Chennai, July 14: Legendary music director MS Viswanathan(MSV) who was battling for his life at Fortis Malar hospital, Chennai passed away on Tuesday morning, July 14th.
He was aged 87 years. This genius who served Indian cinema for more than 6 decades was undergoing treatment for acute shortness of breath and other age related complications.
MS Viswanathan is survived by three daughters and four sons.
He has composed music for over 1200 films in Hindi and all four South Indian languages.
Fondly called as ‘Mellisai Mannar’ (The King of Light Music), he has a rare distinction of working with three Tamil Nadu CM’s; MG Ramachandran, M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalitha.
Beginning his journey as a music director along with TK Ramamoorthy in the year 1952, the famed duo composed for over 100 films before parting ways in 1965.
After he became an independent music director, he went on to infuse various genres of music into Tamil cinema by blending western music with classical tunes, which earned him a wide recognition.
He is considered as a founding father who unlocked a great musical mystery in Tamil cinema, which is being used by new age musicians even today; the fusion of two or more genres.
