Bhoothapandi Annavi Chidambaranathan was an Nagercoil born Indian film score composer and musician who worked mainly in Malayalam films.

Biography

Hailing from a family of reputed musicians from Nagercoil, Kanyakumari district, Chidambaranathan took early lessons in mridangam and Carnatic vocal from his father, B. K. Arunachalam Annavi. He also took training for sometime under Muttiah Bhagavathar and used to play mridangam for him at his concerts. He then learnt the violin first under Nagamani Marthanda Nadar and then for seven years under the Kumbakonam Rajamanickam Pillai. Chidmabranathan was noticed by music director C. N. Pandurangan, when he was playing violin at a concert of M. M. Dandapani Desikar.

His film career began in 1948 when he assisited Pandurangan for the Tamil films Gokuladasi and Jnanasoundari. He debuted in Malayalam with Vellinakshathram, the first film of Udaya Studios. He had also scored a Sinhalese film before his entry into Malayalam. After scoring the film Sthree (1950), his third film as a composer, Chidambaranathan took a sabaticcal and did not contribute to film music for 14 years. He joined All India Radio and worked for their musical productions and conducted his own concerts during this time. It was P. Bhaskaran who brought him back to film scoring. It was during this phase, which saw him score the music for 14 films, beginning with Rajamalli (1964), that Chidambaranathan made his presence felt. His magnum opus Murappennu was released in 1965. Songs like "Karayunno Puzha Chirikkunno" and "Kadavathu Thoniyaduthappol", both from this film, are considered his master pieces. With that film, he established himself as one of the leading composers and went on to score some of the major films and hit songs in the late '60s and '70s. He has scored music for more than 30 Malayalam films. Most of his songs were recorded by S. Janaki and K. J. Yesudas. He also holds the credit for introducing playback singer P. Jayachandran (in the film Kunjali Marakkar). Most of his songs were penned by P. Bhaskaran. His association with Vayalar, which began in Kottayam Kolakase has also spawned numerous hit songs. His last work was Aramanaveedum Anjoorekkarum (1996), which he composed along with his son Rajamani. Apart from film songs, he also composed a few devotional songs and krirtis. He had also worked as a music professor in Anna University for a short period. He was honoured with the Kalaimamani award by the Tamil Nadu government. He died on 31 August 2007 in Chennai.