Legendary South Indian music composer MSV passes away

Chennai - Expressing grief, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said he remained a legend in Tamil cinema.

Legendary music composer of multiple language films M S Viswanathan, who scored music for over 1,000 films, passed away at a private hospital here on Tuesday after prolonged age related illness. 
He was 88 and is survived by four sons and three daughters. 
"The cremation will be held tomorrow; he passed away after about a month's medical treatment for old age related illness," Viswanathan's son Gopi told PTI. 
Affectionately called by the acronym "MSV," Viswanathan was a household name in Tamil Nadu, his death was condoled by the Tamil film fraternity and political leaders.
Expressing grief, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said he remained a legend in Tamil cinema. 
MSV also acted in character roles in over 10 films, including Tamil comic hit "Kadala Kadala".
He scored music for a wide range of films, including of Tamil super stars of yesteryears like Sivaji Ganesan and M G Ramachandran (later AIADMK founder and Chief Minister). 
"He brought about several changes in music composition and successfully integrated elements and traditions of folk, rock, jazz, carnatic, western and western classical in film music," film music researcher D Thiagarajan said.

• South Stars