Chennai: Reacting to the demise of 91-year-old veteran composer TK Ramamurthy (TKR), musician MS Viswanathan (MSV) says he has lost his best friend. Ramamurthy passed away on Wednesday at his residence here after brief illness. Popularly known as Vishwanathan-Ramamurthy duo, they composed music for hundreds of Tamil films in over a decade and a half.
Talking to IANS, Viswanathan told, “I feel like I have lost my best friend with whom I had shared so many great memories over the years. Even after we parted ways in the 1960s, we remained friends at heart. I will certainly feel his loss.” He added, “I suggested that we should work together as a team.
Initially, he was not game for it, but I convinced him with great difficulty. We had great memories of working together and when we faced differences, we amicably parted ways.” Viswanathan further said, “We may have stopped working together, but we were friends at heart and, therefore we buried all the differences and worked together again.
Even though he only used to play the violin, he was a highly proficient musician.” He added, “He would supervise most of my compositions. He would also conduct most of the recordings at the studio. Since he hailed from a family of musicians, his suggestions were always respected and taken seriously.
” Vishwanathan-Ramamurthy composed chartbusters for films such as Panam, Padmini, Raththa Kaneer, Pasa Valai, Sugam Enge and Sorga Vaasal. They split in 1965 after the release of the Tamil film Aayirathil Oruvan. In 1995, they reunited after 30 years to work for Tamil film Engirundho Vanthan. Talking about their unity, MSV said, “Actor NS Krishnan introduced us as a team in our debut film Panam. He suggested that since TKR was senior to me, he would lead me.”
