Vidyasagar (composer)

Vidyasagar (born 2 March 1963) is an Indian composer, musician and singer who works predominantly in theTamil,Malayalam, andTelugu film industries. After working with several composers as assistant and conductor, Vidyasagar made his debut as a film composer in the 1989 Tamil filmPoo Manam and is nicknamed as "Melody King".^[1] Working for over 225 feature films, he is the recipient of oneNational Award, multiple State Awards^[2] and fiveFilmfare Awards. He is widely regarded as one of the finest and most acclaimed composers in the history of Indian cinema.^[3]

Vidyasagar
Vidya Sagar in 2018
Background information
Birth name	Vidya Sagar
Born	(1963-03-02)2 March 1963 (age 62) Vizianagaram,Andhra Pradesh, India
Genres	Film score,dance music, classical music
Occupations	Singer Songwriter Composer Record producer Music director Arranger Conductor
Instruments	Harmonium,Santoor,Vibraphone, Keyboard, Piano, Guitar, Vocal.
Years active	1989–present

Life and career

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Vidya Sagar was born into aTelugu-speaking family of U. Ramachandar, a musician, in Suryakantham inVizianagaram,Andhra Pradesh.^[3]^[4] His grandfather was a courtvidwan inBobbili Samsthanam.^[3]

Vidya Sagar is settled inChennai.^[3] He is married and has 3 daughters and a son. One of his daughters, Susarla Pallavi is a social media influencer, and another daughter Srivardhani is a playback singer. His son, Harsha Vardhan, works as a musician and programmer in Tamil Cinema Industry. He underwentCarnatic vocals training first and then started taking classical guitar classes in Chennai fromMaster Dhanraj and then later piano.^[5]

Vidyasagar became an independent film composer with the songEn Anbe in the 1989 Tamil moviePoomanam. Vidyasagar started his music career with a Tamil film, he gained recognition good in the Tamil music industry at a later stage.^[5] He also started composing for Telugu Films in 1989.

In 1993–94, Vidya Sagar was approached by Tamil actor-directorArjun, with whom he worked for many musical films likeJai Hind,Karna andSubash. Their combination resulted in acclaimed Tamil language melodic songs likeMalare andPaadu .. Paadu.

From 1996 to 2001 Vidyasagar mainly concentrated on Malayalam films.^[6] During this period, Vidyasagar also composed for a few Tamil movies likeNilaave Vaa andUyirodu Uyiraga. He won threeKerala State Film Awards. About his stint in theMalayalam Cinema, Vidyasagar was quoted saying "I believe that it was a God sent opportunity for me to work in one of the finest film industries".^[6]

From the year 2001, he started composing soundtracks forDhil,Run,Dhool (ithunondu muthathile),Ghilli etc. in Tamil andSummer in Bethlehem,Meesha Madhavan,Kilichundan Mampazham,Pattalam,C.I.D. Moosa etc. in Malayalam. HisBollywood ventureHulchul directed byPriyadarshan was a box-office blockbuster, but the songs only became nominal hits, not bringing him the acclaim he was usually used to in Tamil and Malayalam films.

During this period, Vidya Sagar became the first South Indian Composer to have composed for an English language feature,Beyond The Soul, an Indo American film directed byRajiv Anchal.

Between 2003 and 2005, he composed songs for several notable films likeAnbe Sivam,Madhurey,Kochi Rajavu,Ji andChandrolsavam in 2004–05. The year 2005 saw Vidyasagar receiving his firstNational Film Awards for his music in the Telugu filmSwarabhishekam directed byK. Vishwanath. The music in the film was predominantlyCarnatic.^[7] The same year, he composed music for the filmChandramukhi.

In 2007, Vidyasagar was signed byPrakash Raj for his production ventureMozhi starringPrithviraj Sukumaran andJyothika. The film directed by Radha Mohan had critically acclaimed melodies likeKaatrin Mozhiye andSevvanam. The songs ofMozhi had the distinction of being completely devoid of duets. The only female voice was of Sujatha Mohan in Katrin Mozhi. In 2008 Vidyasagar's notable releases wereVijay'sKuruvi and the Priyadarshan directedMere Baap Pehle Aap in Hindi.

After his brief dull phase inMalayalam, he bounced back into the scene with theLal Jose directorialNeelathamara, scripted byM.T. Vasudevan Nair, with the songAnuraga Vilochananaayi becoming a cult favourite. He followed it up with hits inApoorva Ragam andMakeup Man. Meanwhile, inTamil, he delivered hits withKarthi'sSiruthai andVijay'sKaavalan.

In 2012, Vidyasagar had three releases inMalayalam withDiamond Necklace, Thappana andOrdinary.

In 2013,Priyadarshan signed him in for his film,Geethaanjali inMalayalam withMohanlal in the lead role. Lal Jose'sPullipulikalum Aattinkuttiyum andJannal Oram, the Tamil remake ofOrdinary were his other releases of the year. The end of veteran filmmakerSathyan Anthikkad's 10-film long collaboration with composerIlaiyaraaja saw him collaborate with Vidyasagar for the filmOru Indian Pranayakatha.Sathyan Anthikad continued his collaboration with Vidya Sagar for his next 2 films,Ennum Eppozhum (released in 2015) andJomonte Suvisheshangal^[8] (released in 2017).