Renowned lyricist Mankombu Gopalakrishnan passes away; legendary scriptwriter of Rajamouli movies

KOCHI: Renowned lyricist Mankombu Gopalakrishnan (78) passed away. He passed away at 4.55 pm today at the Kochi Medical Trust Hospital. The cause of death was a heart attack. He had been undergoing treatment in the hospital for the last eight days following a bout of pneumonia.

He penned more than 700 songs in 200 films. He was born in Mankombu village in Kuttanad. His first film was Vimochanasamaram. Mankombu won the hearts of the people after composing all six songs in Hariharan's film Ayalathe Sundari, including the 1975 song "Laksharchana Kandu Madangumbol...". This was followed by the film Babumon. Mankombu Gopalakrishnan wrote the most songs for director Hariharan. MS Viswanathan was the one who composed music the most for his lyrics. Mankombu wrote the story and screenplay for about ten films. In addition, Mankombu Gopalakrishnan is the person who wrote Malayalam dialogues for most other language films dubbed into Malayalam. This list includes Baahubali as well.

He wrote lyrics and dialogues for both parts of Malayalam versions of Baahubali, which became a pan-Indian hit. He played a significant role in beautifully presenting big-budget other language films like Magadheera, Sri Rama Rajyam, and Eecha in Malayalam. He has written dialogues for films dubbed from Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada into Malayalam. He wrote lyrics for films from the Prem Nazir era to the new generation.