Manamadurai Balakrishnan Sreenivasan (19 September 1925 – 9 March 1988), or MBS, as he was called, was a South Indian music director who worked mainly in the Malayalam and Tamil film industries. He was born to an orthodox Tamil Brahmin family on 19 September 1925 in Chittoor, Andhra Pradesh. He had his schooling at P.S. High School, Chennai. During his college days at Madras Presidency College, he was attracted to communist ideals and joined the Madras Students Organisation. His acquaintance with Nemai Ghosh, a Bengali director, paved his entry into films. His first film song was written to the words of noted Tamil lyricist, Jayakanthan, for the Tamil film Paadhai Theriyudhu Paar. He played a major part in the formation of Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA).