THRISSUR: Renowned lyricist G K Pallath, aka P Gopinath, who penned the evergreen Malayalam song ‘Kattuvannu Ninte Kamukan Vannu’ died here on Sunday. He was 85.
Hailing from Thrissur, Pallath earned a living working as a government employee. He retired from service as deputy tahsildar in 1997.
Since childhood, he was fond of writing poems. It was his teacher K N Nambeesan of Vivekodayam school, who spotted his writing skills and suggested the pen name, G K Pallath.
Pallath penned his first song, ‘Rakthathirakal Neenthivarum’ for the Communist Party’s state convention in 1958. Composed by Das Kottappuram and sung by K S George and Sulochana, the song made waves across Kerala.
Later, Pallath penned several songs for amateur plays and ballets before entering the film world.
He wrote songs for movies 'Chora Chuvanna Chora', 'Amruthageetham', 'Kattuthee', 'Kalichakram', 'Valkkannadi', 'Noolppalam', 'Kunkumapottu', and 'Veerasringala'. He also worked on several musical albums.
He is survived by wife N Rajalakshmi (retired assistant taluk supply officer), children Nayana (United Kingdom), Suhas, Radhika (Chicago), children-in-law: Pradeep Chandran, Sreelatha Menon and Suneesh Menon.
Cremation will be held at Paramekkavu Santhighat on Monday at 4pm.