Veteran music director Alleppey Ranganath, who was undergoing treatment at the Kottayam Medical College after contracting COVID-19, passed away on Sunday. He was 73. Classical dancer and teacher, B Rajasri is his wife.

Alleppey Ranganath was the composer of some of the evergreen devotional and film songs. His first film was Jesus that released in 1973. He went on to compose for at least 25 movies. He has composed nearly 2,000 songs - including films and dramas. It also includes more than 200 devotional songs as well as light music. It was his light music that made him more popular. Ranganath's Ayyappa songs are a huge hit not only in Malayalam but also in Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada languages as well.

It was last week he had received this year's Harivarasanam Award by the state government at a function held at Sannidhanam in Sabarimala.