The veteran died early on Saturday at a private hospital in Chennai from a reported heart attack. Singer Chinmayi Sripaada is mourning the death of music composer Deva at 75. The film industry mourned, with Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, TN CM Vijay, and others attending his funeral. Chinmayi, who initially wrote that she didn’t know how to process his death, eventually penned a long obituary in his honour.
Devanesan Chokkalingam, born on November 20, 1950, died just weeks before his 76th birthday. He has composed music for over 400 films in South India. His debut came in 1986 with the Tamil film Maattukara Mannaru, and he composed music for numerous superstars throughout his career.
In a long note on Instagram, she then recalled how well the composer would sing ghazals despite not being fluent in Hindi. “Deva Sir. I am not sure how many people know – but he sang Ghazals wonderfully. Despite that, the singer recalls the composer saying he could never live up to the legends.
He was one of the people who knew that I was a graded artiste of the All India Radio for Hindustani classical music and Ghazals – having won medals for both when I was in my late teens,” wrote Chinmayi, adding, “When I went to record for him – a few of those sessions he would sing a Mehdi Hasan saab or a Ghulam Ali saab’s Ghazal and smile and say ‘enakku avlo Hindi varaafhu maʼ (I don’t know Hindi well). “He would sing the most complicated phrases in Ghazals like the flowing of a young stream, gentle yet magical, and then say avangallam periyya legends namakkelam avlo varadhu. (They are big legends, we can’t get to that level) And I’d be stunned – wondering if he had a real imposter syndrome,” wrote Chinmayi. He is the man behind Rajinikanth ’s intro theme, which the superstar uses even today.
