My association with M.K. Arjunan began half-a-century ago. I am proud that I played a part in shaping up his career.
When I listened to the song on radio Manathin muttathe… (Karutha Pournami), I thought it was composed by G. Devarajan. But, R.K. Shekhar (A.R. Rahman's father), who assisted Devarajan and other music directors in Malayalam cinema then, told me it was tuned by a new composer named Arjunan.
When V. Dakshinamoorthy, with whom I had teamed up for several hits, refused to do the music for producer K.P. Kottarakkara’s new film, Rest House, I recommended Arjunan. All the songs of that film were hits and went on to collaborate for about 300 songs.
It is true that Arjunan didn't get as much credit as he deserved. One of the reasons for that was that the names of the lyricist and the composer were usually not announced on All India Radio, which was about the only accessible medium for music lovers those days. With the arrival of social media, however, today's generation has become more knowledgeable.
(as told to P.K. Ajith Kumar)