Overview
- Devanesan Chokkalingam, known professionally as Deva, died after being admitted to a Chennai private hospital on Saturday, October 17, 2026, and family members say he suffered a cardiac arrest.
- Hospital sources reported he had no pulse on arrival and doctors were unable to revive him, while his son Shrikanth Deva publicly confirmed a heart attack as the cause of death.
- The composer’s body was kept at his T. Nagar residence for people to pay their respects and major figures including Rajinikanth and Tamil Nadu political leaders visited to offer condolences.
- Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay announced state honours for the funeral, which local reports say was carried out with full state recognition in Sakkaramallur near Arcot the following day.
- Deva leaves a nearly four‑decade career of more than 400 film soundtracks across Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam cinema and is widely credited with bringing Chennai’s gaana style into mainstream film music.