Varun Unni

Last updated

Varun Unni
Photo of Malayalam Music Composer Varun Unni.jpg
Background information
Born Kochi, Kerala, India
Genres
Occupations
Instruments
  • Keyboard
  • piano
  • drums
Years active2012–present
Spouse
Devika Ashok
​
(m. 2019)​

Varun Unni is an Indian composer and singer, who predominantly composes for television commercials. He has also composed for a few feature films, having debuted with the 2012 Malayalam film Annum Innum Ennum .

Contents

Early life and career

Varun Unni was born on 15 July 1989 in Kochi, Kerala. He did his schooling at Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Vaduthala in Kochi and went on to graduate from engineering at Adi Shankara College of Engineering, Kalady.

Although devoid of any background in films, Varun's first priority was always film music. After training at Kalabhavan, he went on to work with bands like Highway Haze and Flying Squad. He lists Bob Marley, Eric Clapton, Hans Zimmer and A. R. Rahman as his greatest influences. [1]

Film composing career

Though his debut film bombed at the box office, Varun's debut work "Ayyo" from Annum Innum Ennum was noticed. [1] His second film with the same team failed again at the box-office. He shifted focus to composing jingles for advertisement films and associated with famous brands like Chemmanur and MCR. In 2017, he was offered the Kannada film Kempegowda-2, a spin-off of Kempe Gowda , the Kannada remake of Singam . The film opened to a favourable response and Varun subsequently signed more films in Kannada, including Kongka Pass with the same team. However he shifted focus to jingles until 2025, when he signed four films, each in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada.

Music videos

Smile

In 2013, Varun produced a social cause album titled Smile featuring five singles by Shwetha Mohan as well as songs by upcoming singers Suchith Suresan and Yazin Nizar. It was released by the indie music label Tune4 Music. [2]

Second Rain

In 2017, Varun Unni composed the music for the music movie Second Rain (Peyyum Mazhaye), produced and directed by Lijo Augustin, with cinematography by A. Kumaran of Thanga Magan fame.

The video also featured Arundhati, who starred in the Tamil film Saithan . The lyrics and video of the song narrate a tale of romance where rain acts as the predominant backdrop to important moments in the love story of a young couple. The video also features a short climactic fight sequence, for which Varun composed the background score.

The song was released via Muzik 247. The vocals were by Shweta Mohan and Ranjith, with programming by Ashwin Sivadas. [3] [4] [5]

Return to feature films

As of 2025, Varun has signed films Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu and Kannada languages. His first release of 2025 was the Tamil film The Door , directed by Jaiidev starring Bhavana in the lead role. [6] [7] His next was the Kannada film Rakshasa starring Prajwal Devaraj. Both films tanked at the box-office. His third release, the Malayalam film Azadi opened to mixed reviews, but the music received an overwhelmingly positive response. [8] [9] Varun was praised for elevating the movie experience to another level with his background score. [10] [11]

Film discography

YearFilmLanguageSongsBackground scoreNotes
2013 Annum Innum Ennum Malayalam YesNoOne song
2013 Escape from Uganda MalayalamYesNoThree songs
2019 Kempegowda 2 Kannada YesYesKannada debut [12]
Spin-off of Kempe Gowda , the Kannada remake of Singam
2025 The Door [6] Tamil YesYesTamil debut.
Rakshasa [13] KannadaYesNo
Azadi [14] [15] MalayalamYesYes
Kothapallilo Okappudu TeluguNoYes

References

  1. 1 2 K. Pradeep (2013). "On Song". The Hindu. Retrieved 2 May 2013.
  2. ↑ Serin Sam (2013). "A reason to smile for Varun Unni" . Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  3. ↑ Vidya Nair (2017). "Striking the right chord" . Retrieved 11 July 2017.
  4. ↑ Express News Service (2017). "'Second Rain' makes a splash on Social Media" . Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  5. ↑ Mathrubhumi News (2017). "സോഷ്യല്‍ മീഡിയയില്‍ തരംഗമായി മ്യൂസിക് മൂവി 'സെക്കന്‍ഡ് റെയിന്‍'" . Retrieved 12 July 2017.
  6. 1 2 "Bhavana plays lead in brother Jaiiddev's directorial, The Door". The Times of India. 14 June 2023. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  7. ↑ "Bhavana to return to Tamil industry after 13 years with horror film The Door". The Indian Express. 6 June 2023. Retrieved 20 July 2023.
  8. ↑ "Azadi movie review: Sreenath Bhasi's jailbreak drama struggles to break free of clichés, is shackled to a terrible twist". 24 May 2025.
  9. ↑ "'Azadi' review: Sreenath Bhasi stars in an engaging prison break film with strong performances".
  10. ↑ "ത്രില്ലടിപ്പിക്കുന്ന ജയിൽ ബ്രേക്ക്, ഞെട്ടിക്കുന്ന ക്ലൈമാക്‌സ്; പ്രതീക്ഷകൾക്കപ്പുറം 'ആസാദി'". 23 May 2025.
  11. ↑ "ചിത്രച്ചേച്ചി പാടി, ഞാനാണ് ഈ പാട്ടിന്റെ കമ്പോസര്‍ എന്ന് മറന്ന് നിന്നുപോയി | വരുണ്‍ ഉണ്ണി അഭിമുഖം, Varun Unni,Music director Varun Unni,Varun Unni composer,Azadi music director,the door composer,news". www.mathrubhumi.com. 30 May 2025. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  12. ↑ "Komal back with Kempegowda 2- The New Indian Express". 13 April 2019.
  13. ↑ "I will have a packed 2025: Prajwal Devaraj". www.newindianexpress.com. 13 December 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  14. ↑ "ആസാദി ടൈറ്റിൽ ലോഞ്ച്". 16 October 2023.
  15. ↑ "Sreenath Bhasi, Lal and Saiju Kurup headline new thriller". Cinema Express . 2 August 2023.
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