Dakshinamurthy bags Yesudas Award

V. Dakshinamurthy, who created a niche directing music for over 350 films, has been honoured with the Swaralaya-Kairali-Yesudas Award 2007 for his lifetime contribution to the Malayalam film industry. Music composer and playback singer Shankar Mahadevan was presented with Swaralaya Kairali-Yesudas Award 2007. The awards were presented by singer K.J. Yesudas on Monday, 28 January.

Dakshinamurthy made his debut into films with Nalla Thanka produced by Kunchako and Koshy. He has scored the music for several songs penned by Sreekumaran Thampi. Some of his popular songs include Hridaya Sarassille, Navalokam, Seetha and Sri Guruvayoorappan. He had been the guru of several playback singers and music directors including P. Susheela, Kalyani Menon, and Ilaiyaraaja. He also won the State Award for Best Music Director in 1971.

[an error occurred while processing this directive]Swaralaya-Kairali-Yesudas Awards, jointly instituted by Swaralaya, an organization that promotes music and Kairali Channel, are given annually to music artists in recognition of their outstanding performances.

Mr. Mahedevan's award comprised Rs. 1 lakh, a statuette and a citation; Mr. Dakshinamurthy"s prize consisted of a purse of Rs. 75,000, a statuette and a citation. Some of the earlier recipients of the award include A.R. Rahman, Sonu Nigam, K.S. Chitra, Asha Bhonsle, S.P. Balasubramanian, P. Jayachandran, P. Leela and S. Janaki.