Deva
Indian · 75 years old · Died 17 October 2026
Tamil film composer credited with bringing Gaana music into mainstream cinema
Cause of death
Cardiac arrest
Devanesan Chokkalingam, known as Deva, was an Indian composer and singer who scored more than 400 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam. He is widely credited with bringing Chennai's Gaana folk style into mainstream film music and was known to fans as Thenisai Thendral. He died at a hospital in Chennai at the age of 75 after a cardiac arrest, according to The Hindu and The Times of India.
How common is cardiovascular disease?
Deva died of cardiac arrest. Globally, cardiovascular disease kills 18,600,000 people every year. That is 50,959 per day, or roughly one person every 2 seconds. It accounts for 30% of all deaths worldwide.
Deaths / year
18,600,000
Deaths / day
50,959
Deaths / hour
2,123
Deaths / second
0.59
Share of all global deaths
Risk factors for cardiovascular disease
Since Deva died
Live count since 17 October 2026
Total deaths worldwide since then
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Deaths from same cause since then
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