Without Sound, there will not be a complete movie. Music Directors made the movies more lively and engaging. Here is the complete list of the best Tamil Music Directors.
Tamil Music Directors
K V Mahadevan
K V Mahadevan, who lived between 1918-2001 and gave a number of musical hits like Shankarabharam and Siri Siri Muvva, died in Madras on Thursday, June 21. He started to compose music from 1962 to 1993 for over 150 films. He the one of the favourites of directors like K Vishwanath, and also made music for some Tamil and Kannada films. He was considered best in Carnatic music.
But his name is present in many music-centered films like Muthyala Muggu, Saptapadi, Shrutilayalu, and Sirivennala.
Vasantha Maligai, Guru Shishyaru. Mahadevan was in the same league as legendary Tamil composers
M.S. Viswanathan
MSV an Emperor of Cine Music was Popular for composing music in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam film industries. MSV has given over 750 films to its history. He started his career as a composer in 1952 for the Tamil film “Panam with fellow composer T.K. Ramamoorthy nearly for 86 films. They started composing together in 1952, they split up in 1965. Some of their best films include “Paasamalar”, “Sumaithaangi”, “Aayirathil Oruvan” “Server Sundaram”, and “Enga Veetu Pillai”.
He was honored as Mellisai Mannar in the Tamil industry, Vishwanathan also worked in Malayalam films such as “Babu Mon”, “Manthrakodi”, “Ullasa Yathra” and “Amme Anupame”.
Illayaraja
The Illayaraja was born in 1943 and started his career in the Tamil music industry as a Tamil composer in 1970. He is also a conductor, singer instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has composed more than 5,000 songs and has film scores of more than 1,000 films.
The range of music that Ilayaraja has composed is mind-blowing. Music should bring out the feelings of a person when listening to it. He is a man who can do that exactly and can give many possible emotions like Happiness, Anger, rejection, and Celebration. The way Raja’s songs deal with romance is something unique. The man who describes love in the songs En Iniya Pon Nilave, Pothi Vacha Malliga Mottu, Sundari Kannal Oru Sedhi, romance sounds way much better if Raja is orchestrating it.
He received more awards and was honored with 4 national awards in his career. This man-made us hear the songs in our native languages.
SPB
Balasubramanian is an Indian film actor, playback singer, music director, voice actor, and film producer. He is mostly referred to as S. P. B. He has won the Guinness World Record for recording the highest number of songs. He won the National Film Award and many awards. He has sung over 40,000 songs in various Indian languages. He has won National Film Awards across four languages as well as a Filmfare Award, five South Filmfare Awards, and numerous state awards from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. He is a recipient of civilian awards such as Padmashri (2001) and Padma Bhushan (2011) from the government of India.
Often visiting music composers seeking opportunities, his first audition song was “Nilave Ennidam Nerungadhe”. Balasubrahmanyam made his debut as a playback singer in 1966, in a Telugu film. The Kannada song in 1966 for the film ‘Nakkare Ade Swarga’.He recorded his first Tamil song “Eyarkai ennum illaya kanni” in the 1969 film Shanthi Nilaiyam.
He recorded 21 songs in Kannada for the composer Upendra Kumar in 1981 and 19 songs in Tamil, 16 songs in Hindi in a day which is a notable achievement and a record. In the 1970s, he also worked with M. S. Viswanathan in Tamil movies. He recorded duets with P. Susheela, S. Janaki, Vani Jayaram, and L. R. Eswari.
Balasubrahmanyam’s association with Ilaiyaraaja began in the late 1970s when the latter made his cinematic debut. In 1989, Balasubrahmanyam was the playback singer for Bollywood actor Salman Khan in the blockbuster Maine Pyar Kiya and Dil Deewana. The song Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! Which became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of all time Balasubrahmanyam’s duet with Lata Mangeshkar.
He has also provided voice-overs for various artists, including Salman Khan, Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, K. Bhagyaraj, Mohan, Anil Kapoor, Girish Karnad, Gemini Ganesan, Arjun Sarja, Nagesh, Karthik and Raghuvaran in various languages.
For the Telugu version of Dasavathaaram he gave voice to seven characters including the female character out of ten characters played by Kamal Hassan. He also received and was honored by many awards.
Kattassery Joseph Yesudas
Yesudas born in 1940 is an Indian Carnatic musician and film playback singer. He has recorded more than 40,000 songs in many languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Bengali, Gujarati, Oriya, Marathi, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Tulu, Malay, Latin, Russian, Arabic, and English during a career spanning more than five decades. He also composed a number of Malayalam film songs in the 1970s and 1980s.
Yesudas’s best Tamil songs include ‘Theivam Thandha Veedu’, ‘Athisaya Raagam’, ‘Vizhiye Kathai Ezhuthu’, and ‘En Iniya Pon Nilavae’.
