Rest in Melody: When Sangeetharajan SP Venkatesh bids farewell

Although born in Tamil Nadu, Malayalees have never considered the Malayalam songs created by SP Venkatesh as songs composed by a non-Malayali. When we listen to Salil Chowdhury's songs, we enjoy them knowing that they are sweet melodies that are foreign to us. Unlike that, Venkatesh's songs were imbued with the beauty and style of our state and language. The demise of SP Venkatesh, a music director who won a place in the hearts of Malayalam film music lovers through many superhit tunes, is a great loss to the Malayalam film industry.

Venkatesh's foray into Malayalam was through the 1986 film 'Rajavinte Makan', which made Mohanlal a superstar. The song 'Vinnile gandharva veenakal', which he composed for that film, became a superhit. Years later, Venkatesh also composed the songs for Mohanlal's other megahit, 'Kilukkam'. The song 'Panineer Chandrike' from 'Kilukkam' is still one of the most loved lullabies by Malayalis. Songs like 'Karukavayal Kuruvi..." and 'Thumbi Penne Vaa Vaa..." from 'Dhruvam" are full of Malayali sentiments. SP Venkatesh must have developed this distinct, melodic, and often classical-based "Malayali touch" through his formative years working with Malayalam music directors like Devarajan Master, Shyam, Raghavan Master, and Raveendran Master.

Venkatesh was born with a musical talent. Born to a mandolin player, Palani, Venkatesh used to play instruments including the mandolin since childhood. Later, he also became good at the guitar. SP Venkatesh's ability to handle instruments with great skill paved the way for him to become the best in composing background music for films. Venkatesh also composed background music for many films, including Thenmavin Kombath, Devaasuram, No. 20 Madras Mail. He was a music director who tried to identify what music suited Malayalees and give it to them. Venkatesh was not a music director who insisted that Yesudas himself should sing his compositions.

SP Venkatesh's songs were imbued with a sweet and pleasant feeling. Venkatesh had composed many hit songs in the Kannada, Telugu and Bengali film industries. Music came easily to Venkatesh because he had never thought of any other field other than music since his early age. He was a music director who could compose songs very quickly and had composed up to nine songs in a day. Venkatesh shone in the film music industry for more than four decades and composed about six hundred songs in more than 160 films. The fact that 150 of these were Malayalam films reveals his heartfelt connection with the Malayalam film industry. SP Venkatesh was one of the favourite music directors of Malayalees through the melodies of a handful of songs that go straight to the heart. We bow down to those passionate memories.