THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The inaugural screening of ‘Sangeetham - M K Arjunan’, a documentary on the legendary music director, was held the other day at Kalabhavan theatre here. Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan inaugurated the screening while Health and Devaswom Minister V S Sivakumar was the chief guest. The documentary, produced by Thiruvananthapuram Music Fraternity, has been directed by Sajeev Pazhoor. Executive producer G Ashok Kumar and representatives from the music industry and political personalities were present on the occasion.
Arjunan Master, as he is known in film and music circles, began composing music for films with the 1969 movie ‘Karutha Pournami’. The documentary is a journey of the music maestro from that film onwards till present.
Around 20 songs, including drama songs, composed by Arjunan have been included in the documentary. It also reminds viewers of the irony that the maestro, who has composed over a thousand songs in 160 films, has never won even a single national or state award.
The documentary, which was shot for over a two-and-a-half- year period spanning 10 schedules, also includes the troubled times that the music director went through and also glimpses of his family life.
The rapport that Arjunan had with lyricist Sreekumaran Thampi and singers K J Yesudas, K S Chitra and Sujatha find mention in the documentary. It also dwells into the music director’s links with lyricists Vayalar Ramavarma, P Bhaskaran and music directors K Raghavan, Devarajan, P Bhaskaran and Baburaj. The music for the documentary has been composed by Bijibal. The other credits are - Camera: Santosh Manacaud and Praveen Panicker; Editing: M S Arun; Sound Mixing: Harikumar.