M. S. Viswanathan

M.S.Viswanathan
M. S. Viswanathan
Born	Manayangth Subramanian Viswanathan (1928-06-24)24 June 1928 Palakkad, Madras Presidency, British India
Died	14 July 2015(2015-07-14) (aged 87) Chennai, India
Cause of death	Kidney cancer
Other names	M.S.V. / "Mellesai Mannar"
Occupation	Film score composer; singer; actor music director
Years active	1940–2015
Spouse(s)	Janaki (1951-2012)
Children	4 sons & 3 daughters
Parent(s)	Subramanian Narayani [1]
Musical career
Instruments	Vocals (playback singing), keyboard/harmonium/piano
Website	msvtimes.com
Notable instruments
Vocals, Harmonium

Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director and composer. He was popularly known as Mellisai Mannar (Tamil for "The King of Light Music"). He composed songs in 1200 films^[2][3] across languages - Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi.^[4] He worked primarily in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. He also acted and sung in a few Tamil films.^[5][6] The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa conferred the Thirai Isai Chakravarthy (Tamil for "The Emperor of Cine Music") title on him in August 2012^[7] and presented him with 60 gold coins and a new car.^[8][9]

Viswanathan composed film music together with composer and violinist T. K. Ramamoorthy from the 1950s to 1965, as Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy^[10] for 100 films and from 1965 until 2014 he worked independently as a composer for 1100 films composing more than 15000 songs.

Life

M S Viswanathan was born in Palakkad Nair family on 24 June 1928 to Manayangath Subramanian and Narayanikutty (or Naanikutty) in Elappully village in Palakkad, Kerala, India. His father died when Viswanathan was four years old, and his mother decided to kill him, his sister and herself as an escape from abject poverty and lack of support. He was saved at the last minute by his grandfather.^[11][12] His grandfather Krishnan was a warden at the central jail of Kannur.^[13] After death of his father, his family moved from Palakkad to Kannur to stay with his jailor uncle.^[14] As a child, he sold refreshments in a movie theatre without any pay, so he could listen to the music in the films. He had a part in the film Kannagi produced by Jupiter Pictures.^[11][15]

His primary education was at Pallikunnu, Kannur. He would often play truant from school and stand outside the house of Neelakanta Bhagavathar, a local music teacher, and listen to his teaching other students. He learnt to play the harmonium, and Neelakanta Bhagavathar, who heard him play and sing on a Vijayadasami Day, was impressed and organised a three-hour concert at the Kannur town hall.^[11] He later gave his first stage performance in Trivandrum at the age of 13.^[16] He worked as an office boy for Jupiter Pictures in the 1940s, earning Rs 3 per month.^[11]

Viswanathan was married to Janaki and they have four sons and three daughters. His wife, Janaki, died on 14 May 2012.^[17]

He is known to have looked after his original Guru, S.M.Subbaiah Naidu, when the latter fell into financial difficulties and then continued to look after his wife until her death.As a rare human approach, M. S. Viswanathan, looked after his friend J. P. Chandrababu, the great Comedian and Singer of Tamil films, when the latter fell into financial ruins. Chandrababu stayed the last few years of his life in the house of M. S. Viswanathan, and as per the request of Chandrababu, MSV arranged the last rites of Chandrababu, when the later died in 1974, March.

Death

On 27 June 2015, Viswanathan was admitted to Fortis Malar hospital in Chennai with breathing difficulties.^[18] He had been undergoing a treatment at the hospital for some time. He died at 4.15 a.m. on 14 July 2015 due to age-related ailments.^[19]

Career

Viswanathan had always wanted to be an actor and singer, but was not successful. He had a few small roles in stage dramas in the 1940s. The composer and violinist T. R. Papa met Viswanathan, took a liking to him and arranged a job for him as an errand boy for S. V. Venkatraman's musical troupe in 1942. In that company of musicians, Viswanathan realised that he had the inclination and the potential for composing music. He thereafter joined S. M. Subbaiah Naidu and at times assisted him. He then joined C. R. Subburaman's musical troupe as a harmonium player. Here, he met T. K. Ramamoorthy and T. G. Lingappa, the two leading violinists at that time. T. G. Lingappa also became a renowned music composer on his own in the 1950s.

Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy

In 1952, C. R. Subburaman died unexpectedly. Ramamoorthy and Viswanathan joined together and completed the background music for the films Subburaman was working on, including Devadas, Chandirani and Marumagal. N. S. Krishnan knew them both fairly intimately and also their respective talents by then because of his close relationship with C.R.Subburaman, with whom he had worked earlier in several films. Meanwhile Viswanathan also worked as the third composer for the film Genova where the other composers were M.S Gnanamani and T.K.Kalyanam.^[20] M.G.Ramachandran, the hero of the film Genova, had reservations about the 'raw, young music director' but the reservations lasted only till he listened to the songs. M.G.Ramachandran instantly recognised the arrival of a genius and the relationship lasted till the end of his career as a hero in 1977.^[15] Viswanathan and Ramamoorthy were asked to write the music for Panam, a 1952 film produced by A. L. Seenivasan and directed by N. S. Krishnan. Later the duo was asked to do the background score for the film Ratha Kanneer by its music composer C. S. Jayaraman.

The duo composed music for over 100 films, and they worked together from 1952 to 1965.^[21]

On 16 June 1963 at a special function M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy were each given the title of Mellisai Mannar(Kings of the Light Music).^[22] It was granted by Sivaji Ganesan at the Madras Triplicane Cultural Academy. The function was supported and facilitated by the Hindu Group of Publications, especially Mr. T. M. Ramachandran, Director C. V. Sridhar and Chitralaya Gopu.

The duo parted in 1965 after release of Ayirathil Oruvan and since then they composed for films individually. After 29 years, they rejoined in 1995 for the Tamil film Engirundho Vanthan starring Sathyaraj.^[23]

They were awarded an honorary doctorate by the Sathyabama Deemed University in September 2006.^[24]

J. Jayalalithaa, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, conferred the title Thirai Isai Chakravarthy (Emperors of the Cine Music) on Viswanathan and Ramamoorthy in August 2012^[7] and presented them with 60 gold coins and a new car.^[8][9]

Viswanathan Ramamoorthy duo were the first musicians to arrange a stage performance of the film singers and live orchestra in India. Until then only traditional Carnatic music and Hindustani classical music was performed live in any function. This became a trend setter and paved the way not only for the birth of many musical troops, but also for knowing, understanding and learning about the western instruments among millions of Indians.

Independent music director

M. S. Viswanathan began his solo career in 1965.^[25] Viswanathan is known for having incorporated various genres of world music into Indian cinema music. He used elements such as humming and whistling in his songs, and blended new trends such as western music and disco with Indian classical tunes.^[25][26] Some of his films as solo music composer include Idhayakani, Gallatta Kalyanam, Chandrodhyam, Kannan En Kadhalan, Dheiva Magan, Nimrundhu Nil, Rickshakaran, Ulagam Sutrum Vaaliban, and Urumai Kural. M. S. Viswanathan also scored music for many non-film albums and for political campaigns.

He also did playback singing, including 500 songs composed by himself and over 200 songs composed by music directors.^[27] He performed songs such as Sollathan Ninaikiren, Inbathilum Thunbathilun Sirithidu Magaley, Yenakkoru Kaathalai Irukindral, Sangamam and Vidaikodu Engal Nadey.^[28]

Viswanathan worked with many different film directors, including B. R. Panthulu, S. S. Vasan, B. S. Ranga, and Krishnan-Panju in the 1950s, and in later decades with C. V. Sridhar, A. Bhimsingh, Madhavan, T. R. Ramanna, A. C. Trilogchander, K. Shankar, K. Balachander, Muktha Srinivasan, Chitralaya Gopu, Cho Ramaswamy, and K. S. Gopalakrishnan from the 1960s. From the 1970s directors such as S. P. Muthuraman, Major Sundarrajan, Bhagyaraj, D. Yoganand, C. V. Rajendran, P. Madhavan, K. S. Prakash Rao, Vietnam Veedu Sundaram, N. T. Rama Rao, and I. V. Sasi frequently worked with Vishwanathan; later, in the 1980s and 1990s, new directors such as Visu, Mouli, Komal Swaminathan, and K. Raghunath collaborated with Viswanathan regularly.

