Popular southern composer Rajamani has passed away at the age of 60 due to sudden cardiac arrest. Born into a family of Carnatic musicians, Rajamani’s first tryst with music happened when he accompanied his father B.A. Chidambaranath on a devotional album “Gangayar Pirakkunnu”. He was just 13 years old.  Besides learning Carnatic music, Rajamani also dabbled in Western and Hindustani music. His first independent venture was 1983 Tamil film “Gramathu Kiligal”, followed by “Kalloori Kanavugal” in the same year.

In 1985, Rajamani made his Malayalam debut with “Nullinovikkaathe”. He went on to score music for successful Malayalam films like “Ekalavyan”, “Commissioner”, “The King”, “Aram Thampuran” and “Narasimham”. He composed music for nearly 70 films and rendered background score for over 700 films. His last film as a composer was 2012 Malayalam romantic-drama “Hide n’ Seek”.

Rajamani, who is also known as a conductor, has worked with 78 other music directors. Rajamani was the most sought after composer by filmmakers to set the background score of their movies. He has done background music for over 700 films in 10 different languages, a majority of them in Malayalam.