Rahul Raj

Rahul Raj is an Indian composer of original scores and soundtracks mainly for Malayalam movies.

Early life

Rahul Raj was born on March 17 in Cochin to Advocate E. Thankappan and N. S. Kunjoonjamma. His schooling was in Bhavans Vidya Mandir, Elamakkara, Cochin. He has one sister, Rehna Raj. From the age of 6, he was trained in Mridangam (South Indian Percussion instrument) and Karnatic Music. He graduated as an IT Engineer from CUSAT, Cochin and later on pursued courses such as CCNP and CCIE in Bangalore ILloka networks.

During this period, he had undergone training in Electronic Sound Production. He helped Pradeep Menon, a UK-based Indian businessman, remix a Tamil Ayappa record that was originally produced, composed and sung by Pradeep Menon and Shashi Kumar in 1985. The devotional album produced in the UK, Canada and India is titled Sabari Beats. It was released in November 2002 by Super recording in Tamil Nadu. Noted musicians like Pravin Mani, Saroja, and Kamalakar were featured. This launched Rahul Raj's career. He also arranged another song for Pradeep Menon called "Krishna Krishna" with percussionist Sivamani and James Asher from UK. He is married to Miriam, a German national.

Career

On returning to India, he composed more than 100 jingles for commercials in Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu. Apart from that, he composed original themes for many TV productions, including shows for Asianet and Amrita TV.

In 2003, he composed the Lokaha song for Amrithavarsam 50, which was later used as the theme song for Amrita TV. He also composed Malayalam albums during the period, which include En Jeevene, which was shot completely in the United States by producer–director Tom George. The song "Pularmanjupol Nee" from the album, rendered by Karthik and Sujatha, become an evergreen hit.

He was given the opportunity to compose the logo theme music for the show 50 Years of Malayam Film Music with Padma Bhusan Dr. K. J. Yesudas.

His first feature film score and soundtrack was for Chotta Mumbai, directed by Anwar Rasheed and starring Mohanlal in the lead. His second release was Suresh Gopi's Time directed by Shaji Kailas. Shankar Mahadevan, an Indian playback singer, sang for him in his debut work, Chotta Mumbai.

In 2008, he replaced the trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy as the composer of the Malayalam feature film Maya Bazar, in which he worked with the Tamil film production company Ayngaran International. In the same year, he became the first music composer in Malayalam filmdom to have a registered fans' association, called RRFA (Rahul Raj Fans Association), based in Thiruvananthapuram.

In 2009, he composed for filmmaker Shyamaprasad's Ritu, for which he subsequently won the Vayalar Award. The award was given by a jury of old school musicians including K.P. Udayabhanu. He introduced techniques like the counterpoint to Malayalam film music, through his soundtrack for the motion picture Ritu.

In 2010, he won the Kerala State Award for Best Background Score for Ritu. He made his debut in Telugu film by scoring music for the Siddharth – Shruti Haasan starrer Oh My Friend.^[1] The audio of the film opened to overwhelming responses and rave reviews, climbing to the No. 1 position in Telugu music charts, with the song "Maa Daddy Pockets" in particular becoming a rage among the youth. The audio went on to mark record sales of 3 lakh CDs within nine days of release.^[2]

After almost a two-year hiatus, in 2012 he returned to the Malayalam industry by scoring for Amal Neerad's Bachelor Party. The songs became hits and the background score received critical acclaim.^[3][4]

In 2013, he composed for Kili Poyi , which was supposedly the first stoner film in Malayalam Cinema. Though the film opened to mixed responses, the title song became a huge hit.^[5] Several critics hailed the background score as the most interesting technical aspect of the movie.^[6][7]

Orchestration

Rahul Raj is known for giving ultra-modern orchestration in his songs. He uses international elements for the instrumentation in his songs. His background scores in particular are rich with elements of symphony and Western Classical music.^[8]

Film discography

Note: '•' Indicates Language of original production; others being dubbed releases.

Awards and nominations

As President of FEFKA Music Directors' Union

In 2013, Rahul Raj was designated as the President of the FEFKA Music Directors' Union, the official association of film composers in the Malayalam film industry.^[14][15]

References

http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/the-right-scores/article473086.ece

External links

• Official website
• Rahul Raj at the Internet Movie Database