Will there ever be another like him? The man with the genius for composing songs that is food for the soul has won the National award for music direction three times. Sindhu Bhairavi, Saagara Sangamam (Telugu), and Rudra Veena (Telugu). In 2009, he got the National award for his background score in the Malayalam flick, Pazhassi Raja. A towering great in the Tamil film Industry, he deserved many more awards than he got. But his music is immortal, so there is some consolation there. Besides he can still give the younger composers a run for their money, so perhaps he has it in him for a few more National award and we are not ruling out an Academy award either.