Eminent music director K Raghavan, who infused Malayalam cinema music with a local flavour through his popular numbers, died in a hospital here on Saturday.

Raghavan (99) was keeping unwell for some time and was admitted to the Co-operative hospital here a few days back, family sources said. Known as Raghavan Master among colleagues and fans, he shot to fame through the 1950s hit “Neelakkuyil”, an early realistic movie directed jointly by Ramu Karyat and P Bhaskaran.

Along with Baburaj, Raghavan is often credited for the renaissance of Malayalam film music. K Raghavan gave a new direction and identity to Malayalam film music. He had composed around 400 songs in Malayalam Cinema in the last active 4 Decades.

He was born in Thalassery, Kannur to M Krishnan and Narayani in 1913. He started studying classical music from his childhood. His professional career was started as a Tambura player in All India Radio, Chennai. In 1950 he got transferred to Calicut and there he got involved with film artists.

Raghavan got the first State award for best music director in 1973 for his songs in the movie ‘Nirmalyam.’ He had also got Sangeeta Nadaka Academy Fellowship in 1981 and G C Daniel Award in 1997. The nation honored the legendary musician with Padmashree award in 2010.