Some songs can be so sweet that it could sadden your heart. Swarnamukile…(Ithu Njangalude Katha ) Kanneer poointe ... ( Kireedom) and Madhuram jeevamrithabindu... (Chenkol) are among such songs in Malayalam cinema.
They were all tuned by Johnson, one of our greatest composers of all time, but no tune of his would have as much pathos as that of his family, especially his wife, Rani. In 2011, she lost Johnson, to a cardiac arrest; he was only 58, and was still composing fine melodies.
A year later, their son Renn died in a motorbike accident. Now, on Friday, Rani has lost her daughter, too. And Shan, who was also following in her father’s footsteps in music as a singer and composer in a few films, was just 29.
She was in Kozhikode a fortnight ago for the release of a book on Johnson. She had sung at the function, too; the song was Manasin Madiyile...(Manathe Vellitheru ). Little would those who listened to her that evening have imagined that it would be one of the last performances of her life.
It was at Kozhikode this writer had met her father for a lengthy interview. He was amiable, humble and soft-spoken. He would call you up occasionally, to talk about music.
At the time, Johnson was making a comeback to cinema with Photographer, which had a great melody Enthe Kannanu karuppu niram... While working on the feature, you had a tough time to make a list of his best songs: there were far too many, such as Anuragini itha... (Oru Kudakkeezhil), Rajahamsame... (Chamayam)and Devanganangal... (Njan Gandharvan) Melle melle... (Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam ).
He was after all our finest composer since the four original masters – G. Devarajan, M.S. Baburaj, K. Raghavan and V. Dakshinamoorthy. But, Johnson was not celebrated as much as he should have in his lifetime.
