Music director M G Radhakrishnan passes away

Veteran Malayalam music director M.G. Radhakrishnan, composer of many evergreen melodies, passed away at a private hospital on Friday(June 2) following a prolonged illness.

Radhakrishnan was suffering from illness since last year. He was in a critical condition since last week and was undergoing treatment for liver problems. He died at 70 and is survived by his wife and a son and daughter.

Playback singer K.S. Chithra was introduced in the film industry by this veteran composer as he offered her an opportunity to sing for the movie Attahasam. He was a specialist in light music.

Radhakrishnan started his career by singing his first song for the Malayalam movie Kallichellamma in 1969. But, he realized his interest and strength lies in music direction so he debuted as a music director with the 1978 movie Thampu, which was directed by Aravindan. He has scored music for over 30 Malayalam films in his almost three decade long music career.

Leading directors such as Priyadarshan, Bharatan, Padmarajan, Venu Nagavally, Fazil, and Shaji Kailas preferred him as the music director of their films. He composed music for his last film Anandabhadram by Santosh Sivan in 2005.

Filmmaker Priyadarshan showed his last respect to the composer saying, “He composed the music for my first film. I am probably not wrong saying that Radhakrishnan has composed the maximum number of music for my films. We all feel that he did not get due recognition."

Most of the films, which had music by M.G. Radhakrishnan"s became all-time hits of the Malayalam movie industry. This includes films like Agnidevan, Manichithrathazhu etc. He won Kerala state films award twice in 2001 and 2005 for best music director. He also earned the Asianet film awards for best music director in the same year.