Thiruvananthapuram: Noted Malayalam lyricist Bichu Thirumala (B Sivasankaran Nair) breathed his last on Friday morning at a private hospital in the city. He was 80.
He was on ventilator support since Wednesday following a heart attack.
Bichu Thirumala started his lyricist career with the 1972 Malayalam film Bhaja Govindam.
Though this movie did not see the light of the day, his first song Brahma Muhoorthathil that was rendered for this film became popular.
The song was aired on Radio Ceylon in the early 1970s.
Later, he went on to work with eminent composers like G Devarajan, V Dakshinamurthy, MS Baburaj, K Raghavan, MS Viswanathan, AT Ummer, Shyam, Jerry Amaldev, Johnson, Ouseppachan, Ilaiyaraaja and AR Rahman.
He, along with ONV Kurup, is known for creating lyrics that stood out for the beautiful arrangement of words.
In 1981, he won the Kerala State Film Award for the best lyricist for the films Thrishna and Thenum Vayambum.
He also won the same award for the second time in 1991, for the Rajasenan-directed film Kadinjool Kalyanam.
Bichu Thirumala penned the lines for AR Rahman's music for the film Yodha.
Bichu had also doubled up as music director in a few Malayalam films.
In 1962, he wrote and acted in the play Ballatha Duniyav at the Inter-University Radio Drama Competition.
After graduating from the University College, Thiruvananthapuram, with a degree in Economics, he went to Chennai with a passion for film directing.
After much wait, he got the opportunity to work for M Krishnan Nair. He worked as an assistant director in the film Sabarimala Sridharmasasthav.
Bichu wrote the lyrics for films of directors like Fazil, IV Sasi, Sibi Malayil and Siddique Lal.
He also wrote the screenplay for the movie Shakthi.
The evergreen hit songs of Mohanlal's debut film Manjil Virinje Pookal were all written by Bichu.
