Vamanan is an Indian writer, journalist, documentary film-maker and film music historian based in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. He is known for his documentation of the lives of Tamil film music composers, singing stars and playback singers. Vamanan was awarded the Tamil Nadu government's

Kalaimamani The Kalaimamani is the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. These awards are given by the ''Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram'' (literature, music and theatre), a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government of ...

award (2005) by Chief Minister

Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December 2 ...

for his contribution to Tamil film history and won the first prize of the

Government of Tamil Nadu Government of Tamil Nadu is the subnational government for the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is seated at Fort St George, Chennai. The legislature of Tamil Nadu was bicameral until 1986, when it was replaced by a unicameral legislature, lik ...

Tamil development department for the first volume of ''Thirai Isai Alaigal'' (2000).

Career

Vamanan worked in newspapers including ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'', ''

The Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

'' and ''

India Today ''India Today'' is a weekly Indian English-language news magazine published by Living Media India Limited. It is the most widely circulated magazine in India, with a readership of close to 8 million. In 2014, ''India Today'' launched a new onl ...

'' in the editorial. He was film critic of ''The Indian Express'' in the eighties. His first book was ''Thirai Isai Alaigal''. Subsequently, four more volumes of ''Thirai Isai Alaigal'' have been released. His biography of singer

T. M. Soundararajan Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan (24 March 1923 – 25 May 2013), popularly known as TMS, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer in Tamil cinema for over six and a half decades. He sang over 10,138 songs from 3,162 fi ...

titled "TMS - Oru pann-pattu charithiram" traces the Soundararajan's life while exploring more than thirty years of film world history. His work ''Mellisai Mannargal Paattu Payanam'' is on the work of

Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy were an Indian music composing duo composed of M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy. They worked together on over 100 films, from 1952's '' Panam'' to 1965's '' Aayirathil Oruvan''. After their split, Ramamoorthy wo ...

(a duo consisting of

M. S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. He was popularly known as ''Mellisai Mannar''. He compose ...

and

T. K. Ramamoorthy Trichirappalli Krishnasamy Ramamoorthy (15 May 1922 – 17 April 2013) was an Indian Tamil music composer and violinist. Ramamoorthy was known as ''Mellisai Mannar'' ( ta, மெல்லிசை மன்னர்; "The King of Light Music") ...

) in their individual capacities. The book was released by

Justice S. Mohan Shanmughasundaram Mohan (11 February 1930 – 27 December 2019) was former judge of the India Supreme Court and former acting governor of Karnataka state. He authored 11 books in English and seven books in Tamil. Biography Shanmughasundaram Mo ...

and the first copy was received by film producer M. Saravanan.

Selected bibliography

References

External links

PBS - A singer who sang praise of his peers

MSV - The world was his music

When politics propelled star power

Susheela - Singing voice that made beauty permanent
{{authority control Journalists from Tamil Nadu Music historians Indian film historians