Veteran Tamil film lyricist Vaali died at a private hospital here today. He was 82. Vaali was undergoing treatment at a private hospital for respiratory problems for a month and was on ventilator support.

Born as T.S. Rangarajan in the temple town of Srirangam, Vaali penned lyrics for stars across generations, from the veteran M.G. Ramachandran (MGR), Kamal Haasan to present day heroes like Dhanush.

He worked with star composers of Tamil cinema like M.S. Viswanthan and A.R. Rahman. Having started in the mid-60s, Vaali went on to pen nearly 10,000 songs in his five-decade-long career.

Vaali also acted in a few movies including veteran K Balachander-directed 'Poikal Kuthirai' and Kamal Haasan's 'Hey Ram'. He wrote two songs in Bharat Bala directed film 'Mariyan', starring Dhanush, which is scheduled for release tomorrow.