One of India's best known composers, MS Vishwanathan, has died in the southern city of Chennai aged 88.

Vishwanathan, who mainly composed music for Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam language films, had been receiving treatment at a private hospital.

He composed scores for more than 1,700 films, including some of the biggest hits in the southern Indian industry.

Vishwanathan is best known for his work on films such as Bama Vijayam, Galatta Kalyanam and Deivamagan.

He composed music for films featuring stars who later went on to become top politicians and chief ministers of southern states - NT Rama Rao, MG Ramachandran, M Karunanidhi and Jayalalitha.

The Hindu newspaper said Vishwanathan's compositions "transcended every known category of music and [he] refused to be pinned down to musical traditions".

MSV, as he was popularly called, fused world music with Indian cinema music in his popular compositions.

"For an entire generation of post-Independence and 1960s Tamil people MSV's songs marked their growing milestones, from the first flush of romance to serenading crooning numbers, philosophical and spiritual songs and toe tapping numbers," wrote Outlook magazine in a tribute.

Born in Kerala, Vishwanathan entered the film industry as a child actor before becoming a student of a local music teacher.

Vishwanathan started his career as a composer with the 1952 film Tamil Panam, starring Sivaji Ganesan.

With fellow composer TK Ramamoorthy, he composed music for films like Paasamalar, Sumaithaangi and Server Sundaram.