Legendary singer P Jayachandran passes away

P Jayachandran, the legendary playback singer who is best known for his memorable songs in Malayalam and Tamil films, passed away at 80. Here’s all you need to know...

P Jayachandran

P Jayachandran, the legendary playback singer and actor, who is well-known for his illustrious career primarily and Malayalam and Tamil film, passed away. The National Award-winning singer breathed his last at a private hospital in Thrissur, Kerala, today (January 9, 2025). As per the reports, the 80-year-old was rushed to the hospital after he collapsed at his residence at 7 PM, this evening. For the uninitiated, P Jayachandran was suffering from liver-related problems, from the last few months.

P Jayachandran’s illustrious playback singing career

The legend made his debut in films as a playback singer in 1965, with the song ‘Oru Mullappoomaalayumayi’ from the film, Kunjali Marakkar. However, it was the 1967-released song ‘Manjalayil Mungi Thorthi’ from the film Kalithozhan, that became a major milestone in P Jayachandran’s career. With a career that spanned over six decades, the iconic singer established himself as the one of the most sought-after playback singers of the Malayalam and Tamil film industries. He has also made his mark in all other major languages with some iconic songs, across the decades.

As per the records, P Jayachandran has recorded over 16,000 songs, in a career that spanned over 58 years. The legendary singer won the National Film Award for the Best Playback Singer for the song ‘Siva Shankara Sarva’ in the 1986-released Malayalam film, Sree Narayana Guru. He won the Kerala State Film Award for the Best Playback Singer five times, in the years 1972, 1978, 1999, 2004, and 2015, and JC Daniel Award in 2020.

P Jayachandran as an actor

The veteran playback actor also tried a hand in acting a couple of times during his film career. P Jayachandran played the role of Namboothiri in the 1986-released Malayalam film Nakhakshathangal, written by MT Vasudevan Nair and directed by Hariharan. The iconic film is currently available for streaming for free on YouTube. Later in 2012, Jayachandran made a comeback to acting with Trivandrum Lodge, the VK Prakash directorial, in which he played the role of Narayanan Nair, the father of Anoop Menon’s character Ravi Shankar. The film is currently streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.

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