M.S.ViswanathanTamil Music Director – Song Lyrics & Movies

Viswanathan composed film music together with composer and violinist T. K. Ramamoorthy from the 1950s to 1965, as Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy for 100 Films. He independently composed for 700 films from 1965 to 2015.

M. S. Viswanathan was born on 24 June 1928 to Manayangath Subramanian and Narayaniammal in Elappully village in Palakkad, Kerala, India (then in Malabar district, Madras Presidency, British India). His father died when Viswanathan was three years old, and subsequently his sister also died six months later. In a depressed state, Viswanathan's mother decided to kill him, and herself to escape from abject poverty and lack of support, by drowning in a pond. Both were saved at the last minute by his grandfather. His grandfather Krishnan Nair was a warden at the central jail of Kannur. After death of his father, his family moved from Palakkad to Kannur to stay with his jailor uncle. As a child, he sold refreshments in a movie theatre without any pay, so he could listen to the music in the films. He had a part in the film Kannagi produced by Jupiter Pictures.

His primary education was at Pallikunnu, Kannur. He would often play truant from school and stand outside the house of Neelakanta Bhagavathar, a local music teacher, and listen to his teaching other students. He learnt to play the harmonium, and Neelakanta Bhagavathar, who heard him play and sing on a Vijayadasami Day, was impressed and organised a three-hour concert at the Kannur town hall. He later gave his first stage performance in Trivandrum at the age of 13. He worked as an office boy for Jupiter Pictures in the 1940s, earning Rs 3 per month.

Viswanathan was married to Janaki and they have four sons and three daughters. His wife, Janaki, died on 14 May 2012. She was 77 when she died.

He is known to have looked after his original Guru, S. M. Subbaiah Naidu, when the latter fell into financial difficulties and then continued to look after his wife until her death. As a rare human approach, M. S. Viswanathan, looked after his friend J. P. Chandrababu, the great Comedian and Singer of Tamil films, when the latter fell into financial ruins. Chandrababu stayed the last few years of his life in the house of M. S. Viswanathan, and as per the request of Chandrababu, M.S.V. arranged his last rites when he died in March 1974.

Viswanathan had always wanted to be an actor and singer, but was not successful. He had a few small roles in stage dramas in the 1940s. The composer and violinist T. R. Papa met Viswanathan, took a liking to him and arranged a job for him as an errand boy for S. V. Venkatraman's musical troupe in 1942. In that company of musicians, Viswanathan realised that he had the inclination and the potential for composing music. He thereafter joined S. M. Subbaiah Naidu and at times assisted him. He then joined C. R. Subburaman's musical troupe as a harmonium player. Here, he met T. K. Ramamoorthy and T. G. Lingappa, the two leading violinists at that time. T. G. Lingappa also became a renowned music composer on his own in the 1950s.

In 1952, C. R. Subburaman died unexpectedly. Ramamoorthy and Viswanathan joined and completed the background music for the films Subburaman was working on, including Devadas, Chandirani and Marumagal. N. S. Krishnan knew them both fairly intimately and also their respective talents by then because of his close relationship with C.R. Subburaman, with whom he had worked earlier in several films. Meanwhile, Viswanathan also worked as the third composer for the film Genova where the other composers were M.S Gnanamani and T.K.Kalyanam. MGR, the hero of the film Genova, had reservations about the 'raw, young music director' but the reservations lasted only until he listened to the songs.MGR instantly recognised the arrival of a genius and the relationship lasted until the end of his career as a hero in 1977. Viswanathan and Ramamoorthy were asked to write the music for Panam, a 1952 film produced by A. L. Seenivasan and directed by N. S. Krishnan. Later the duo was asked to do the background score for the film Ratha Kanneer by its music composer C. S. Jayaraman.

The duo composed music for over 100 films, and they worked together from 1952 to 1965.

On 16 June 1963 at a special function M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy were each given the title of Mellisai Mannar (Kings of the Light Music). It was granted by Sivaji Ganesan at the Madras Triplicane Cultural Academy. The function was supported and facilitated by the Hindu Group of Publications, especially Mr. T. M. Ramachandran, Director C. V. Sridhar and Chitralaya Gopu.

The duo parted in 1965 after release of Ayirathil Oruvan and since then they composed for films individually. After 29 years, they rejoined in 1995 for the Tamil film Engirundho Vanthan starring Sathyaraj.

P. Susheela received her first National Award as Best Singer in 1969 for the song "Paal Polave" composed by M.S.V. in the film Uyarndha Manidhan. Immediately after recording the song, M.S.V. was so happy, he said to P. Susheela that she would be acclaimed as the Best Singer for the National Award for this song.

The duo Viswanathan Ramamoorthy were awarded an honorary doctorate by the Sathyabama Deemed University in September 2006.