Malayalam cinema loses two stalwarts

Trivandrum - Actor Paravoor Bharathan breathed his last at his home near Cochin in the morning. Couple of hours later, renowned music director A J Joseph passed away at Kottayam.

Malayalam cinema has lost two stalwarts on Wednesday.
Actor Paravoor Bharathan, who was battling with age-related ailments for the last six years, breathed his last at his home near Cochin in the morning. Couple of hours later, renowned music director A J Joseph passed away at Kottayam.
Bharathan, 86, who acted in over 300 films, was noted for his individualistic portrayal of characters. He began his film career as a villain and later migrated to comic and character roles. His colleagues in the industry said he was a talented actor, who made acting look very simple.
Some of his much talked about films include In Harihara Nagar, Aniyan Bava Chetan Bava, Aniyathipravu, God Father, Pattana Pravesham, His Highness Abdullah and Meleparambil Aanveedu.
He was honoured with the Bahadoor Award in 2004.
Born at Vavakkad near Paravoor in Ernakulam district, the actor is survived by his former actress wife Thankamani, who has acted in both theatre and films, three sons and a daughter.
Joseph, who died at Kottayam around noon on Wednesday, was rated as an extremely talented musician. Known widely as Guitar Joseph, the musician had composed music for movies like Kunjaatakilli, Kadalkakka, Kaannakuyil and Ee Kaikallil.
'Ore swaram Ore Niram', 'Oru soonya sandhyambaram', 'Yahoodiyayile Oru Graamathil', 'Akaasaganga Theerathinappuram', 'Kaval Malakha' and 'Ore swaram or niram' were some of his hit numbers.
Joseph started his career a guitar artist in NN Pillai's drama troupe and entered the film world after this. He had run a music school for quite a long period and was choir master at the Kottayam Lourdes Church.
He quit the film world following differences with the crew during the recording of a song for the film Kadalkakka and concentrated on devotional songs. He later said that a person like him was unable to cope with the style of cinema and doing devotional songs was a far more decent job.
news@khaleejtimes.com

• India