Koduri Marakathamani Keeravani (born 4 July 1961; credited as M. M. Keeravani) is an Indian film composer, playback singer, and lyricist, who predominantly works in

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, Hy ...

along with other languages including

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

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 ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

, and

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 ...

. Keeravani won the

National Film Award The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directora ...

for Best Music Direction for the 1997 Telugu film ''

Annamayya Tallapaka Annamacharya (Telugu : తాళ్ళపాక అన్నమాచార్య) (IAST: taḷḷapāka annamācārya; 22 May 1408 – 4 April 1503), also popularly known as Annamayya, was a 15th-century Hindu saint and the ear ...

''. He is also a recipient of eight

Filmfare Awards The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

, eleven

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

state

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are the awards that recognise the excellence in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre and Telugu television, and Lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. Presented annually by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the award is named after ...

, and a

Tamil Nadu State Film Award Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The aw ...

. He was also nominated for

Saturn Award for Best Music The Saturn Award for Best Music is one of the annual awards given by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The Saturn Awards, which are the oldest film-specialized awards to reward science fiction, fantasy, and horror achieve ...

for '' Baahubali: The Beginning'' (2015).

Early life

Keeravaani was born into a Telugu family in

Kovvur Kovvur is a town in East Godavari district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the mandal headquarters of Kovvur mandal in Kovvur revenue division. Etymology This Town was earlier referred as ''Govur''. Accordin ...

, West Godavari district, Andhra Pradesh to Koduri Siva Shakthi Datta, a lyricist and screenwriter. He has a brother who is also a music director and singer,

Kalyani Malik Kalyani Malik is an Indian music director and playback singer in Telugu cinema. Since achieving recognition through Chandra Sekhar Yeleti's film '' Aithe'' (2003), Malik has provided musical scores for many other films. His most recent works ar ...

. He is the cousin of director

S. S. Rajamouli Koduri Srisaila Sri Rajamouli ( ; born 10 October 1973) is an Indian film director and screenwriter who primarily works in Telugu cinema. He is the highest paid director in India, and is known for his action, fantasy, and epic genre films. T ...

and music director, singer

M. M. Srilekha M. M. Srilekha (born Koduri Srilekha) is an Indian film playback singer and music composer, known for her works predominantly in Telugu cinema. She is the only female music composer in the Telugu film industry. Her paternal uncle V. Vijayendra ...

. He is the nephew of Telugu and Bollywood film screenwriter and director

V. Vijayendra Prasad Koduri Viswa Vijayendra Prasad is an Indian screenwriter and film director who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. He also worked in a few Hindi, Kannada, and Tamil films. His filmography consists of more than twenty five films as a screenwrit ...

Personal life

His wife M. M. Srivalli works as a line producer in films. His elder son,

Kaala Bhairava Kaala Bhairava is an Indian playback singer and music director who works predominantly in Telugu cinema. He has sung songs in Tamil, Hindi and Kannada, in addition to Telugu. He was the composer of the films '' Mathu Vadalara'' and ''Colour Phot ...

, is a singer and has sung for his father's numerous compositions ("Dandalayya" song). His younger son, Sri Simha, made his debut with '' Mathu Vadalara'' (2019). For some time, Keeravani lived in the Raichur District of Karnataka before making a decision to move to Madras (now Chennai).

Career

Anurag Kulkarni receiving 1st Prize from M

Keeravani first began his career as an assistant music director with Malayalam composer C. Rajamani and Telugu composer

K. Chakravarthy K. Chakravarthi (born Kommineni Appa Rao; 8 September 1936 – 3 February 2002) was an Indian music director who primarily worked in Telugu cinema. He made his debut with in 1971 with ''Mooga Prema'' and went on compose music for over 949 films ...

in 1987. He assisted in movies such as ''Collectorgari Abbayi'' and ''Bharathamlo Arjunudu'' in the late 1980s. During this time, he also sought the guidance of the veteran lyricist

Veturi Veturi Sundararama Murthy (29 January 1936 – 22 May 2010), known mononymously by his surname Veturi, was an Indian poet, lyricist and journalist who is popular for writing Telugu songs. His career in the Telugu cinema spanned more than four de ...

for over a year. Keeravani's first big break as an independent musician came with the film ''Kalki'' in 1990, but the film never got released and the soundtrack also went unnoticed. It was director Mouli's 1990 film ''Manasu Mamatha'' that brought him to the limelight and was considered his first released movie. However, it was

Ram Gopal Varma Penmetsa Ram Gopal Varma (born 7 April 1962), often referred to by his initials RGV, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer, known for his works in Telugu cinema in addition to Bollywood, Hindi, Kannada cinema, Kannada language ...

