Gangaraju, professionally known as Hamsalekha, is an Indian film composer and songwriter who works in South Indian cinema, predominantly in the Kannada film industry since the late 1980s. He is also a screenplay writer, dialogue writer, instrumentalist and conductor, having composed and written over 500 albums.
Premaloka is a 1987 Indian romantic musical film directed by Ravichandran in his directorial debut and produced by N. Veeraswamy under the banner Sri Eshwari Productions. Based on the 1982 film Grease 2, the film was made simultaneously in Kannada and Tamil with the Tamil version titled Paruva Ragam. It stars Ravichandran in the lead role alongside Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla. Leelavathi and Lokesh play supportive roles in the Kannada version while Jaishankar and Manorama reprise their respective roles in the Tamil version. Vishnuvardhan, Ambareesh, Tiger Prabhakar, Srinath and Urvashi made guest appearances in the film. Thengai Srinivasan, Cho Ramaswamy and Delhi Ganesh portray the respective roles of Ambareesh, Prabhakar and Srinath in the Tamil version.
Senthoorapandi is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language romantic action film directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar. The film stars Vijayakanth, Vijay, and Yuvarani with Gautami in a guest appearance. It revolves around Vijay (Vijay) who falls in love with Meena (Yuvarani). But Meena's brother opposes their marriage due to rivalry between both the families. Whereas Vijay's brother Senthoorapandi returns from jail to help him to win his love.
Putnanja is a 1995 Kannada language film directed by Ravichandran and produced by A. Narsimhan. This film stars Ravichandran, Meena, Umashri, Lokesh in lead roles. Music was composed by Hamsalekha. The film's plot was inspired by the 1972 Tamil movie Pattikada Pattanama.
Ayalathe Adheham is a 1992 Indian Malayalam-language family comedy drama film directed by Rajasenan and written by Sasidharan Arattuvazhi. It stars Jayaram, Gautami, Siddique, Vaishnavi, Meena, and Thilakan. The music for songs was composed by Perumbavoor G. Raveendranath, while the lyrics were written by Mohan Sithara.
Velai Kidaichuduchu is a 1990 Indian Tamil-language crime action film written and directed by P. Vasu. The film stars Sathyaraj and Gautami. It was released on 15 August 1990. The film was remade in Telugu as Assembly Rowdy (1991), in Kannada as Rowdy & MLA (1991) and in Hindi as Loafer (1996).
Halli Meshtru is a 1992 Kannada-language romantic comedy film directed by Mohan-Manju. The film starred Ravichandran, Bindiya and Tara in key roles with Balakrishna, Thoogudeepa Srinivas and Silk Smitha playing supporting roles. The film is a remake of 1983 Tamil film Mundhanai Mudichu. The music of the film was composed by Hamsalekha.
Chikkejamanru is a 1992 Kannada-language drama film directed by Om Sai Prakash. The cast includes V. Ravichandran, Gautami, Jai Jagadish, Shubha and Mukhyamantri Chandru among others. The film was a remake of Tamil film Chinna Gounder directed by R. V. Udayakumar and starring Vijayakanth and Sukanya. The film was also remade in Telugu as Chinarayudu starring Venkatesh and Vijayashanti.
Kalavida (transl. Artist) is a 1997 Kannada-language film produced, written, directed and enacted by V. Ravichandran. The rest of the cast includes Heera Rajagopal, Roja, Umashree, Raghuvaran amongst others.
Karulina Koogu is a 1994 Indian Kannada-language drama film directed by D. Rajendra Babu and produced by vizag Raju. The film stars Prabhakar, Vinaya Prasad and Srinath. The film was widely popular for the songs composed and written by Hamsalekha upon release.
