Most Indian films are musicals, and their music directors are among the best known musicians in India. Music directors are typically both composers and arrangers. Some are famed playback singers as well.
See the article on filmi music.
Notable directors include:
| Music Director | Language |
|---|---|
| A. R. Rahman | Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam |
| Aadesh Shrivastava | Hindi |
| Adnan Sami | Hindi |
| Ajay-Atul | Marathi, Hindi |
| Amit Trivedi | Hindi |
| Anand Raj Anand | Hindi |
| Anand-Milind | Hindi |
| Anand Sharavan | Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam |
| Anil Biswas | Hindi |
| Anu Malik | Hindi |
| Avinash Narayan | Hindi |
| Baba Sehgal | Hindi |
| Bappi Lahiri | Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu |
| Berny Ignatius | Malayalam |
| Bharathwaj | Tamil, Telugu |
| Bhaskar Chandavarkar | Hindi |
| Bhavatharini | Tamil, Hindi |
| Bhupen Hazarika | Hindi, Assamese |
| C. Aswath | Kannada |
| C. Ramchandra | Hindi |
| Chakravarthy | Kannada, Telugu |
| Chitragupta | Hindi |
| Colonial Cousins | Hindi, Tamil |
| Dabboo Malik | Hindi |
| Dakshinamurthy | Malayalam, Tamil |
| Datta Naik | Hindi |
| Deepak Dev | Malayalam, Tamil |
| Devi Sri Prasad | Telugu, Tamil, Hindi |
| Deva | Tamil,Hindi |
| Devan Ekambaram | Tamil |
| Dharan | Tamil |
| Dhina | Tamil |
| Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen | Hindi |
| Eshaan Sahney | Hindi , English , Punjabi |
| G. Devarajan | Malayalam, Hindi |
| G. K. Venkatesh | Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu |
| G. V. Prakash Kumar | Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi |
| Gangai Amaren | Tamil, Telugu, Kannada |
| Gopi Sundar | Malayalam |
| Ghantasala | Telugu, Tamil, Kannada |
| Gurukiran | Kannada, Telugu |
| Hamsalekha | Kannada, Tamil, Telugu |
| Harris Jayaraj | Tamil, Hindi, Telugu |
| Hemant Kumar | Hindi |
| Himesh Reshammiya | Hindi, Tamil |
| Hridaynath Mangeshkar | Marathi, Hindi |
| Ilayaraja | Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada, English, Marathi |
| Imman | Tamil, Telugu |
| Issac Thomas | Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada |
| Ismail Darbar | Hindi |
| J. V. Raghavulu | Telugu |
| Jaikeey | Tamil |
| James Vasanthan | Tamil |
| Jassie Gift | Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada |
| Jatin-Lalit | Hindi, Telugu |
| Johnson | Malayalam, Tamil |
| Joshua Sridhar | Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu |
| K. Kalyan | Kannada |
| K V Mahadevan | Tamil, Telugu |
| Kailash-Naresh-Paresh | Hindi |
| Kalyanji Anandji | Hindi |
| Karthik | Tamil |
| Karthik Raja | Tamil, Hindi, Kannada |
| Khayyam | Hindi |
| Koti | Telugu |
| Kumar Sanu | Hindi |
| Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan | Tamil |
| L. Vaidyanathan | Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam |
| Lalit Pandit | Hindi |
| Laxmikant Pyarelal | Hindi |
| Leslie Lewis | Hindi |
| M. Jayachandran | Malayalam, Tamil |
| M. Ranga Rao | Kannada |
| M. G. Radhakrishnan | Malayalam, Tamil |
| M. G. Sreekumar | Malayalam, Tamil |
| M. M. Keeravani/M. M. Kreem/Maragathamani | Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam |
