The renowned Malayalam music director- lyricist Alleppey Ranganath passes away at the age of 73 on Sunday night. He was undergoing treatment at Kottayam Medical College as he was tested positive for Covid- 19 and had respiratory issues.
Having composed over 2000 songs in both Malayalam and Tamil, including devotional songs, he bagged this year’s ‘Harivarasanam award’. Ranganath also has learned classical music and Bharatanatyam and his wife B Rajasri is a classical dancer and teacher.
Alleppey Ranganath made his debut as the music director for the film ‘Jesus’ which was released in the year 1973 and was directed by P.A Thomas. Ranganath composed the song ‘Gaagulthaa Malakale’ in the movie ‘Jesus’. Alleppey Ranganath has composed music for over 25 movies and most of his songs were sung by the legendary singer K.J Yesudas.
He has composed music for films such as ‘Principal Olivil’, ‘Mamalakalkkappurath’, ‘Pappan Priyappetta Pappan’, ‘Aarante Mulla Kochu Mulla’ and much more. The song ‘Kaattil Kodum Kattil’ which he composed for the film ‘Aarante Mulla Kochu Mulla’ which was released in the year 1984 became popular and is still considered as one of the classic songs in Malayalam.
Apart from composing music, Alleppey Ranganath has also written over 42 stage plays and the prominent ones among them are ‘Ayalathe Amma’, ‘Sahadarmini’, ‘Kudumbakshetram’, ‘Amritasagaram’ and much more. He also received much adulation for the two songs in the play ‘Kanaljalam’.
Alleppey Ranganath’s popularity got widened majorly due to his Ayyappa songs which became a huge hit in Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu.
