Music composer Rajan of famed Rajen-Nagendra duo passes away

Noted music composer Rajan (of the Rajan-Nagendra musical duo fame) passed away after a cardiac arrest at his residence in Bengaluru on Sunday night. He was 87.

Confirming this to us, his son Ananth Kumar said his father was healthy but had developed gastric issues on Saturday and had a bloated stomach. “Doctor informed us that he is no more around 11 pm on Sunday,” he said.

Rajan is the elder brother of Nagendra. The latter died of a stroke in November 2000. Rajan and his brother Nagendra had created a niche for themselves for decades, and have given innumerable hits. The duo also hold the record for being the longest active musical pair in the industry. 

Rajan studied at SLN School and later in Central High School, where he took part in state-level violin competition and secured first place. Rajan and Nagendra became independent music directors with Swobhagya Lakshmi in 1952.

The duo composed music for 400 films, during the late 1950s to early 90s including over 200 songs in Kannada, and the rest in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Tulu and Sinhalese. Some of the best compositions are for films like Nyayave Devaru, Gandhada Gudi, Devara Gudi, Bhagyavantaru, Eradu Kanasu, Naa Ninna Mareyalaare, Naa Ninna Bidalaare, Hombisilu, Bayalu Daari, Pavana Ganga, and Giri Kanye.

They worked with well-known lyricists like Uday Shankar, Hunasur Krishnamurthy, Vijaya Narasimha, Geetha Priya and singers like Ghantasala, Vani Jayaram, PB Srinivas, Chitra, Kishore Kumar, SP Balasubrahmanyam, S Janaki, LR Eshwari, P Susheela, among others.