Noted music composer Rajan no more

Bengaluru: Noted music composer Rajan passed away after a cardiac arrest at his residence in Bengaluru on Sunday, October 11 night. He was 87.

Rajan’s son Ananth Kumar confirming the music composer’s death said that his father was healthy but had developed gastric issues on Saturday and had a bloated stomach and passed away after a cardiac arrest at his residence.

Rajan studied at SLN School and later in Central High School where he took part in state-level violin competition and secured first place. Rajan and Nagendra became independent music directors with Swobhagya Lakshmi in 1952.

The duo together composed music for 400 films, during the late 1950 to early 1990s including over 200 songs in Kannada, and the rest in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Tulu and Sinhalese. Some of the best compositions are for films like ‘Nyayave Devaru’, ‘Gandhada Gudi’, ‘Devara Gudi’, ‘Bhagyavantaru’, ‘Eradu Kanasu’, ‘Naa Ninna Mareyalaare’, ‘Naa Ninna Bidalaare’, ‘Hombisilu’, ‘Bayalu Daari’, ‘Pavana Ganga’ and ‘Giri Kanye’ among others.

They worked with well-known lyricists like Uday Shankar, Hunasur Krishnamurthy, Vijaya Narasimha, Geetha Priya and singers like late Ghantasala, Vani Jayaram, P B Srinivas, Chitra, Kishore Kumar, S P Balasubrahmanyam, S Janaki, L R Eshwari, P Susheela, among others.