People across the country were in shock after news of the sudden demise of popular singer Krishnakumar Kunnath, fondly known as KK, emerged. The versatile playback singer is considered to be the voice that defined millennials, and has produced evergreen tracks in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Bengali, among other languages. His songs gained a cult status among teens in the 1990s since the songs were commonly used in cultural events and farewells in schools and colleges.
The 53-year-old singer performed at a concert organised by a college at Nazrul Mancha in south Kolkata for almost an hour on Tuesday, May 31. He was "feeling heavy" after reaching his hotel, and soon collapsed, officials said. He was taken to a nearby private hospital where doctors declared him dead around 10 pm, they said. Doctors at the hospital said they suspected cardiac arrest to be the cause of the death.
While KK has sung the most number of songs in Hindi, and is known for Bollywood numbers like ‘Ankhon Mein Teri’ (Om Shanti Om), ‘Zara Sa’ (Jannat), ‘Khuda Jaane’ (Bachna Ae Haseeno) and ‘Tadap Tadap’ (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam), he had a successful stint in the Telugu, Kannada and Tamil film cinema.
We take a look back at some of his most memorable tracks from south Indian film industries:
KK has produced innumerable chartbusters in Tamil. One of the most popular romantic singers of the 2000s, KK was introduced to the Tamil film industry as a playback singer by AR Rahman in 1996, with the song ‘Kalloori Saalai’ from Kadhal Desam, which was co-sung by popular singer Hariharan. Following the Tabu, Vineeth and Abbas starrer, he lent his voice for ‘Strawberry Kannae’ from Minsara Kannavu in 1997, which remains popular to this day. This album was also set to tune by AR Rahman.
In the 2000s, he collaborated with many music composers such as Deva, Harris Jayaraj, and Yuvan Shankar Raja. He is not only known for folk and dance numbers like ‘Appadi Podu’ from Vijay and Trisha starrer Ghilli (2004), ‘Vachika Vachikava Idupula’ from Jayam Ravi, Nadiya and Asin’s M Kumaran Son of Mahalakshmi (2004) and ‘Andangkaka Kondakari’ from the Shankar directorial Anniyan (2005), but also for hard-hitting romantic songs like ‘Uyirin Uyire’ from Suriya and Jyothika’s Kaakha Kaakha (2003) and ‘Feel My Love’ set to tune by DSP for Dhanush and Shriya Saran’s 2010 film Kutty, wherein the song is interlaced with important sequences from the film.
Visuals from melancholic romantic numbers like ‘Kadhal Valarthen’ from Manmadhan and ‘Ninaithu Ninaithu’ from 7G Rainbow Colony, among other songs, were widely circulated by fans online after the news of KK’s demise broke out. He has also sung two tracks in the upcoming Tamil movie The Legend, starring businessman Saravanan in the lead.
KK made his Telugu debut in 1996 during the release of the dubbed version of 1996 Tamil film Kadhal Desam. He sang the tracks ‘College Style’ and ‘Hello Doctor’. But the versatile singer also went on to produce several hit numbers in Tollywood over the subsequent years. Some of his regular collaborators in Telugu cinema include music composers V Srinivas, Mani Sharma, RP Patnaik, MM Keeravani, Devi Sri Prasad (DSP), and Harris Jayaraj.
He is fondly remembered for fun and inspirational tracks like ‘Chaila Chaila’ from Chiranjeevi’s Shankar Dada M.B.B.S, ‘I am Very Sorry’ from Tarun and Shriya’s romantic comedy flick Nuvve Nuvve, ‘Ye Mera Jaha’, the Hindi song from Pawan Kalyan and Bhoomika starrer Kushi, ‘Uppenantha’ from Allu Arjun’s Arya 2, and ‘Le Le Le Le’ from Gudumba Shankar. However, he made a mark with melodious romantic numbers like ‘Egirey Mabbulona’ song from Allu Arjun and Genelia D’Souza’s Happy, ‘Waiting for You’ from Oy, ‘Gurthukostunnayi’ from Naa Autograph, ‘Avunu Nijam’ from Athadu, and ‘Evvarineppudu’, to name a few.
When asked about his favourite Telugu track in an earlier interview, KK named his song ‘Nee Kosame’ from Nuvvu Nenu starring Uday Kiran and Anitha in the lead. ‘Kanabadunaa’ from Nee Jathaga Nenudali, which released in 2014, was his last Telugu song.
Much like his successful collaborations with music composers and singers in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Hindi film industries, KK has also teamed up with his Kannada counterparts like composers V Manohar, Mano Murthy, Arjun Janya and Bharath BJ for several projects. The long list of popular songs from Kannada include ‘Yelu Bannada’ and ‘Maargayare’ from the film Love, which marked his Sandalwood debut in 2004, ‘Nanginthu Yaaru’ from Rowdy Aliya, ‘Super Computer’ from Neenyare (2008), ‘Kanna Haniyondige’ from Manasaare (2009), and ‘Marethoda Maatide’ from Sanchari (2010). ‘Ondhu Haadu Mella’ from the 2014 film Aryan, marked KK’s last Kannada song.
Singer KK has only sung one song in his mother tongue, Malayalam. He rendered his voice for ‘Rahasyamay’ from the 2009 movie Puthiya Mugham, starring actors Prithviraj Sukumaran and Priyamani. The upbeat romantic number was set to tune by Deepak Dev. In a 2013 interview with Deccan Herald, the singer revealed that he has not been able to sing a lot of songs in Malayalam since he finds it difficult to sing in the language. “I have sung songs in many different languages but singing in Tamil gives me maximum pleasure. I also love singing in Bangla and Assamese as these are very sweet languages. Though hard work is required in every language I find it most difficult to sing in Malayalam - my mother tongue!” the singer shared.