Veteran Tamil composer Deva, 'Thenisai Thendral', dies at 75

Hollywood Reporter India

Hollywood Reporter India · Image source

Source published Oct 18, 2026 · Toronto

What To Know

Veteran Tamil film composer and singer Deva, popularly known as 'Thenisai Thendral', died in Chennai on Saturday, October 17, 2026. He was 75. According to reports, the composer was admitted to Surya Hospital in Chennai that morning, where he died; his son, music director Srikanth Deva, confirmed the cause was a sudden heart attack.

Born Devanesan Chokkalingam on November 20, 1950, Deva became one of the most prolific composers in Tamil cinema, with a career spanning nearly four decades and music for more than 400 films across Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam cinema, plus an extensive body of devotional music, per Hollywood Reporter India.

Deva rose to prominence in Tamil cinema in the late 1980s and became a defining musical presence through the 1990s. His soundtracks for films such as Annamalai, Baashha, Aasai, Kadhal Kottai, Nerrukku Ner, Ninaithen Vandhai, Priyamudan, Vaalee and Kushi produced songs closely associated with Tamil cinema of the period, and he composed for leading stars including Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Vijay and Ajith. Rajinikanth's 'Super Star Rajni' title card, which opens each of his films including the recent Jailer 2, is still set to Deva's iconic score.

Another significant part of Deva's legacy was his role in popularising gaana music in mainstream Tamil cinema. Drawing from the musical traditions of North Chennai, he brought the genre's distinctive rhythms and earthy sensibilities into film soundtracks, helping a largely localised musical form reach a wider audience, Hollywood Reporter India notes. He was also a prolific singer, and in 2014 sang a gaana number for Anirudh Ravichander's Maan Karate. His contributions earned him honours including the Tamil Nadu government's Kalaimamani award and the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director for Aasai. His son Srikanth Deva established himself as a film composer, and his brothers Sabesh and Murali also worked in the film music industry. The news prompted an outpouring of tributes from the film fraternity and from Tamil Canadians, including a tribute post by Canadian Tamil media outlet TamilCulture.

Background: Deva entered the film industry in the mid-1980s — his first film, Maattukkara Mannaru, released in 1986 — at a time when Ilaiyaraaja was at the height of his influence and A. R. Rahman was about to transform the landscape with Roja in 1992. Per Tamil media coverage of his career, his breakthrough came with Vaigasi Poranthachu, and his career-defining assignment arrived with Rajinikanth's Annamalai (1992), which began a celebrated composer-star association in a space previously dominated by Ilaiyaraaja in Rajinikanth's films. Deva remained active late into his career, performing live concerts earlier this year and, in 2023, collaborating on a song for the Tamil culture-inspired video game Venba.