Ondagona Baa is a 2003 Indian Kannada-language romance drama film directed by Udayasankar and produced by Rockline Venkatesh. The film stars V. Ravichandran and Shilpa Shetty. Yester-year veteran actors J. V. Somayajulu and K. R. Vijaya too feature in prominent roles. The film is a remake of the Telugu film Kalisundam Raa (2000). The film also marked the reunion of actor Ravichandran with music composer Hamsalekha who had parted ways due to some differences for many years.
Preethsod Thappa is a 1998 Indian Kannada-language romance drama film directed by Ravichandran and produced by Rockline Venkatesh. The film stars Ravichandran and Shilpa Shetty. Actors Lokesh and Lakshmi and Prakash Raj feature in other prominent roles. The film is a remake of the Telugu film Ninne Pelladata (1996).
Chinna is a 1994 Indian Kannada-language action film produced, written, directed and enacted by V. Ravichandran. The cast includes Yamuna, Puneet Issar, Mukhyamantri Chandru, Lokanath, and Pandari Bai. Ravichandran plays the role of a cop happily settled with his wife and suddenly becomes aware of his ancestral property existence in the middle of a forest occupied by the local goons. This is the only Kannada film of Sabu Cyril. The music was composed by Hamsalekha and was declared a musical hit upon release.
Papanasam is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language crime thriller film directed by Jeethu Joseph, a remake of his 2013 Malayalam film Drishyam, which starred Mohanlal. The film was jointly produced by Suresh Balaje and Rajkumar Sethupathi. It stars Kamal Haasan and Gautami, with Esther Anil, Asha Sarath and Roshan Basheer reprising their roles from the original film. Kalabhavan Mani, Nivetha Thomas and M. S. Bhaskar appear in supporting roles.
Sriramachandra is a 1992 Indian comedy horror, Kannada-language film directed by D. Rajendra Babu and produced by P. Dhanraj. The film stars Ravichandran in dual roles, along with Mohini, Vajramuni and Srinath amongst others. The music and lyrics were composed by Hamsalekha. The film is a remake of the Tamil film Kalyanaraman (1979), and emerged a success.
Swabhimana (transl. Self-respect) is a 1985 Kannada-language romantic drama film directed by D. Rajendra Babu and written by K. S. Satyanarayan. The film stars V. Ravichandran and Mahalakshmi with Tiger Prabhakar and Aarathi in extended guest appearances. The soundtrack and score composition was by Shankar–Ganesh and the film was produced by B. N. Gangadhar.
Mommaga is a 1997 Indian Kannada language romantic drama film directed by V. Ravichandran and produced by Sandesh Nagaraj. Besides Ravichandran, the film stars Meena and Umashri in the leading roles. The songs of the movie composed and written by Hamsalekha were received well.
Kodanda Rama is a 2002 Indian Kannada language romantic comedy film directed, scripted and composed by V. Ravichandran. Besides Ravichandran, the film stars Shiva Rajkumar, Sakshi Shivanand, Asha Saini and Mohan Shankar. The film was a remake of Malayalam film Thenkasipattanam (2000) directed by Rafi Mecartin. However, the Kannada version did not match the success of its Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu remake versions.
Time Bomb is a 1994 Indian Kannada-language action thriller film directed by Joe Simon and written and produced by N. Utthamchand Jain. The film starred Vishnuvardhan, Tiger Prabhakar Devaraj, Shruthi and Sowmya Kulkarni in the leading roles. The film's music is scored by Hamsalekha whilst the cinematography is by Johny Lal.
Belliyappa Bangarappa is a 1992 Indian Kannada-language comedy drama film directed by Poorna Pragnya, written by Singeetham Srinivasa Rao and produced by Madhu Bangarappa. The film stars Kumar Bangarappa and Amala, whilst a large number of popular actors including Vishnuvardhan, Shiva Rajkumar, V. Ravichandran, Tiger Prabhakar, Malashri and Sudharani appear in guest roles as themselves. Kumar Bangarappa played a dual role for the only time in his career. The film's music was composed by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and cinematographer is B. C. Gowrishankar.
