The legendary music composer and the King of Light Music, M.S.Viswanathan who had dedicated almost for 1700 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Malayalam for the film industry passed away this morning (July 14 at 4:15 A.M.) in a Fortis Malar hospital at Chennai. At the age of 87, he had been suffering from several ailments including breathing problems and was admitted in hospital. 

The veteran’s career was started from the movie ‘Panam’ starring Sivaji Ganesan in 1952. He was later well known in a duo combination with his fellow violinist T.K.Ramamoorthy, popularly in the name of “Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy”. The outcome of their association was tunes for more than 750 movies over a decade. He also has the fame of working with three Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu - MGR, Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa. 

Ramamoorthy had also passed two years back at the age of 90. Previously, Viswanathan’s wife Janaki expired in 2012. The last rites are to be performed on Wednesday by his four sons and three daughters. Though his life is separated from his body, his soul still lives through his ever memorable songs.

Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan, also known as M.S.V., is a Kollywood music director and composer from South India. He is popularly known as Mellisai Mannar (Tamil for "The King of Light Music"). He has composed songs in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu for over 1200 films His major works over the past five decades have been in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. He has also acted and sung in a few Tamil films. The Former 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 and presented him with 60 gold coins and a new car. Viswanathan composed film music together with composer and violinist T. K. Ramamoorthy in the 1950s and early 1960s, as Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy and since then he has worked independently as a composer.

M. S. Viswanathan

M. S. Viswanathan

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