's blockbuster film ''

Kshana Kshanam ''Kshana Kshanam'' () is a 1991 Indian Telugu-language road thriller and heist film written and directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The film stars Venkatesh, Sridevi, Paresh Rawal, and Rami Reddy. The plot follows Satya (Sridevi), a young woman who is ...

'' (1991) that made Keeravani an established music director. All the songs of this movie went on to become top chartbusters and Keeravani was flooded with offers from all across south Indian film industries. His first major Hindi film was ''

Criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

'' (1994). He is known for his playback singing contributions to the Telugu film industry with compilations for hit films such as ''

''. He has composed music for

Hindi film Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

s such as ''

Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin ''Is Raat Ki Subah Nahin'' () is a 1996 Indian Hindi-language thriller film directed by Sudhir Mishra. The film stars Tara Deshpande and Nirmal Pandey, with the entire plot taking place over a single night. The film is based on a story written ...

'' (1996), '' Sur – The Melody of Life'', ''

Zakhm ''Zakhm'' () is a 1998 Indian Hindi-language drama film written and directed by Mahesh Bhatt. The film stars Ajay Devgn, Kunal Khemu, Pooja Bhatt, Sonali Bendre and Nagarjuna. ''Zakhm'' was awarded with the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature F ...

'', '' Saaya'', '' Jism'', ''Criminal'', '' Rog'' and ''

Paheli ''Paheli'' () is a 2005 Indian Hindi-language fantasy film. It is a remake of the 1973 Hindi movie ''Duvidha'' by Mani Kaul based on the short story written by Vijayadan Detha in Rajasthani. It was also reported to have been partially inspired ...

''. In Malayalam, he has scored for films such as '' Neelagiri'' (1991), ''

Soorya Manasam ''Soorya Manasam'' is a 1992 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by Viji Thampi and written by Sab John. The film stars Mammootty, along with Sowcar Janaki, Vaishnavi, Vinodini, Raghuvaran, Riza Bava and Jagathy Sreekumar playing supp ...

'' (1992) and ''

Devaraagam ''Devaraagam'' is a 1996 Indian Malayalam-language film directed by Bharathan and starring Sridevi and Arvind Swamy. It also had KPAC Lalitha, Kozhikode Narayanan Nair, Zeenath, and Nedumudi Venu in supporting roles. The film was famous for its ...

'' (1996). He has composed for over 220 films in various Indian languages. M. Keeravani composed the music and background for the films ''Baahubali'' 1 and 2.

Discography

Awards and nominations

National Film Awards

* 1997 –

National Film Award for Best Music Direction The National Film Award for Best Music Direction (the Silver Lotus Award) is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards by the Directorate of Film Festivals to a musician who has composed the best score for films produced within t ...

for ''

'' – Won

Filmfare Awards South

Nandi Awards

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards

* 1991 –

Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director The Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director is given by the state government as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil ( Tamil Movie Industry) feature films. Both Ilaiyaraaja and A. R. Rahman have won this award fo ...

for ''

Azhagan ''Azhakan'' () () is a 1991 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by K. Balachander and produced by Kovai Chezhiyan. It stars Mammootty, in lead role with an ensemble supporting cast. The film, released on 25 August 1991, was critically ...

-'' Won

Santosham Film Awards

* 2003 – Santosham Best Music Director Award for '' Gangotri –'' Won

South Indian International Movie Awards

* 2018 – SIIMA Award for Best Music Director (Telugu) for '' Baahubali 2: The Conclusion'' – Won * 2021 – SIIMA Award for Best Lyricist (Telugu) for '' NTR: Kathanayakudu'' – Nom

Lyrics

This is a listing of the songs and tracks Keeravani has contributed as a lyricist to various feature films.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Keeravani, M. M. Living people Telugu playback singers Telugu film score composers Kannada film score composers Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners Filmfare Awards South winners Tamil film score composers 1961 births 20th-century Indian composers Indian male playback singers 20th-century Indian singers People from West Godavari district Singers from Andhra Pradesh Film musicians from Andhra Pradesh Nandi Award winners 21st-century Indian composers 21st-century Indian singers Best Music Direction National Film Award winners Male film score composers 20th-century Indian male singers 21st-century Indian male singers South Indian International Movie Awards winners Filmfare Awards winners