S. Balakrishnan, who died in Chennai on Thursday at the age of 69, may not have been the most prolific of composers but he gave Malayalam cinema memorable songs of the 1990s.
Not merely he could come up with some lovely melodies, many of the films he composed music for were big hits as well.
Films like Ramjirao Speaking , In Harihar Nagar and Vietnam Colony were major commercial successes, and their songs topped the charts too, but somehow he could not make it really big as a composer.
His debut was stunning. The songs of Ramjirao Speaking , like ‘Ekantha chandrike…, Unnam marannu…, Kanneerkaayaliletho…, and Oraayiram kinaakkalaal’, were instant hits.
Balakrishnan followed it up with two beautiful melodies for his next film, Vietnam Colony – ‘Paathiraavayilla neram… and Pavanarachezthunnu…’ Godfather was another major film for him and it featured one of his finest compositions – ‘Neerpalunkukal…’
All those films were directed by the duo Siddique-Lal.
He was introduced to them by the seasoned filmmaker they worked under – Fazil.
“I was impressed by Balakrishnan while he assisted composer Guna Singh, who had done the background score for my debut film Manjil Virinja Pookkal ,’ Fazil told The Hindu .
“I also entrusted him to work on some corrections during the recording of songs of Manivathoorile Aayiram Sivarathrikal , for which the songs were tuned by M.B. Sreenivasan.”
Flautist
Before turning a composer, Balakrishnan, who hails from Palakkad, had made a mark as a flautist and had played for music directors like Ilaiyaraja.
“He was really talented and some of his songs, like those in Vietnam Colony , were brilliant,” said Fazil. “Unfortunately, he could not make it big in Malayalam cinema, which should have used him more.
Far less talented composers than him have tuned far more songs.”
