Achu Rajamani often credited as Achu, is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer. He has scored music for several
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...
,
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
and
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
films. He made his music direction debut in the Telugu film ''
Nenu Meeku Telusa...?'' in 2008.
Early life
Achu is the grandson of music director
B. A. Chidambaranath who is considered to be one among the pioneers of the Malayalam music industry. His father,
Rajamani, was also a music director who scored for more than 1000 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam languages. He is a graduate from
Loyola College, Chennai
Loyola College is a private Catholic higher education institution run by the Society of Jesus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1925 by the French Jesuit priest, Francis Bertram, along with other European Jesuits. It is an auto ...
.
Hailing from a musical family, Achu's natural interest was to become a pilot. He chose music over aviation and became a full-fledged musician. He also assisted prominent music director
M. M. Keeravani for few years, before he became an independent Music Composer.
Career
Achu has worked as a keyboard programmer for 410 songs and has programmed background music for over 175 films. He is also a professional pianist and has accompanied his father playing the piano to many of his compositions. He first played keyboard for Bollywood film
Chup Chup Ke
''Chup Chup Ke'' () is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language comedy drama film directed by Priyadarshan. Originally titled ''Khatta Meetha'', it is adapted from Malayalam film '' Punjabi House'' (1998). The film stars Shahid Kapoor ( Kismat Konnection) ...
(2006) directed by
Priyadarshan
Priyadarshan (born 30 January 1957) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer who works predominantly in Malayalam and Hindi films, while also having done six films in Tamil and two films in Telugu. He has done about 31 films in Hi ...
. He was the called upon to score the background music for the Malayalam film Keerthi Chakra's sequel film
Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra (, ) is a city and administrative headquarter of Kurukshetra district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is also known as Dharmakshetra ("Realm of duty ") and as the "Land of the Bhagavad Gita".
Legends
According to the Pura ...
(2008). Achu's background music was well appreciated.
Following this short stint, Achu got his major break when he got to compose the songs and background score for the Telugu film
Nenu Meeku Telusa...? (2008). His next work was for the Telugu remake of the Tamil film
Polladhavan, named
Kurradu (2009).
Apart from composing, Achu also worked as a playback singer. His song "Take It Easy" for the Malayalam film
Happy Husbands composed by
M. Jayachandran
Madhusoodanan Jayachandran is an Indian composer, singer, and musician. He has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director for a record number of nine times. In 2005, he also won the state award for best male singer. In 2015, he wo ...
was among the major hits of 2010.
In 2012, Achu released his first full-fledged Tamil soundtrack for the film
Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathilaey
''Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathilaey'' () is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language romance film written and directed by Narayan Nagendra Rao. It stars Aari Arujunan and Shubha Phutela, with Subbu Panchu, R. S. Shivaji, and Balaji Venugopal in other pivot ...
. The album was very well received by critics and received the Album of the Year Award. His Telugu songs Bujji Pilla and Devatha from Potugadu and Padipoya from DK Bose were the biggest hits of 2013. His songs Siru Nadai and Hey Umayaal from the movie Urumeen(2015) were also superhits of the time. His song Pondatti from the movie Golisoda 2 (2018) was in the top list in the radio charts for over 11 weeks since its release in June 2018.
Apart from composing and playback singing Achu was into professional racing from 2009 till 2012. He was also into sports events like sprint and had won numerous medals during his school days. He took a break from films to pursue his racing career from 2009 till 2012. He was also a cricketer and had played for few years. In 2015, he made his debut as an actor with the Telugu film Gaddam Gang.
Discography
Composer
As singer
*''Aakasame Haddu'' (2011)
*''
Naadodigal 2
''Naadodigal 2'' () is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by Samuthirakani and produced by S Nandagopal under the banner of Madras Enterprises. It stars Sasikumar and Anjali. The film released on 31 January 2020. Th ...
'' (2020)
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Achu Rajamani
Living people
Telugu film score composers
Tamil film score composers
Telugu playback singers
Malayalam film score composers
Malayalam playback singers
Tamil playback singers
Indian male playback singers
Indian male composers
Film musicians from Andhra Pradesh
Male film score composers
Year of birth missing (living people)