of Light Music"). His major works are in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. He has also acted and sung in a few films.

Viswanathan, hailing from an orthodox Malayali family, with parents Subramanian and Narayanikutty (or Naanikutty), in Manayangath house (from which one of his initials is derived) in Elappully village in Palakkad, Kerala, India in 1928. He lost his father when he was four. He was saved by his grandfather when his mother decided to kill him and herself as an escape from abject poverty and lack of support. He sold foodstuff in a movie theater during his childhood and later learned...