Veteran poet-lyricist S Ramesan Nair, who has written songs for over 150 Malayalam films and dozens of devoted albums, died at the private hospital of Kochi Friday at the age of 73.
He had cancer and recently tested for Covid-19 positively. He played the hit numbers of composers like MG Radhakrishnan, Johnson, Ousppachan, Berny Ignatius, Raveendran and Shyam, and was a key component of Malayalam, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s.
In 1985, by writing songs for the film ‘Pathaamudayam,” he entered the Malayalam cinema.
Nair wrote songs for nearly 160 films over the next two decades, including popular ones like ‘Raakuyilin Raagasadassil,’ ‘Kuruppinte Kanakkupushtakam,’ ‘Aadyathe Kanmani,’ ‘Aniyan Bava Chettan Bava,’ ‘April 19,’ and ‘Aniyathipraavu.’
Among his notable songs are ‘Oru Rajamalli,’ ‘Aniyathipravinu,’ ‘Mayilay Parannuva,’ ‘Onnanam Kunninmel,’ ‘Aavaniponnunjal,’ and ‘Manju Peyyana.’ He has also composed a number of songs for Hindu devotional albums.
He was also well-known for his plays such as ‘Swathimegham,’ ‘Alakananda,’ ‘Shathabhishekam,’ and ‘Vikadavritham.’
For valuable literary contributions he was the winner of the 2010 Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award, and in 2018 he received the ‘Gurupournami’ Poetry Collection Award from Kendra Sahitya Akademi. The retired teacher and writer P Rama and the music composer Manu Ramesan survive.