| M. M. Sreelekha | Telugu |
| M S Viswanathan | Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu |
| Madan Mohan | Hindi |
| Mani Sharma | Telugu, Tamil |
| Manikanth Kadri | Kannada, Tamil |
| Mano Murthy | Kannada |
| Mithoon Sharma | Hindi |
| Monty Sharma | Hindi |
| Naushad | Hindi |
| Nikhil-Vinay | Hindi |
| Neyant Sahney | Hindi |
| Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan | Hindi |
| O.P. Nayyar | Hindi |
| Ouseppachan | Malayalam, Tamil |
| Pankaj Mullick | Hindi |
| Pendyala Nageswara Rao | Telugu, Tamil |
| Prashant Pillai | Hindi, Malayalam |
| Pravin Mani | Tamil, Telugu, Hindi |
| Premji Amaran | Tamil |
| Pritam Chakraborty | Hindi |
| R.D. Burman | Hindi |
| R. P. Patnaik | Telugu, Kannada, Tamil |
| Rahul Raj | Telugu, Malayalam |
| Raj-Koti | Telugu, Tamil, Kannada |
| Rajan-Nagendra | Kannada, Telugu |
| Rajesh Ramnath | Kannada |
| Rajesh Roshan | Hindi |
| Ram Lakshman | Hindi |
| Ramana Gogula | Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi |
| Ramesh Sippy | Hindi |
| Ramesh Naidu | Telugu |
| Ranjith Barot | Hindi |
| Raveendran | Malayalam, Tamil |
| Ravindra Jain | Hindi |
| Roop Kumar Rathod | Hindi |
| S.D. Burman | Hindi |
| S. P. Balasubramanyam | Tamil, Telugu, Kannada |
| S. P. Venkatesh | Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam |
| Saluri Rajeswara Rao | Telugu, Tamil, Kannada |
| Sadhu Kokila | Kannada |
| Sagar S | Kannada,Tamil |
| Salil Chowdhury | Hindi |
| Sajid-Wajid | Hindi |
| Sandesh Shandilya | Hindi |
| Sandeep Chowta | Hindi |
| Sanjay Leela Bhansali | Hindi |
| Sanjeev Darshan | Hindi |
| Sankalp Srivastava | Hindi, Punjabi |
| Sankar Ganesh | Tamil, Kannada, Telugu |
| Satyam | Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu |
| Selvaganesh | Tamil, Kannada |
| Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy | Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, English |
| Shankar-Jaikishan | Hindi |
| Shankar Sahney | Hindi , Punjabi , English |
| Shantanu Moitra | Bengali, Hindi |
| Sharreth | Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu |
| Shruti Hassan | Tamil, Hindi, Telugu |
| Sirpy | Tamil |
| Srinivas | Tamil |
| Sohail Sen | Hindi |
| Srikanth Deva | Tamil |
| Sukhwinder Singh | Hindi |
| Sundar C. Babu | Tamil, Telugu |
| Suresh Peters | Malayalam, Tamil |
| T. G. Lingappa | Kannada, Tamil, Telugu |
| T. K. Ramamoorthy | Tamil, Telugu |
| Thaman | Tamil, Telugu |
| Thomas Rathnam | Tamil , Kannada , English , Hindi , Telugu , Malayalam |
| Upendra Kumar | Kannada |
| Uttam Singh | Hindi, Tamil |
| V. Harikrishna | Kannada, Telugu |
| V Kumar | Tamil |
| V. Manohar | Kannada |
| V. Ravichandran | Kannada |
| Vidyasagar | Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi |
| Vijay Antony | Tamil, Telugu |
| Vijaya Bhaskar | Kannada |
| Viju Shah | Hindi |
| Vishal Bhardwaj | Hindi |
| Vishal-Shekhar | Hindi |
| Vivek Sawhney | Hindi , English , Punjabi , Himachali |
| Vivek-Ehsaan-Neyant | Hindi ,Punjabi , English |
| Yuvan Shankar Raja | Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada |
| Zakir Hussain | Hindi |
| Zubeen Garg | Hindi |
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