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Santhosh Narayanan | |
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 Narayanan at the premiere of Kadugu | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 15 May 1983 Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Genres |
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| Occupations |
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| Instruments | vocals, piano, flute, keyboard, trumpet |
| Years active | 2012–present |
Santhosh Narayanan (born 15 May 1983) is an Indian film composer and musician who has worked predominately worked in Tamil cinema, while also having some Telugu and Malayalam films to his credit.
Santhosh Narayanan was born in Tiruchirappalli, India. He is the younger of two children. He was educated at RSK Higher Secondary School, Tiruchirappalli. Santhosh Narayanan completed his Bachelor of Engineering in Computer Science at J. J. College of Engineering and Technology, Tiruchirappalli.
After completing his education, he worked as a recording engineer, arranger and programmer, before beginning to produce independent music and compose for films. [1] He composed the music including two original songs for the Telugu short film Advaitham, [2] [3] He was also part of the contemporary folk music band "La Pongal" in which he performed in a few live shows in 2009. [1]
Through Mani Ratnam, Santhosh also got to work on a couple of A. R. Rahman soundtracks starting with Guru (2007). [4]
He made his debut as an independent music director in the 2012 Tamil film Attakathi directed by Pa. Ranjith. He got the opportunity through its producer C. V. Kumar who saw him working in his studio. [5] Santhosh composed a song in the Gaana genre for the film, "Aadi Pona Aavani", and gave a then-unknown Gana Bala, who had been singing gaana songs at funerals until then, the chance to sing it. Along with "Aadi Pona Aavani", a second gaana song, "Nadukadalula Kappala" was recorded for the film. [6] [7] Both songs went on to become popular, making Gana Bala a star, and were said to have brought back gaana to Tamil cinema. [8] Sify wrote that the gaana songs were "one of the major highlight of the film" [9] and Behindwoods called the Attakathi album an "experimental yet fresh attempt". [10] Following Attakathi, he composed the music for the films Uyir Mozhi and Pizza , the directorial debuts of Raja and Karthik Subbaraj, respectively. All three albums, Attakathi, Uyir Mozhi and Pizza were recorded and mastered by Leon Zervos at Studios 301 in Sydney Australia; [11] [12] furthermore, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra had performed for the soundtrack of Pizza, [12] which also saw Santhosh collaborating with Gana Bala again, albeit on a Blues number this time. [5] For Uyir Mozhi, some of the songs Santhosh had scored for a private album were used by the director. [13] Santhosh's work in Pizza was positively reviewed. According to Sify, Santhosh Narayanan's music was a "major plus" of the film, [14] and IBN Live described the score as "splendid". [15] The song "Mogathirai" from the soundtrack album was also listed by Indiaglitz.com in their Top songs from 2012 list. [16] Behindwoods at the end of 2012 wrote, "Santosh Narayanan brought a different sound to Tamil cinema this year. Even his gaana tracks in Attakathi were freshly produced and the soundtrack of Pizza was eclectic to say the least". [17] He also won accolades that year: the Jaya TV 2012 award for Sensational Debutant Music Director for Attakathi, [18] and the Big Tamil Melody Award for Best Debut Music director for Pizza. [19] He worked on the black comedy film Soodhu Kavvum directed by the Director Nalan Kumarasamy next. Gana Bala was given a "gana-rap" in the film, [20] "Kaasu Panam", which went on to become one of the most popular songs of the year. [21] [22] His work in the film earned him the Vijay Award for Best Background Score. [23] His other releases of 2013 were Pizza 2: The Villa , a sequel to Pizza, and Billa Ranga, his first Telugu and only full-fledged Telugu project until 2023's Dasara .