Yesudas has won the National Award for the Best Male Playback Singer seven times, 5 Filmfare Awards, and the State Award for the Best Playback Singer 43 times, which consists of awards by the state governments of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and West Bengal. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 1975 and the Padma Bhushan in 2002 by the Government of India for his contributions to the arts.
In 2011 Yesudas was honoured with the CNN-IBN Outstanding Achievement Award having recorded over 20,000 songs in a five-decade career. In 2006, he sang 16 film songs in four South Indian languages on the same day at AVM Studio, Chennai.
A.R.Rahman – Tamil Music Directors
Allah Rakha Rahman was born A.S. Dileep Kumar in 1966. In 1987, he moved to advertising, where he composed more than 300 jingles over 5 years. In 1989, he started a small studio called Panchathan Record Inn, which later developed into one of the most well-equipped and advanced sound recording studios in India.
Rahman played music samples for Mani Ratnam films he loved them and he asked Rahman to compose the music for his next film, Roja in 1992. Then he composed for his first Hindi-language film, Rangeela in 1995. The enormous success of his first Hindi film then he got albums like Bombay in 1995, Dil Se in 1998, Taal in 1999, Zubeidaa in 2001, and Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001), which was nominated for best foreign-language film at the 2002 Academy Awards.
At 36 years old, A.R. Rahman went to the top list. A two-time winner and five-time nominee of the Academy Award (Oscar), A. R. Rahman is popularly known as the man who has redefined contemporary Indian music. Rahman, according to a BBC estimate, 150 million copies of his work comprising music from more than 100 film soundtracks and albums across over 6 languages were sold out.
The Guardian, UK, listed the soundtrack of ‘Bombay’ in ‘1000 albums to listen before you die’. He received many awards including 2 Oscars.
Harris Jayaraj
Harris Jayaraj born in 1975, is an Indian film composer from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He composed for a few films in Telugu and Hindi languages.
Harris worked for the film Minnale gave mass hit song Vaseegara. He received the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil for his work in Minnale. Harris made his debut in Tollywood with Vasu. He received the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Tamil, the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director, and the ITFA Best Music Director Award for Kaakha Kaakha, Most of the film directed by Gautham Menon was a huge commercial success and the songs met with great Harris Jayaraj. Many films are dubbed and remade movies in Telugu, and Hindi movies are done by him.
One of his recent In Anegan, Harris’s “Danga Maari Oodhari” became an instant chart-buster, with lyrics being penned in Madras slang. The soundtrack received positive reviews from critics and became a commercial success among the public.
Vidyasagar
Vidyasagar is a National award-winning Indian film composer, musician, and singer who works predominantly in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi film industries. After working with several composers as an assistant and conductor, Working for over 250 films, he received the prestigious National Award and five Filmfare Awards. Vidyasagar became an independent music director with the song En Anbe in the 1989 Tamil movie Poomanam.
From the year 2002, he started churning out blockbusters in both Tamil and Malayalam with Dhil, Run, Dhool, Ghilli, etc. in Tamil and Meesha Madhavan, Kilichundan Mampazham, Pattalam, C.I.D. Moosa, etc.
Meanwhile, in Tamil, Vidyasagar’s identity in comparison with other music directors is his use of rare ragas like naasikaabhooshini raga. In 2012, Vidyasagar delivered two superhits in Malayalam with Diamond Necklace and Ordinary.
In 2013, he did psychological thriller, Geethaanjali in Malayalam. Ennum Eppozhum which starred Mohanlal & Manju Warrier in the lead. He received many awards at the National level and other Awards.
Deva
Devanesan Chokkalingam, popularly known as Deva, is an Indian film composer and singer for Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada music with a career of about 20 years. Many know his gaana songs, written in Madras Tamil. He fondly called the “Father of Gaana Genre” in the Tamil film industry
Deva has composed music for a total of more than 400 films. Legend music director M. S. Viswanathan conferred the title Thenisai Thendral upon Deva for his contributions.
He received the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director, Kalamamani Awards. He has also been honored with awards from popular journals like Dinakaran, Cinema Express, and Screen.
Yuvan Shankar Raja – Tamil Music Director
Yuvan Shankar Raja born in 1979, is an Indian singer-songwriter, film score and soundtrack composer, and occasional lyricist. He composed music for many Tamil films. Started his career in 1996 at age 16, and first composed the film score for Aravindhan. After that, he made the Thulluvadho Ilamai soundtrack in 2001. He became most famous in the 2000s.
Within a period of 15 years, Yuvan Shankar Raja has worked on over 100+ films. He became the star of melodies by giving mass varieties of songs and music. He has the most number of hits by singing in his own voice. Nowadays he has been rehashing his own songs which reaches the youth’s heart. He received many awards, including Film fares, and Best Musician Awards.