Popular
playback
singer
Kalyani
Menon
passed
away
on
Monday
at
a
private
hospital
here
due
to
age
related
illness,
sources
close
to
her
family
said.
She
was
80.
Kalyani,
mother
of
noted
cinema
director
and
founder
of
Mindscreen
Film
Institute,
Rajiv
Menon,
developed
symptoms
of
stroke
and
was
immediately
rushed
to
the
hospital
here
where
she
breathed
her
last,
the
sources
added.
The
last
rites
and
cremation
would
take
place
in
the
city's
Besant
Nagar
on
Tuesday
afternoon.
Kalyani
Menon
began
her
career
in
singing
in
the
1970s
as
a
classical
singer.
Menon's
famous
songs
with
noted
singer
K
J
Yesudas
in
Malayalam
include
'Rithubheda
Kalpana
Charutha
Nalkiya'
of
1983
movie
Mangalam
Nerunnu
and
'Pavanarachezhuthunnu
Kolangalennum'
of
Mohanlal-starrer
Vietnam
Colony
released
in
the
year
1992.
Born
in
Ernakulam,
Menon
started
singing
at
the
age
of
five
in
the
Navaratri
sangeeth
utsav
organised
in
the
famous
TDM
hall
there.
She
began
her
career
as
a
playback
singer
by
singing
in
Thoppil
Bhasi-directed
Malayalam
movie
Abala.
Besides
Malayalam,
she
has
sung
in
a
number
of
Tamil
movies,
for
top
musicians
Ilayaraja
and
AR
Rahman.
While
she
crooned
for
Ilayaraja
in
'Nallathoru
Kudumbam'
among
others,
she
gave
hits
under
Rahman
including
in
'Vinnai
Thandi
Varuvaya'
in
2010.