Santhosh Narayanan worked exclusively on Tamil films. He had four soundtracks released that year, the first being the album to the romantic drama Cuckoo . Cuckoo's soundtrack was highly appreciated by critics who called it an "alluring and immersive album" [24] and "the best soundtrack that composer Santhosh Narayanan has produced yet". [25] The song "Manasula Soora Kaathey" from the album reached number one position in the Tunes all India charts, [26] while Outlook named it one of South India's top songs of the year. [27] The score received equal praise with Baradwaj Rangan terming it as "great", [28] IANS as "life-affirming", [29] Rediff as "sensational" [30] and Sify as "outstanding". [31] The next release was Karthik Subbaraj's second directorial, Jigarthanda , which was promoted as a "musical gangster story". [32] While Cuckoo featured live instrumentation, Santhosh Narayanan used electronic musical instruments for the recording in Jigarthanda, who recorded almost all the songs in a studio in Sydney, Australia for nearly two months. [33] The soundtrack and score featured a melange and fusion of several genres, including Gangsta rap, folk, electro. [33] His work was well received again; while The Times of India, in its album review, wrote that "Santhosh Narayanan shows, yet again, that he is one of those composers to watch out for — both for his new sounds and tunes", [34] The Hindu's Baradwaj Rangan stated that "his flamboyant score imbues even the weaker scenes with a Tarantinoesque swagger". [35] After Jigarthanda, he worked on the action-drama film Madras . The Hindu described his score as "excellent". [36] The soundtrack to Enakkul Oruvan , the Tamil remake of the Kannada film Lucia , for which he had composed the score, was his final 2014 release. The album was also lauded by critics. [37] Behindwoods named him the "most promising among the younger composers". [38]
In 2015, he worked on 36 Vayadhinile , the Tamil remake of the Malayalam film How Old Are You . [39] Upcoming projects of Santhosh Narayanan include the next films of directors Karthik Subbaraj and Nalan Kumarasamy. [40] In 2016, he composed songs for Sudha Kongara's bilingual sports drama Irudhi Suttru (filmed simultaneously in Hindi as Saala Khadoos). [41] The Hindi adaptation film, "Saala Khadoos" however did not feature background score by Santhosh as Rajkumar Hirani, the co-producer of the film brought in composers Sanjay Wandrekar and Atul Raninga who had worked with him in 3 Idiots and PK to compose the background score. Kashmora to be directed by Gokul, [42] and Manithan were his other noted released in 2016 apart from Kabali , the biggest Tamil project so far in his career. In 2016, a music critic from The Hindu labelled Narayanan as one of the three in "the new-age musical trio of Tamil cinema" alongside Sean Roldan and Pradeep Kumar. [43]
The year 2016 was one of the most packed years for Santhosh Narayanan. Six releases during the year including music compositions for Iruthi Suttru , Manithan , Kadhalum Kadanthu Pogum, Iraivi , Kabali , Kaashmora , Kodi .
In 2017, he composed for the Vijay-starrer Bairavaa . Santhosh's next release was as a guest composer, in the filmMeyaadha Maan, a production venture of his Karthik Subbaraj. In May 2017, Santhosh signed for Kaala, his second film for Superstar Rajinikanth. In 2018 he gave scored Karthik Subbarraj's silent thriller film Mercury and Vetrimaaran's Vada Chennai, the latter being Santhosh's 25th as a composer. In 2020 with new projects which were Kasada Thapara , Jeeva starrer Gypsy and Penguin .
