# Music composer Deva dies at 76, Mamootty, Rajinikanth pay tribute 2026-10-17T15:47:32+00:00 | Entertainment | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets (3 source reports) Music composer Deva (Devanesan Chokalingam) died of a heart attack in Chennai on Saturday, 17 October 2026, at the age of 76. Actors Mamootty and Rajinikanth were among the many who offered condolences. Rajinikanth visited Deva's family in person. Mamootty posted a tribute saying Deva's music and journey will remain in our hearts forever. Director Suresh Krishna, who worked with Deva on 29 films over 35 years starting with 'Annamalai' (1992) and ending with 'Charugesi', visited Deva's home in T Nagar to pay his respects. He said he had lost a brother and described Deva as a man full of love with no enemies. Deva's body will be buried on Sunday, 18 October 2026, at his native village of Sakkaramallur near Arcot. ## Indian Opinion Analysis Dinamani's brief report leads with Mamootty's condolence message and includes Rajinikanth's visit, while Hindu Tamil Thisai's two articles offer deeper tributes: one features Suresh Krishna's emotional account of their 35-year collaboration, and the other is a detailed career retrospective highlighting Deva's gaana songs and his work across star actors. All three sources report the same basic facts of Deva's death and burial without any political slant, making this uniform straight reporting focused on the cultural loss. The next step is the burial on Sunday, 18 October. ## Coverage Coverage: 3 sources, 3 neutral - dinamani.com (neutral report) Straight news brief on death and tributes - hindutamil.in (neutral report) Tribute article centred on Suresh Krishna's memories - hindutamil.in (2) (neutral report) Career retrospective with no political framing This brief was synthesised by AI from the 3 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Tags: Chennai, Deva, Mamootty, Rajinikanth, Suresh Krishna Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/music-composer-deva-dies-at-76-mamootty-rajinikanth-pay-tribute/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/music-composer-deva-dies-at-76-mamootty-rajinikanth-pay-tribute/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/