T. K. Ramamoorthy - Viswanathan Ramamoorthy As Partners

Viswanathan Ramamoorthy As Partners

T. K. Ramamoorthy was born into a famous musical family in Trichy and was a talented violinist since young.His father, Krishnaswamy Pillai and grandfather, Malaikottai Govindasamy Pillai were well known violinists in Trichy. Ramamoorthy gave several stage performances along with his father since his childhood days. C. R. Subburaman noted the young Ramamoorthy's talent and hired him as a violinist for HMV when he was only fourteen years old. He in early 1940's worked in Saraswathi Stores where AVM Studo's boss, Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar,was a partner - which lead him to play violin for AVM's music composer, R. Sudarsanam, in some films. During these days, he also became friendly with P.S.Diwakar, the famous pianist cum music composer in the Malayala films and was staying with P.S.Diwakar while seeking opportunities. By late 1940's, C. R. Subburaman, was a rising star in the South Indian film music world and Ramamoorthy rejoined him as one of his violinists in his musical troupe. There, he met T. G. Lingappa, another famed violinist. M.S Viswanathan joined this troupe later as a harmonium player in 1950.

M. S. Viswanathan had always wanted to be an actor and singer, but was not successful.He had done a few small roles in stage dramas in 1940’s. The famous music composer in the 50s, T. R. Papa, who was a violinist for the doyen of the Tamil film music, S. V. Venkatraman when he met the young struggling Viswanathan, took a liking to him and arranged a job for him as an errand boy for S. V. Venkatraman's musical troupe. In that company of all musicians, Viswanathan realized that he had the inclination and the potential for composing music. He thereafter joined S. M. Subbaiah Naidu and at times assisted him. He then joined C. R. Subburaman as a Harmonium player where he met both T.K.Ramamoorthy and T. G. Lingappa, the two leading violinists at that time. T. G. Lingappa also became a renowned music composer on his own in the 1950s.

MSV was known as a master of playing 3 instruments -harmonium, keyboard and paino by the age of 15 whereas Ramamoorthy was known as master in playing violin by his age of 16.

In 1952, C. R. Subburaman died unexpectedly in the midst of completing the background music for the films such as Devadas, Chandi Rani and Marumagal. Ramamoorthy and Viswanathan joined together and completed the background music for these films . During this time, M.S.Viswanathan also got an opportunity to be the third composer for the film Genova starring M.G.R with M.S.Gnanamani and T.K.Kalyanam, who were famous music composers then.

Both Ramamoorthy and Viswanathan always proudly name C.R.Subburaman as their Guru.M.S.Viswanathan has also mentioned that was also inspired by the music of S.V.Venkatraman and T.R.Papa.

N. S. Krishnan who knew both M.S. Viswanathan and T.K.Ramamoorthy fairly intimately and also their respective talents by then, with foresight, suggested an alliance between them like Shankar Jaikishan in the North. T.K.Ramamoorthy, despite being an excellent musician with an orthodox carnatic musical background, was a shy, modest and reserved person whereas M. S. Viswanathan was naturally talented, charming, forward and dynamic although he lacked the similar background in Carnatic music. Ramamoorthy is older than Viswanathan by seven years, but placing of their names as Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy was agreed upon by both parties on the advice of N. S. Krishnan, who thereafter got the duo Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy their first chance to compose for the film Panam in 1953 which was produced by A.L.Seenivasan and directed by N. S. Krishnan himself.It was the second film for Sivaji Ganesan and the first film for the successful pair in the history of Tamil Films - Sivaji Ganesan - Padmini.During this time,Chithambaram C. S.Jayaraman, music comoposer and singer, also engaged the services of Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy duo for the film Raththa Kanneer to assist him for the background music though music for all the songs in Raththa Kanner were tuned by C.S.Jayaraman himself.It was a slow progress for the duo in the 50s, a period that boasted of many talented composers with the stalwart G.Ramanathan in the lead.After Panam was a success, many film producers and directors approached them and the duo together composed music for over 100 films from 1952-1965.The duo were the highest paid composers and held the number one position in market together from 1957-1965.

