Voices that represented the golden era of romanticism

Within the span of two weeks, Malayalam has lost two illustrious artists who were the finest representatives of the romantic tradition that greatly defined popular taste in the 20th century.

- Amrith Lal

Within the span of two weeks, Malayalam has lost two illustrious artists who were the finest representatives of the romantic tradition that greatly defined popular taste in the 20th century. Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Nair, who died on Christmas Day, was arguably the most popular fiction and scriptwriter in Malayalam in the last century. He also directed a handful of landmark films, among them Nirmalyam, which is counted among the significant films of the 1970s New Wave cinema. P. Jayachandran, who passed away at 80 on Thursday, was a singer who started his career in films in 1966 and sang close to 16,000 songs mostly in Malayalam and Tamil, under all the major composers of his time. His popularity was eclipsed, perhaps, only by K.J. Yesudas and the late S.P. Balasubrahmanyam (SPB), who ruled films and radio waves in southern India.