By Umaima Shafiq
Veteran musician dies at 91
Veteran musician T K Ramamoorthy died at his Royapettah residence in Chennai on April 17. He was 91 and survived by wife and 11 children.
Ramamoorthy partnered with film musician Vishwanathan to compose music for more than 700 South Indian films from the 1950s. The duo known as Mellisai Mannargal (the kings of light music) gave hundreds of memorable songs in films like Ratha Kanneer, Pudhayal, Pathi Pakthi and Nichaya Tamboolam.
Born in Tiruchy, about 250km from Chennai, Ramamoorthy became an accomplished violinist by 16 years of age and gave concerts under his parents’ tutelage.
He was spotted by film musician C R Subburaman and taken to Madras (the present-day Chennai) to work for AVM studios. There Ramamoorthy met Vishwanathan, who was an expert at harmonium, keyboard and piano. Vishwanathan was seven years younger to Ramamoorthy but they had an instant rapport.
Their big break came when Subburaman died in 1952 while composing for films Devadas, Chandi Rani and Marumagal.
The two musicians completed Subburaman’s work and became inseparable until 1965. They were the highest paid musicians of that period and honed generations of singers and musicians besides taking film music to a light racy level.
After their amicable separation in 1965, Ramamoorthy composed music only for 19 films whereas Vishwanathan had more professional success. However on the request of friends, the pair came together again for the 1995 Tamil film Engurintho Vandhan but did not continue their partnership.
Ramamoorthy and Vishwanathan have won many national awards, the most recent being a felicitation ceremony organised by Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalithaa in 2012.
Brothers held for gold theft
Chennai police have solved a March 25 gold theft case with the arrest of two brothers who tried to set up their own business by selling the loot in Hyderabad.
Police said that Champalal Rajpurohit had worked with Chennai-based Mohanlal Jewellers as their gold delivery and collection agent. Soon he became greedy and plotted embezzlement. On March 25, he collected 7kg of jewels and Rs2.5mn in cash from Mohanlal’s suppliers in Coimbatore. He gave it to his brother in Coimbatore and boarded a night bus to Chennai.
In Chennai he filed a complaint with police saying his suitcase had been tampered with and looted. His employers also believed him and after a discreet period Champalal left for Hyderabad with his brother. However they were caught based on an alert from some gold merchants whom Champalal contacted to sell the jewels.
Husband throws acid on wife
Suspecting his wife’s fidelity, a 30-year-old painter threw acid on her face at Namakkal last week.
Police said Sudha was alone at her mother’s house when her husband Sasikumar took her unawares pretending to be a visitor. He threw toilet cleaning acid that disfigured Sudha’s face even as she tried to fight him. Sasikumar was arrested, while Sudha is getting treatment at the local government hospital.
Sudha’s parents accused Sasikumar of suspecting his wife despite the couple having three children.
Prison promotes organic farming
A 2011 initiative to train prisoners to grow organic vegetables has become very successful in Chennai’s Puzhal prison.
The prison authorities roped in Nizal, a non-government organisation (NGO) to grow exotic vegetables on 15 acres. The harvests have been sufficient to feed the prison and earn a good income in the markets.
The same plan has been implemented in Coimbatore and Madurai prisons also.