He was involved with Dulquer Salmaan's 2021 Malayalam film Salute , before being replaced by Jakes Bejoy. [44] He also composed the soundtrack and film's score for Sarpatta Parambarai; It marked the composer's fifth consecutive film with Pa. Ranjith, since his and the director's debut film Attakathi (2012). According to Santhosh, he said that "the film is influenced by the aspects of Madras, as it is mostly about the descriptive and realistic portrayal of North Chennai, while the boxing culture during the 1970s also serve as the subplot". He worked with Maajja on independent music as Enjoy Enjami sung by Arivu, Dhee and himself which clocked 19 million views within one week of release making it the highest watched Tamil music video album and keeping now at 474 million views. Also on the music video Neeye Oli sung by rappers Shan Vincent de Paul, Navz-47 and himself. Neeye Oli also featured in Sarpatta Parambarai as the theme song. His latest releases are Anel Meley Pani Thuli , Gulu Gulu and Buffoon in Tamil, Kalki 2898 AD in Telugu and Pathonpatham Noottandu and Anweshippin Kandethum in Malayalam. Narayanan will make his Bollywood debut in Salman Khan's film Sikandar in which he will give the background score. [45]
| Year | Film | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Guru | Telugu | Remake of Iruthi Suttru and Saala Khadoos |
| 2018 | Dhwaja | Kannada | Remake of Kodi; Reused tunes from the Tamil original |
| Year | Series | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Adwaitham | Telugu | Early short film released on YouTube (Before Feature debut) |
| 2022 | Pettaikaali | Tamil | Aha series |
| Faadu | Hindi | SonyLIV series | |
| 2023 | The Night Manager | Hindi | Title song only[ citation needed ] |
| Year | Film | Language | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Nenu Meeku Telusa? | Telugu | Additional background score Only |
| 2013 | Lucia | Kannada | Additional Background Score Only. Santhosh opted out after composing two themes. |
| Year | Film | Songs | Language | Composer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Kappal | "Kaali Pasanga" | Tamil | Natarajan Sankaran |
| Jigarthanda | "Baby", "Dhesayum Ezhundhaney" | Santhosh Narayanan | ||
| 2015 | Enakkul Oruvan | "Endi Ippadi" | ||
| 36 Vayathinile | "Naalu Kazhudha" | |||
| 2016 | Kadhalum Kadandhu Pogum | "Ka Ka Ka Po", "Bongu Kichan" | ||
| Remo | "Daavuya" | Anirudh Ravichander | ||
| Iraivi | "Kaadhal Kappal" | Santhosh Narayanan | ||
| Kaashmora | "Dhikku Dhikku sir" | |||
| 2017 | Server Sundaram | "Bro" | ||
| Meyaadha Maan | "Address song" | |||
| Vizhithiru | "Pon Vidhi" | Sathyan Mahalingam | ||
| 2018 | Pariyerum Perumal | "Karuppi", "Naan Yaar" | Santhosh Narayanan | |
| 2019 | A1 | "Chittukku" | ||
| 2020 | Gypsy | "Very Very Bad","Desanthiri" | ||
| Dagaalty | "Kotha Kothudhu Bodhai" | Vijay Narain | ||
| Jagame Thandhiram | "Rakita Rakita Rakita", "Aala Ola", "Naan Thaan Da Mass", "Bujji" | Santhosh Narayanan | ||
| 2021 | Master | "Polakattum Para Para" | Anirudh Ravichander | |
| Parris Jeyaraj | "Bacha Bachikey" | Santhosh Narayanan | ||
| Karnan | "Kandaa Vara Sollunga", "Uttradheenga Yeppov" | |||
| Sarpatta Parambarai | "Neeye Oli" (Film version) | |||
| Mahaan | "Naan Naan" "Soorayattam", "Evanda Enakku Custody" | |||
| Kasada Thapara | "Vaazhvome" | |||
| Kadaisi Vivasayi | "Enniko Er Pudichane", "Bambara Boomi" | |||
| 2022 | Anbarivu | "Ready Steady Go" | Hiphop Tamizha | |
| Buffoon | "Madichu Vecha Vethala" | Santhosh Narayanan | ||
| Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kadhal | "Kaathuvaakula Rendu Kadhal" | Anirudh Ravichander | ||
| Gulu Gulu | "Maatna Gaali", "Inner Peace", "Amma Nah Nah" | Santhosh Narayanan | ||
| Thiruchitrambalam | "Thenmozhi"; Best Male Playback Singer – Tamil | Anirudh Ravichander | ||
| 2023 | Dasara | "Ori Vaari" | Telugu | Santhosh Narayanan |
| "Dhoom Dhaam Dhosthu", "Theekari" | Tamil | |||
| Chithha | "Unakku Thaan" | |||
| Jigarthanda DoubleX | "Maamadura" | |||
| "Kora Meesam" | Telugu | |||
| "Theekuchi" | Tamil | |||
| "Oyyaram" | ||||
| 2024 | Raayan | "Water Packet" | A. R. Rahman | |
| Yezhu Kadal Yezhu Malai | "Yezhezhu Malai" | Yuvan Shankar Raja |
Attakathi is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Pa. Ranjith, a former assistant of Venkat Prabhu. Produced by C. V. Kumar, it stars Dinesh, Nandita Swetha and Aishwarya Rajesh. The film garnered attention after being praised and promoted by several acclaimed directors. Attakathi fetched positive reviews and emerged successful at the box office.
