Santhi Mohandas, 36, dancer and wife of music director Bijibal died on Tuesday evening at a private hospital in Ernakulam. She was under treatment for the last few days following a brain haemorrhage.

Santhi was a professional dancer, who also runs a dance school.

Bijibal won the National Film Award for Best Background Score in 2013, for the film Kaliyachan.

Recently, Santhi’s dance choreography for Bijibal's composition had gone viral. She had choreographed a classical dance for 'Sakaladeva nuthe' - an original Sanskrit composition on Goddess Saraswathi.

Santhi did her BFA (Bachelor of Fine Arts) and MFA (Master of Fine Arts) in Bharatanatyam. Post that, she was doing research on Mohiniyattam.

She had earlier remarked that most of her studies happened after marriage due to Bijibal’s encouragement. She grew up in Abu Dhabi and had been a chorus singer in many of Bijibal’s songs.

Bijibal’s debut music direction was for the film Arabikatha. Later, he contributed a set of hit songs for the Malayalam movie industry with his latest composition being for the movie Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum.

The couple were married for 15 years and have two children Daya, 8 and Devdhath, 13.