Honour for a rare melody

No song has conquered the Malayali heart in recent times the way Kathirunnu kathirunnu… ( Ennu Ninte Moideen ) did. At a time when melody is fast disappearing from Malayalam film music, the song sounded particularly refreshing.

That song may not have fetched M. Jayachandran the State Award – which incidentally went to Ramesh Narayanan, for composing some other songs in the same film – but the National Award has come his way. It is his first National Award, though he has already won six State Awards.

He had made his debut in 1995 (with

Chantha ), but it was eight years later that he began to enjoy with the songs of Balettan (

Innale ente …) and Gourisankaram (

Kannil kannil… and

Urangathe… ).

In these times when directors rarely demand melodies for their films, composers like him have not much to do, Jayachandran had told this writer recently. “It is very rarely that you get an opportunity to compose songs for a film like

Ennu Ninte Moideen. I was so glad to do that film. The appreciation the song fetched me was so energising,” he said.

The National Award should inspire him further.