Sozhavanthan Varadharajan Venkatraman (

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, nati ...

: சோழவந்தான் வரதராஜன் வெங்கட்ராமன்) (25 April 1911 – 7 April 1998), also known as SVV, was an Indian actor, singer, and music director, who was active in the Indian film industry from 1938 to the 1970s. Venkatraman composed the music for '' Meera'', starring

M. S. Subbulakshmi Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi (16 September 1916 – 11 December 2004) was an Indian Carnatic singer from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour. She is ...

. He also composed music for more than 200

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 ...

, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films.

Early life

Sozhavanthan Varadharajan Venkatraman was born on 25 April 1911, to Varadharajan Iyer and Lakshmi Ammal. When he was three years old, his father died, and his uncle took responsibility for his upbringing. He displayed an aptitude for music from an early age, & his school education ended after the fourth standard. To pursue his passion for music he went to Chintadripet,

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. There the head of a drama troupe heard him singing, and offered Venkatraman a job as a stage artist/singer/musician. Venkatraman learnt to play the harmonium, but had no formal training in Carnatic music. During his time in Madras, Venkatraman acted in five films. During a fight scene in one of the films he broke his left hand. While recuperating at Cubbon Park, Bangalore, A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar found Venkatraman and invited him back to Madras to work as the music director for Chettiar's next film, ''Nanda Kumar.''

Career

Venkatraman composed music for many films, including ''Nanda Kumar'', '' Tahsildar'', '' Valmiki'', ''

Manonmani ''Manonmani'' ( ta, மனோன்மணி) is a 1942 Indian Tamil-language film directed by T. R. Sundaram. It starred P. U. Chinnappa, T. R. Rajakumari, Serukalathur Sama, T. S. Balaiah, T. R. Mahalingam, K. K. Perumal, A. Sakunthala, N ...

'', '' Kannagi'', '' Nandanar'', '' Meera'' (Tamil and Hindi), ''

Naga Panchami Naga Panchami is a day of traditional worship of Nag (or Naja or Naga) or snakes (which are associated with the mythical Nāga beings) observed by Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists throughout India, Nepal, and other countries where Hindu, Jain, and ...

'', ''

Sri Murugan ''Sri Murugan'' is a 1946 Indian Tamil-language film produced by Jupiter Pictures and directed by M. Somasundaram and V. S. Narayanan. The film featured Honnappa Bhagavathar in the lead role. M. G. Ramachandran performed a dance number, ''Shiva ...

'', '' Manohara'' (Tamil, Telugu and Hindi), and '' Irumbu Thirai''. Venkatraman worked with actors such as C. N. Annadurai, M. G. Ramachandran,

M. Karunanidhi Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 – 7 August 2018) was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Art ...

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, and N. T. Rama Rao. Many popular composers, including

M. S. Viswanathan Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan (24 June 1928 – 14 July 2015), also known as M.S.V., was an Indian music director, singer and actor who predominantly worked in Tamil film industry. He was popularly known as ''Mellisai Mannar''. He compose ...

T. K. Ramamoorthy Trichirappalli Krishnasamy Ramamoorthy (15 May 1922 – 17 April 2013) was an Indian Tamil music composer and violinist. Ramamoorthy was known as ''Mellisai Mannar'' ( ta, மெல்லிசை மன்னர்; "The King of Light Music") ...

, and G. K. Venkatesh worked with him. All leading

playback singer A playback singer, also known as a ghost singer, is a singer whose singing is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and actors or actresses lip-sync the songs for cameras; the actual singer does not app ...

s of the time from P. U. Chinnappa Bhagavathar and

G. N. Balasubramaniam Gudalur Narayanaswamy Balasubramaniam (6 January 1910 – 1 May 1965), popularly known as GNB, was an Indian Carnatic singer. He innovated the art through emphasis on ''laya ''control and reducing the ''gamakas'' which eventually made Carnatic ...

to M. M. Dandapani Desikar and

T. M. Soundararajan Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan (24 March 1923 – 25 May 2013), popularly known as TMS, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer in Tamil cinema for over six and a half decades. He sang over 10,138 songs from 3,162 fi ...

lent their voices to Venkatraman's tunes. Carnatic music legends

D. K. Pattammal Damal Krishnaswamy Pattammal () (19 March 1919 – 16 July 2009), popularly known as D. K. Pattammal or DKP, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer for film songs in Tamil. Pattammal, along with her contemporaries M. S. Subbulakshm ...

and

M. L. Vasanthakumari Madras Lalitangi Vasanthakumari (popularly referred to as MLV) (3 July 1928 – 31 October 1990) was a Carnatic musician and playback singer for film songs in many Indian languages. MLV and her contemporaries D. K. Pattammal and M. S. Subbulak ...

also came under his baton. Venkatraman himself also proved his prowess as a singer in a few films. Venkatraman's last assignment was ''Sri Krishna Leela''. Venkatraman scored the music for the famous " Bhaja Govindam", sung by

and worked on songs that she made famous, such as "Vadavaraiyai Mathakki", "Mudiondrum Moolangalum", and a few Mahakavi Bharathiyar songs. He set to tune the ''

Narayaneeyam ''Narayaniyam'' is a medieval-era Sanskrit text, comprising a summary study in poetic form of the ''Bhāgavata Purana''. It was composed by Melputhur Narayana Bhattathiri, (1560–1666 AD) one of the celebrated Sanskrit poets in Kerala. Even thou ...