However,right from the beginning, the duo displayed a flair for light sweet melodious music. The films like Porter Kanthan, Pasa Valai, Thennali Raman, Gulebahavali, Sugam Enge, Sorga Vasal, etc. in the 50s created a lot attention for them.In 1956, the duo composed for the Telugu film Santhosham,the Telugu adaptation of the Tamil film Velaikaari(story by C. N. Annadurai) with N. T. Rama Rao and Anjali Devi which was a big musical hit.This was reproduced in Hindi as Naya Aadmi with music by Madan Mohan who,impressed by the duo's music, suggested to retain some of the original tunes for the Hindi version.The Hindi song "Laut gaya gam ka zamana" sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Hemanta Kumar Mukhopadhyay in that film, copy of the duo's Telugu song "Teeyani eenati reyi" sung by P. Susheela and G. K. Venkatesh, was a big hit in the North.

Towards the latter part of the 50s, the duo were racing ahead with musical hits like Pudhayal,Nichchaya Thamboolam,Pathi Pakthi. Pahappirivinai,etc.The winning combinations of the duo initially were mainly with the Directors T. R. Ramanna and A. Bhimsingh who produced some mega hits in the late 50s and early 60s - for which the duo composed excellent music and thereby reaching the No.1 slot in the early 60s. Then C. V. Sridhar, after his music composer A. M. Rajah fell out with him in 1961, engaged the duo for his films and many top hits followed. Major studios like Gemini, AVM, etc. were also to engage them later. During this period, the duo also boasted of assistants of the stature of R. Govardhanam, G. K. Venkatesh, Shankar Ganesh and Henry Daniel. They also had Sathan for special voice and sound effects.

On 16 June 1963, at a special function M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy were each given the title of Mellisai Mannar(Kings Of The Light Music). It was granted by Sivaji Ganesan at the Madras Triplicane Cultural Academy. The function was supported and facilitated by the Hindu Group of Publications, especially Mr. T. M. Ramachandran, Director C. V. Sridhar and Chitralaya Gobu.Though collectively M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy were called Mellisai Mannargal (Kings Of The Light Music). The title is more used for M.S.V for he continued to be successful as individual music director from 1965-1995.

But M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy split up after the release of Aayirathil Oruvan on 9 July 1965. Since then both had composed for films individually. M.S.Viswanathan, in his solo career continued to achieve success as he did earlier and composed music for over 800 films from 1965-1995 and in totality 1200 films till 2013, but Ramamoorthy as a solo music director could not achieve as much and gradually faded away. He composed for only 19 films from 1966-1986. Vishwanathan was most in demand and was the highest paid music director from 1965-1980. After 29 years, they had rejoined in 1995 just once for the Sathyaraj starrer Tamil film Engirundho Vanthan.

The composer duo are given the credit in moulding the careers of singers especially that of singers, T. M. Soundararajan, P. B. Srinivas and L. R. Easwary who owe their success partially to the duo and in particular to M. S. Viswanathan as they were most regular singers with them. (T. M. Soundararajan was the all time favourite singer for Viswanathan).P. Susheela too owes a great deal to the duo as their main female singer. S. Janaki sang for them, but not so regularly. Jikki used to be their favorite before P. Susheela, but the duo was divided on A. M. Rajah. Ramamoorthy was keen to use him, but Viswanathan always resisted using him owing to personality conflict after the film Genova, with the result that A. M. Rajah sang only 5 songs for the duo even at the height of his career in the 50s. In their films, A. M. Rajah did not even give his voice to Gemini Ganesan, except for the film Pathi Pakthi. Singers like P. Leela, Sheergazhi Govindarajan, Sarojini, Jamuna Rani, Jikki owe their success in 1950’s and 1960’s mainly to the duo and in particular to Viswanathan .

The duo composed for over 100 films during the 50s and 60s, revitalising Chennai film music. The duo parted in 1965 and since then they had composed for films individually. Both T. R. Ramanna and A. Bhimsingh were saddened by this development, but still worked with both of them,but individually in different films they produced and directed - which showed that at that stage equal importance was given to both. M.S.Viswanathan, in his solo career continued to achieve success as he did earlier and composed music for over 1200 films from 1965-2013, but Ramamoorthy as a solo music director could not achieve as much and gradually faded away. He composed for only 19 films from 1966-1986. Vishwanathan was most in demand and was the highest paid music director from 1965-1985.

He was awarded an honorary doctorate along with M.S.Viswanathan by the Sathyabama Deemed University in September 2006.