Pizza is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language horror thriller film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj. The film stars Vijay Sethupathi and Remya Nambeesan, with Aadukalam Naren, Karunakaran, Jayakumar, Pooja Ramachandran, and Bobby Simha in supporting roles. The story is about how a pizza delivery man lands in a mysterious predicament, and how it affects his life.
C. V. Kumar is an Indian film producer, film director and film distributor who heads the production studio Thirukumaran Entertainment. Known for producing innovative and critically acclaimed films, Kumar has also primarily introduced new talent into the film industry in terms of actors and technicians. His first three films, Attakathi, Pizza and Soodhu Kavvum won critical acclaim as well as bringing in revenue of over ₹50 crore (US$5.9 million). After producing successful films, Kumar began work on his first directorial venture in 2014.
Bala Murugan, better known by his stage name Gana Bala is an Indian playback singer in Tamil cinema. He rose to prominence after rendering the songs 'Aadi Pona Aavani' and 'Nadukadalula Kappala' from the soundtrack of Attakathi. He has predominantly sung songs belonging to the gaana genre of Tamil Nadu. He has been credited for reviving the gaana genre in Tamil Cinema after 'Thenisai Thendral' Deva. He has also penned lyrics for some of his songs.
Jigarthanda (transl. Cold-heart) is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language crime comedy film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj and produced by S. Kathiresan. The film stars Bobby Simha, Siddharth, Lakshmi Menon, Karunakaran, Guru Somasundaram and Aadukalam Naren. Gavemic U. Ary was the cinematographer, making his debut in Tamil cinema, and Vivek Harshan was the editor. Santhosh Narayanan composed the songs and background score.
Dinesh Ravi also known as Gethu Dinesh and formerly Attakathi Dinesh, is an Indian actor who has acts in leading roles primarily in Tamil cinema. He made his breakthrough playing the lead role in Attakathi (2012), portraying Dinakaran.
Madras is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language political action drama film written and directed by Pa. Ranjith. The film stars Karthi, Catherine Tresa and Kalaiyarasan while Charles Vinoth, Riythvika, V. I. S. Jayapalan, Poster Nandakumar and Mime Gopi play supporting roles. Set in the backdrop of North Madras, Kaali (Karthi) and his friend Anbu (Kalaiyarasan), get embroiled in a brutal political rivalry, between two factions of a political party after laying claim to a wall.
Cuckoo is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Raju Murugan in his directorial debut, produced by Fox Star Studios. The film stars Dinesh and Malavika Nair as a visually challenged pair, while Aadukalam Murugadoss plays a pivotal role. The film was released on 21 March 2014 and received positive reviews and was critically acclaimed.
Madras is the soundtrack album of the 2014 Tamil drama film of the same name written and directed by Pa. Ranjith and produced by Studio Green. Santhosh Narayanan composed the soundtrack album and background score for the film. The album consists of seven tracks with five songs and two themes. While Gana Bala penned the lyrics for the two songs sung by him, the remaining three were penned by Kabilan and Umadevi. The soundtrack album was released on 27 June 2014.
Pa. Ranjith is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who primarily works in Tamil cinema. He made his directorial debut with the 2012 romantic comedy Attakathi, before earning positive reviews for his second film, the political action-drama Madras (2014). He wrote and directed the action-drama films Kabali (2016) and Kaala (2018), both starring Rajinikanth.