'' and the ''Guruvayur Suprabhatam'', rendered by Trichur Ramachandran and Papanasam Sivan's Sree Rama Charitha Geetham and sung by Sirkazhi Govindarajan. He tuned Mahakavi Bharathiyar songs and tuned Karpagambal Andhadi for M. M. Dandapani Desikar. He was the composer for All India Radio's ''Serndhisai'', ''Vadhya Vrindha'', and many other music ventures. Music for the ''Voice of India'' by Mahatma Gandhi's son had been scored by him. Venkatraman worked with singers like

, A. M. Rajah, Seerkazhi Govindarajan, Thiruchi Loganathan, V. N. Sundaram, T. A. Mothi,

P. Leela Porayathu Leela (19 May 1934 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian playback singer, Carnatic vocalist and a music director. She has recorded more than 5,000 songs in various Indian languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi, ...

, Jikki,

T. V. Rathnam Tenkasi Vallinayagam Rathnam ( ta, தென்காசி வள்ளிநாயகம் (டி.வி.) ரத்தினம்) (1930 - 17 October 1984) hailed from Tenkasi, Madras Presidency, British India. She was a playback singe ...

A. P. Komala Arkadu Parthasarathy Komala (born 28 August 1934), commonly known as A. P. Komala, is an Indian playback singer. She has sung songs in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada languages. Career life She was a much sought after playback singer from t ...

, Radha Jayalakshmi, K. Jamuna Rani,

P. Susheela Pulapaka Susheela (born 13 November 1935), popularly known as P. Susheela, is an Indian playback singer associated with the South Indian cinema primarily from Andhra Pradesh for over six decades. She is one of the greatest and best-known playba ...

, K. Rani,

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, and

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. The singing actors M. M. Dandapani Desikar,

P. U. Chinnappa Pudukkottai Ulaganathan Pillai Chinnappa (5 May 1916 – 23 September 1951) was an Indian singer and film actor during the 30s era from Pudukottai, India. He is also credited as one of the first major influential actors of South Cinema. His no ...

, C. Honnappa Bhagavathar, U. R. Jeevarathinam,

N. C. Vasanthakokilam Nagapattinam Chandrashekharan Vasanthakokilam (1919 – 7 November 1951) was a Carnatic singer and actress. Her work included the performances of kritis by Tyagaraja and Muthuswami Dikshitar and in the years after Indian independence, sh ...

, T. R. Mahalingam,

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V. Nagayya V. Nagayya (born Vuppaladadiyam Nagayya Sarma; 28 March 1904 – 30 December 1978) also known as Chittoor Nagayya was an Indian actor, singer, music composer, and director known for his works in Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, and Telugu theatre. I ...

, N. S. Krishnan,

T. A. Madhuram T. A. Mathuram (14 October 1918 – 23 May 1974) was an Indian stage and film actress and singer. Biography and career Mathuram was born in Srirangam on 14 October 1918 in a family of artists. Her first Tamil film was Rathnaavali released in ...

T. S. Durairaj T. S. Durairaj (31 December 1910 – 2 June 1986) was a Tamil film comedian, drama artist, producer and director in the early stages of the Tamil film industry (Kollywood). He received a Kalaimamani award from the Tamil Nadu Government in 2 ...

, and

J. P. Chandrababu Joseph Panimayadas Chandrababu Rodriguez (1927–1974) was an Indian actor, comedian, director, singer and dancer, whose Chaplinesque-style on-screen movements and singing style made him popular from the late 1940s to the early 1970s. He had ...

all sang songs under his compositions.

Personal life

Venkatraman married Saraswathi at the age of 28 in 1939. The couple had four sons and four daughters. Venkatraman died in his sleep on 7 April 1998, at his residence in Palavakkam.

Filmography

Music Direction

Playback Singer

References

* * * * *

External links

Tamil article on S. V. VenkatramanS. V. VENKATRAMAN
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Venkataraman, S V Indian male film actors Tamil playback singers 1911 births 1998 deaths People from Dindigul district 20th-century Indian male actors 20th-century Indian singers Indian male playback singers Male actors from Tamil Nadu Singers from Tamil Nadu 20th-century Indian male singers