K (Indian composer)

Krishna Kumar, better known by his stage name K,^[1] is an Indian music composer working in films.^[2]

Background

Born in Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu, K moved to Chennai when he was four months old. He did his schooling at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan in Chennai, where he took lessons in playing the keyboard. He quickly progressed and finished Grade 8 certificate exams in music with the Trinity College of Music, London.

His talent found an outlet when he joined his first rock band aged 12, and then played with a successful funk/rock and roll band ‘Panatella’ for several years after that. He moved to creating jingles for advertisements and corporate films, singing several songs for the same.

Music career

In the year 2010, K was brought on board for director Mysskin’s film Yuddham Sei. The film’s sound track was a hit. The then composed for Mysskin's Mugamoodi starring Jiiva. His next big career break came when famed cinematographer Rajeev Ravi roped him for his directorial venture in Malayalam, Annayum Rasoolum. The movie went on to become a cult favourite.

He made his musical foray into Bollywood with the Hindi remake of the hit Tamil film Pizza, by composing the background score of the movie.^[3] In 2015, the film Kirumi opened to positive response subsequently becoming one of the most acclaimed Tamil films of the year.

Almost for the entire first half of the year 2016, K was working on the Dulquer Salmaan starrer Malayalam film Kammatipaadam, his second collaboration with Rajeev Ravi. The film opened to high critical acclaim with celebrated filmmaker Anurag Kashyap calling it one of the best gangster/brotherhood films from India.^[4][5][6] K's background score for the film too received tremendous praise, with a reviewer saying "Composer K’s music peps up these action sequences. With his adrenaline igniting music, he even manages to make the sight of bones cracking look cool. He is to Rajeev Ravi what Amit Trivedi and Sneha Khanwalker were to Anurag Kashyap in Gangs Of Wasseypur".^[7]

Awards

K won the award for 'Best Background Score' for Yuddham Sei at the 2013 BIG 92.7FM Tamil Melody Awards held in Chennai in September 2013.^[8]

Filmography

Kallapadam, directed by debutant Vadivelu, was the first film in which K was featured on-screen. He had previously turned down a role in his first film 'Yuddham Sei', but had agreed to play one of the leads in Kallapadam.^[3]

Directed by M.Manikandan of Kaaka Muttai and Kutrame Dhandanai fame, Aandavan Kattalai was well received. The music for the film, including the 9 songs, was supplemented by a background score where the lyrics of the songs were based on the dialogues on screen.^{[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]}

Ammani, Lakshmy Ramakrishnan's 3rd film as a director, was released a month later amidst mounds of praises. The film received laurels from all sides, much to the surprise of the director who has been vocal in interviews about her expectations of a more neural response towards the film. The background music of the film was handled very maturely, leaving a lot of silent spaces, so as to not disturb the emotional and poignant storyline. The highlight of the Ammani album was 'Mazhai Ingillaye', sung by the prodigious Vaikom Vijayalakshmi, who rendered the song pitch perfect, adding to the unique blend of Carnatic music and synth sounds. ^{[18][19][20][21][22][23]}

Earlier this year Sankalp Reddy’s ^[24] Ghazi (The Ghazi Attack) was released to raving reviews from viewers and critics alike. ^{[25] [26] [27]} Produced by PVP Cinema, the film was released in three languages - Telugu, Tamil, and Hindi. The Hindi version of the film was distributed by Karan Johar’s ^[28] Production House - Dharma Productions. ^[29] K ^{[30] [31]} received widespread appreciation ^{[32] [33] [34] [35] [36]} for his work on the music of the film. ^[37]

August 18th will see the release of Anando Brahma, a Telugu horror-comedy directed by Mahi V Raghav starring Taapsee Pannu. ^[38][39]

References

External links

• K on IMDb
• Official Website