36 Vayadhinile is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Rosshan Andrrews, which is a remake of his own Malayalam film How Old Are You (2014), and produced by Suriya Sivakumar under his production studio 2D Entertainment, marking his debut as a producer. The film stars Jyothika marking her comeback to films after an eight-year hiatus, while Rahman, Abhirami, Nassar, Delhi Ganesh and Siddhartha Basu appear in other prominent roles. The film's soundtrack was composed by Santhosh Narayanan, with cinematography and editing handled by R. Diwakaran and Mahesh Narayanan respectively.
Leo John Paul is an Indian film editor who predominantly works in the Tamil film industry for which he has been recognized as best editor for 2013 by Tamil Nadu state govt for Idharkuthane Aasaipattai Balakumara (2013).
Dheekshitha Venkadeshan, known professionally as Dhee, is an Australian singer known for her work as a playback singer in Indian cinema. Born in Jaffna to Tamil parents, she was raised in Sydney. She is best known for her collaborations with her stepfather, Santhosh Narayanan, and her distinctive alto voice. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Singer for “Kaattu Payale”, from the 2020 film Soorarai Pottru.
Pradeep Rangaswamy Kumar is an Indian playback singer and music director who has worked in Tamil language films. After beginning his career as a Carnatic musician, in the 2010s, he has regularly collaborated with composers Santhosh Narayanan and Sean Roldan.
Irudhi Suttru is the soundtrack album for the 2015 bilingual film of the same name starring R. Madhavan and Ritika Singh. The film directed by Sudha Kongara, is produced by YNOT Studios and UTV Motion Pictures.
Vada Chennai is the soundtrack album for the 2018 action crime film of the same name directed by Vetrimaaran, starring Dhanush in the lead role. The film featured music composed by Santhosh Narayanan in his maiden collaboration with Vetrimaaran. Vada Chennai also marks the 25th film of Narayanan as a composer in his career. The album in its entirety was released on 23 September 2018 to positive response from critics and audiences. At the 12th Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards held in Chennai, Santhosh received an award for Best Music Director also for his work in Kaala and Pariyerum Perumal.
Meyaadha Maan is the soundtrack album jointly composed by Santhosh Narayanan and Pradeep Kumar for the 2017 film of the same name directed by Rathna Kumar. The album had seven tracks written by Vivek, Pradeep Kumar, Rathna Kumar and Mirchi Vijay. Prior to the album release, three songs – "Thangachi Song", "Enna Naan Seiven" and "Address Song" released as singles on 7, 25 August and 13 September, and the full album was unveiled on 27 September 2017, to positive reviews from critics and audience. Post-release, the tracks "Address Song" and "Thangachi Song" gained popularity.
Cuckoo is the musical album composed by Santhosh Narayanan to the 2014 Tamil film Cuckoo, directed by journalist-turned-filmmaker Raju Murugan in his directorial debut. The film starred Attakathi Dinesh and debutant Malavika Nair in leading roles, and was jointly produced by the companies Fox Star Studios and The Next Big Film Venture. The soundtrack album has six tracks, five of them being written by Yugabharathi and one song by Gaana Bala and R. K. Sundar.
The music for the 2014 Tamil-language crime drama film Jigarthanda (transl. cold-hearted) is composed by Santhosh Narayanan. The film directed by Karthik Subbaraj and produced by S. Kathiresan, stars Siddharth, Bobby Simha, Lakshmi Menon, Karunakaran and Guru Somasundaram. The music for the film released under two different albums—one contains the original songs which had lyrics written by Muthamil, Arunraja Kamaraj, Anthony Daasan, Pradeep Kumar and Sean Roldan, and the other contained several cues of original music underscored in the background. The first album was released on March 2014, five months before the film's theatrical release with the second album being unveiled after the film's release. Both the albums were distributed under the Think Music label. Santhosh's work met with acclaim, both from critics and audiences, regarding it as one of his best works.
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