Baripada: Veteran Odia lyricist and music director Saroj Patnaik passed away at his Badabazar residence in Baripada of Mayurbhanj district on Thursday.
Born on June 2, 1940, Patnaik was fond of music from childhood. An engineer by profession, Patnaik’s songs were popular in the All India Radio (AIR) from 1958 to 59. He was later recognized as an accredited lyricist and music director of AIR and Doordarshan.
He had started music direction in the Odia film industry with the movie Abhiman in 1977 and had given music in many hit songs of Odia movies Phoola Chandan, Abhilash, Hakim Babu, etc.