MS Viswanathan was like Hanuman: Rajinikanth

Chennai: Tamil superstar Rajinikanth has praised legendary South Indian music composer M S Viswanathan and said as a person "he helped people like Hanuman and led a simple life like a squirrel".

"MSV helped so many people in his life like Hanuman who helped Lord Ram in his pursuits. He did great help like Hanuman. However, he lived a simple life just like a squirrel," he said giving references from epic Ramayana.

Hailing Viswanathan as "a great scholar of music, a saint of music, and a God of music," Rajinikanth said MSV's talent was God's gift.

"Talent is God's gift. MSV was one such person who had great talent bestowed by God. Talent brings money and fame and along with it comes arrogance. However, he lived without an iota of haughtiness," he said addressing a meeting held by music mastero Ilayaraja in honour of Viswanathan yesterday.

He said the career graphs of top stars of yesteryears like M G Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan and distinguished film directors, including K Balachander, had zoomed due to the brilliant music of Viswanathan.

Rajinikanth also showered encomiums on Ilayaraja as "Isai Gnani", a great music maestro who always spoke his heart without hiding anything. M S Viswanathan, who scored music for over 1000 films passed away early this month following an illness.