Ranipet: Veteran Tamil music composer and singer Deva, popularly known as ‘Thenisai Thendral’, was laid to rest with full state honours at his family farmland in Sakkaramallur near Arcot, Ranipet district, on Sunday. He was 75.
Deva died of a heart attack in Chennai on the morning of October 17. His mortal remains were taken from his Chennai residence to the farmland, where the final rites were performed.
Thousands of people gathered at the site to pay their last respects to the celebrated music director.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay had visited Deva’s residence in Chennai to pay his respects and announced that the funeral would be held with state honours in recognition of the composer’s contribution to the music industry.
Revenue and police officials oversaw arrangements for the ceremony at Sakkaramallur.
Relatives and villagers recalled Deva’s enduring connection to his roots, saying he regularly visited his native village during festivals such as Pongal and contributed to local initiatives, including funding the construction of a Sri Ranganathar temple.
Born Devanesan Chokkalingam, Deva had a career spanning nearly four decades and composed music for more than 400 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
Before turning to films, Deva was an employee of the Tamil Nadu government’s Public Works Department (PWD).
He made his entry as a composer in 1986 with ‘Mattukkara Mannaru’, which did not fare well in theatres, though its songs found a loyal audience over time.
‘Manasukketha Maharasa’ (1989), starring Ramarajan and Seetha, was the film that first drew attention to his work. His real breakthrough, however, came in 1990 with the Prashanth-starrer ‘Vaigasi Poranthachu’, which won him widespread acclaim.
Deva rose to prominence in the late 1980s and 1990s with his high-energy, folk-rooted tunes, and is widely credited with bringing the ‘gaana’ genre into mainstream Tamil cinema.
Few composers in Tamil cinema are as closely identified with one genre as Deva is with ‘gaana’, the urban folk music born in the working-class neighbourhoods of North Chennai.
He worked with nearly every leading star of his time, among them Vijayakanth, Sarathkumar, Vijay and Ajith, and delivered some of the biggest hits of their careers.
Among his chartbusters were the Rajinikanth films ‘Annamalai’, ‘Baashha’ and ‘Arunachalam’, and the Kamal Haasan outings ‘Avvai Shanmugi’, ‘Pammal K Sambandam’ and ‘Panchathanthiram’.
His death drew tributes from political leaders, members of the film fraternity and fans across Tamil Nadu.
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