Mano Murthy is an Indian musician and composer in the

Kannada film industry Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film '' Sati Sulochana'' directe ...

. His is best known for his songs in ''

Mungaru Male ''Mungaru Male'' () is a 2006 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film co-written and directed by Yogaraj Bhat, and produced by E. Krishnappa. It stars Ganesh, Pooja Gandhi and Anant Nag. The film is believed to have shaped and strengthened t ...

'', one of the biggest hits in the Kannada industry. Before moving onto becoming a composer, he was an entrepreneur, having co-founded three companies in California. He was a programmer in Microsoft. His latest venture, an IP security provider called

Allegro Systems Cisco is an American computer networking company. Cisco made its first acquisition in 1993, which was followed by a series of further acquisitions. History Founded in 1984, Cisco did not acquire a company during the first seven years of its exi ...

, was acquired by

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc., commonly known as Cisco, is an American-based multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develo ...

. He has judged many reality shows such as ''Fresh Voice of Karnataka'', ''Saagardaache Sapthaswara'' and others.

Early life and education

Murthy had nurtured deep interest in music since a young age. He used to play drums when he was an undergrad electrical engineering student at

UVCE University of Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE) was established in 1917, under the name Government Engineering College, by Bharat Ratna Sir M. Visvesvaraya. It is the fifth engineering college to be established in the country and first ...

Bangalore University Bangalore University (BU) is a public state university located in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. The university is a part of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU), Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) and affiliated by Univers ...

. He went to the US for graduate studies at the

University of California, Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...

and

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

Film career

He started his music career with composing music for the movie

America! America! ''America! America!!'' is a 1997 Indian Kannada-language family drama film written and directed by Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar. It stars Ramesh Aravind, Akshay Anand and Hema Panchamukhi, with H. G. Dattatreya, Vaishali Kasaravalli and Shivar ...

directed by

Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar is an Indian director, actor, screenwriter and a lyricist who predominantly works in Kannada film industry, Kannada Cinema. He made his film debut as a screenplay writer in ''Kadina Benki'' (1986) which won the Nation ...

. The songs of this movie became popular, most notable being the songs ''America America'' and ''Nooru Janmaku''. He went on to compose music for the movie ''

Nanna Preethiya Hudugi ''Nanna Preethiya Hudugi'' () is a 2001 Indian Kannada-language romance film directed and written by Nagathihalli Chandrashekar. It stars newcomers Dhyan and Deepali in lead roles and actors such as Lokesh, Bhavya and Suresh Heblikar in other p ...

''. The song ''Car Car'' of this movie was a big hit. He also composed the Music for National award-winning Movie ''

Preethi Prema Pranaya ''Preethi Prema Pranaya'' is a 2003 Indian Kannada-language drama film written and directed by Kavitha Lankesh. The film features an ensemble cast of Anant Nag, Bharathi Vishnuvardhan, Sudharani, Prakash Raj, Bhavana, Anu Prabhakar and Sunil ...

'', and the superhit Comedy movie ''

Jokefalls ''Joke Falls'' is a 2004 India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bo ...

''. Some of the popular songs are ''Gandhavathi'' and ''Naguvina Loka Idu''. In spite of these hit songs, his name remained relatively unknown in

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 ...

filmdom. However

Mungaru male ''Mungaru Male'' () is a 2006 Indian Kannada-language romantic drama film co-written and directed by Yogaraj Bhat, and produced by E. Krishnappa. It stars Ganesh, Pooja Gandhi and Anant Nag. The film is believed to have shaped and strengthened t ...

which became the most successful box office hit in

film industry earning Rs. 750 million brought Mano murthy into limelight. It earned him enormous popularity and critical acclaim. Next came another super hit movie '' Cheluvina Chithara'' (2007) which gave him much more fame. The quality of music and melody in songs makes him the favourite choice by producers. He also composed music for a Hindi movie in 2005 which did not take off unfortunately.

Discography

Awards

Awards won by Mano Murthy
*Filmfare Award for Milana (Ninnindale song) *Filmfare Award 2006 for Best Music Director, Mungaru Male *Karnataka State Award 2006 for Best Music Director, Mungaru Male *E TV Award 2006 for Best Music Director, Mungaru Male *Sansui Shri Gandha Award 2006 for Best Music Director, Mungaru Male *Hello Gandhinagar Award 2006 for Best Music Director, Mungaru Male *Karnataka Chitrarasikara Sangha Award 2006 for Best Music Director, Mungaru Male *M.S.Ramaih Chitralaya Award 2006 for Best Music Director, Mungaru Male *Garuda Mall Award 2007 for Most Popular Music Director *South Cine Fans Award Chennai 2003–2004 for Best Music Director, Preeti Prema Pranaya *National Award 2004 for Best Movie Preeti Prema Pranaya as Producer

References

External links

*
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murthy, Mano Kannada film score composers Living people Musicians from Bangalore Year of birth missing (living people) Filmfare Awards South winners University of California, Davis alumni Stanford University alumni University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering alumni 20th-century Indian musicians