The start to Monday couldn't get much sadder than this as veteran Malayalam music director M. K. Arjunan, known prominently among fans as Arjunan Master, passed away earlier today (April 6) at Kochi. He was 84. M. K. Arjunan was a doyen in Malayalam cinema as his career spanned over 50 years with the composer having churned out over 500 songs in more than 200 films. The reputed composer made his debut in 1968 with the Malayalam film, Karutha Pournami and is known among Tamil cinema fans for giving Academy Award winner A. R. Rahman his first musical break to play keyboards in films.

M. K. Arjunan, who was a close friend R. K. Shekhar, A. R. Rahman's father, introduced the Oscar winner as a keyboard player in the 1981 Shreyas Productions-produced Malayalam film, Adima Changala.

Acclaimed sound designer and A. R. Rahman's fellow Academy Award winner, Resul Pookutty took to his Twitter page to express his condolences for M. K. Arjunan's demise saying, "My heartfelt condolences .... many of your tunes are etched in my memory, your artistry has shaped up many generations of music lovers! Your absence is a vacuum.... RIP." Check out his tweet below:

My heartfelt condolences .... many of your tunes are etched in my memory, your artistry has shaped up many generations of music lovers! Your absence is a vacuum.... RIP 🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/evcSuuCa7M

— resul pookutty (@resulp) April 6, 2020