Lyricist and poet Vaali, who secured a place on a par with Kannadasan, at a time when the latter strode like a colossus in the Tamil film music world, died here on Thursday evening. He was 82 and is survived by a son. He was not well for quite some time and was in and out of hospital over the past month. The end came as one of his friends recited a few ‘pasurams’ — Ondrum marantharieyen and Oorilen kaaniyillai and Kulam tharum — from the ‘Nalayira Divyaprabandam’, a set of hymns sung by Vaishnavite minstrels. Vaali, who had a five-decade-long association with the Tamil film industry, wrote over 15,000 songs — including 5,000 for music maestro...
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