According to reports, veteran music director SP Venkatesh passed away at the age of 70 at his residence in Chennai. His funeral is scheduled to be held at Alapakkam in Chennai on Wednesday. Widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the golden age of Malayalam cinema, Venkatesh’s death marks the end of an important chapter in South Indian film music.

Venkatesh began his career as a guitarist in the early 1970s, initially collaborating with composer Vijayabhaskar. He then moved to the world of Kannada films in 1975 as an assistant music director and later made his debut as an independent composer in Telugu films. Prema Yuddam In his early years, he contributed extensively as an assistant and background score composer for Malayalam films under musicians such as Raghavan Master and AT Ummmal.

His breakthrough in Malayalam cinema came with the work of Thampi Kananthanam. rajabinte makana project that firmly established him as a first-class composer. The songs and background music from this film were very popular and led to long-term collaborations with filmmakers such as Dennis Joseph, Thampi Kannanthanam and Joshi. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Venkatesh became one of the most sought-after music directors in the industry.

Throughout his career, he composed music for various successful films. kill cam, Minaram, johnnie walker, Durbham, Varsaliyam, Pysle cam, sphadicum, Manor Matthew’s speech and mantricum. He was also particularly famous for his background music for films such as: Devashram, Mahayanam, No.20 Madras Mail and AppuHe often composed the score even when other musicians were responsible for the music.

Known for his skill with instruments such as mandolin and guitar, Venkatesh’s music frequently incorporated symphonic arrangements of stringed instruments. He won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director in 1993. Pysle cam and janamalong with the Filmfare Award. Pysle cam.

Apart from Malayalam films, Venkatesh has also worked in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Bengali films, contributing both songs and orchestrations.