He worked with a number of singers, both younger artists and more established ones, including, P. Susheela, L. R. Eswari, T. M. Soundararajan, and the Malayalam singer Jayachandran. He is also considered responsible for making singers like S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and Vani Jairam, R. Balasaraswathi, S. Janaki, A. L. Raghavan, Sirkazhi Govindarajan and Yesudas popular names. He gave Swarnalatha her first job as a playback singer when she was 14 years old. MSV has given great life by giving opportunity and support for many musicians, lyricists, singers etc. Lyricist Vaali quoted in 1984, "Until I met Viswanathan Sir, I had no money to have any food. But from the moment I met Viswanathan Sir I had no time to have food".

M. S. Vishwanathan went on to act in Tamil feature films, notably appearing in Kaadhal Mannan after being convinced to do so by actor Vivek, while he also starred in Kamal Haasan's Kaathala Kaathala and Karthik's Rojavanam. He also made appearances in other films and television series since 1995.^[29]

Since 1996 Viswanathan focused on composing devotional music and serving as a judge in Malayalam TV reality shows. He collaborated with Illaiyaraja in 'Mella Thiranthathu Kathathavu', 'Senthamizh Paatu' 'Vishwa Thulsi' and 'Senthamizh Selvan' starring Prashanth. He sang the song "Vidai Kodu Engal Naadae" for 2002 Tamil film "Kannathil Muthamittal" composed by A.R.Rahman. Then in 2013 he sang for the film Neelam – the song called 'Alayae o Alayae' and it was recorded in the supervision of music composer Satish Chakravarthy. He in 2013 composed music for the film Thillu Mullu, with Yuvan Shankar Raja^[30] While M. S. Viswanathan composed the tunes in the 2013 Thillu Mullu film, Yuvan Shankar Raja orchestrated and recorded them.^[31] He sang the song ‘Saami Namba saami' penned by Snehan for the film "Mannar Valaiguda", composed by S.Siva Pragasam.^[32][33]

Rajnikanth said in an interview about M. S. Viswanathan, "You will rarely find someone like MSV in any industry. He lived life like a selfless saint, free from jealousy and lies. He was behind the success of legends like MGR and Sivaji.If not for MSV, the careers of filmmaker Balachander, lyricists Vaali and Kannadasan wouldn't have tasted huge success."^[34]

Filmography

Awards

M. S. Viswanathan has won many awards include the following:

• Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South^[35]
• PBS Puraskar Award presented by Aruna Nithya Gopal Foundation awarded on 29 September 2013 at Ravindra Bharati^[36]
• Honorary doctorate from Tirunelveli-based Manonmaniam Sundaranar University (MSU) on 3 January 2013^[37]
• Paramacharya Award, meaning 'The Ultimate Guru' in 2006.
• Doctorate conferred by Sathyabama University in 2006.^[38]
• Won Gold Remi Award for the best music score for movie Vishwa Thulasi in 2005.
• Isai Sangam honoured him with Isai Peraringnar, meaning "Great Scholar in Music", in 2004.
• Kalaimamani – A jewel for art – from State Govt of Tamil Nadu
• Seventh Kamukura Award – given by Kerala Cultural Ministry.
• 'Sangeetha Saraswathi' by Poojya Sri Guruji Viswanath of Manava Seva Kendra.
• 2013 - Asiavision Awards - Lifetime Achievement Award^[39]

References

External links

• M. S. Viswanathan's official website
• M. S. Viswanathan at the Internet Movie Database
• MSV as BalaMurugan in "Kannagi (1942) See him at 00:20 and 00:45