Tamil cinema has lost one of the architects of its sound. Music composer Deva, born Devanesan Chokkalingam and affectionately known as “Thenisai Thendral” — the melodious breeze — passed away on Saturday morning, October 17, at a private hospital in Chennai after suffering a heart attack. He was 75, just weeks short of his 76th birthday.
According to reports, Deva was admitted to Surya Hospital in Kodambakkam at around 8:30 AM on Saturday, where his son — music director Srikanth Deva — confirmed the veteran composer had suffered a massive cardiac arrest. Superstar Rajinikanth visited the composer’s Chennai residence to pay his final respects, and tributes poured in from across the industry: Kamal Haasan remembered his “dear brother” and their joyful collaborations on Avvai Shanmugi, Pammal K. Sambandam and Panchatanthiram, while Khushbu Sundar — who said she had met Deva just ten days before his passing — joined Chinmayi and countless others in mourning a celebrated musical talent.
Deva’s career stretched across nearly four decades and more than 400 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam cinema, beginning with Maattukara Mannaru in 1986. But his most enduring contribution is a single piece of music that still opens nearly every Rajinikanth film: the signature score accompanying the “Super Star Rajni” title card, first composed for Annamalai in 1992 and still inseparable from the superstar’s on-screen introductions today. Beyond the Rajinikanth association, he scored era-defining albums for Kamal Haasan, Vijay, Ajith Kumar and Pawan Kalyan — Baashha, Arunachalam, Kushi and Kadhal Kottai among them — and won his first Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director for Vaikasi Poranthachu in 1990.
He was also the composer who carried Chennai’s working-class gaana folk tradition into mainstream cinema, turning street rhythms into theatrical showpieces — Kadhal Kottai’s “Kaavalaipadaathey Sagothara” became the benchmark that proved gaana could carry emotional weight on the big screen. In a poignant coda, fans noted they had just heard his signature intro score at the opening of Jailer 2, which released October 15. Deva’s music defined the sound of a generation of Tamil cinema, and it will keep playing long after he has gone.
