Rahul Raj | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | Cochin, Kerala, India |
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| Years active | 2007–present |
| Musical career | |
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Rahul Raj is an Indian music composer. He has composed and produced scores and soundtracks predominantly for Malayalam movies. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Berklee College of Music and holds a postgraduate degree in scoring for films, TV and video games.
Rahul Raj was born in Kochi to Advocate E. Thankappan and N. S. Kunjoonjamma. His schooling was in Bhavans Vidya Mandir, Elamakkara Cochin. He has one sister, Rehna Raj. From the age of 6, he was trained in Mridangam and Carnatic Music. He graduated as an IT Engineer from CUSAT, Cochin and later on pursued courses such as CCNP and CCIE in Bangalore ILloka networks, before moving to London. [1] [2]
During his stint in London, he underwent training in Electronic Sound Production. He helped Pradeep Menon, a UK-based Indian businessman, remix a Tamil Ayappa record that was originally produced, composed and sung by Pradeep Menon and Shashi Kumar in 1985. The devotional album produced in the UK, Canada and India is titled Sabari Beats. [3] It was released in November 2002 by Super recording in Tamil Nadu. Noted musicians like Pravin Mani, Saroja, and Kamalakar were featured. This launched Rahul Raj's career. He also arranged another song for Pradeep Menon called "Krishna Krishna" with percussionist Sivamani and James Asher from United Kingdom. [4]
On returning to India, Rahul composed more than 100 jingles for commercials in Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu. During this period, he had also composed original themes for many television productions, including shows for Asianet and Amrita TV. [5]
In 2003, he composed the anthem Lokaha Samastha for Amma's 50th birth anniversary, Amrithavarsam 50, which was later used as the theme song for Amrita TV. He composed Malayalam albums during the period, which include En Jeevane (Pularmanju pole), which was shot completely in the United States by producer–director Tom George Kolath. The song "Pularmanjupol Nee" from the album, rendered by Karthik and Sujatha, became an evergreen hit.
He was given the opportunity to compose the logo theme music for the show 50 Years of Malayalam Film Music with Padma Bhusan Dr. K. J. Yesudas.
His first feature film score and soundtrack were for Chotta Mumbai , directed by Anwar Rasheed and starring Mohanlal in the lead. His second release was Suresh Gopi's Time directed by Shaji Kailas. Shankar Mahadevan sang in one of his compositions for Chotta Mumbai.
In 2008, he replaced the trio Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy as the composer of the Malayalam feature film Maya Bazar, in which he worked with the Tamil film production company Ayngaran International. In the same year, he became the first music composer in Malayalam movie industry to have a registered fans' association, called RRFA (Rahul Raj Fans Association), based in Thiruvananthapuram.
In 2009, he composed for filmmaker Shyamaprasad's Ritu , for which he subsequently won the Vayalar Award. The award was given by a jury of old school musicians including K.P. Udayabhanu.
In 2010, he won the Kerala State Award for Best Background Score for Ritu. The same year, he was invited to University at Buffalo, The State University of New York to rework and expand Pomp and Circumstance Marches , the traditional convocation music used by them, composed by Sir Edward Elgar. In addition to expanding Edward Elgar's piece, he composed two original music pieces for the convocation, Dance of the Gods and The Circumstance by Rahul Raj. [6] In the same year he signed a project called Mathilukalkkapuram, a sequel to Adoor Gopalakrishnan's classic Mathilukal . The Mammootty starrer which also had Ravi K. Chandran and Resul Pookutty on board as cinematographer and sound designer respectively was subsequently shelved. [7]
His only release in 2010 was Chekavar which tanked at the box-office, with the music too not appealing to the masses. Later in the year he was approached to score The Thriller which he declined. He was also approached to score two other films which were 2011 releases, Doubles and China Town both of which he rejected citing time constraints.
In 2011, Rahul Raj made his debut in Telugu cinema by composing music for the Siddharth – Shruti Haasan starrer Oh My Friend . [8] The audio of the film opened to overwhelming responses and rave reviews, climbing to the No. 1 position in Telugu music charts, with the song "Maa Daddy Pockets" in particular becoming a rage among the youth. The audio went on to mark record sales of 3 lakh CDs within nine days of release. [9]
After almost a two-year hiatus, in 2012 he returned to the Malayalam industry by scoring for Amal Neerad's Bachelor Party . The songs became sensational hits and the background score received critical acclaim. [10] [11]
In 2013, he composed for Kili Poyi , which was supposedly the first stoner film in Malayalam Cinema. Though the film opened to mixed responses, the title song became a huge hit. [12] Several critics hailed the background score as the most interesting technical aspect of the movie. [13]
Rahul had a dull opening in 2014 with the high budget romantic comedy London Bridge and Mannar Mathai Speaking 2 the much hyped sequel to the cult comedy classic Mannar Mathai Speaking failing at the box office. Rahul had composed only three tracks for London Bridge, as he had to leave the project owing to scheduling conflicts. Later in the year, the Telugu film Paathshala for which he had composed, became a box office success. Rahul's songs for the movie were received well, [14] [15] but it was his background score that was unanimously praised by all reviewers, as a major plus point, crediting it to have elevated the movie to a different level. [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26]
The year 2015, opened on a favourable note for Rahul, as his background score for the Mammootty starrer Fireman received praise. [27] [28] [29] [30] His second release of the year was Sidhartha Siva's Ain which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam. The month of August saw the release of his songs from Kohinoor , a heist film set in the 1980s. The song Hemanthamen went on to rake in unanimous praise from critics and public alike, being hailed as an outstanding nostalgic melody. [31]
With releases like Kasaba , IDI-Inspector Dawood Ibrahim making no significant impact, 2016 was a comparatively listless year for Rahul Raj.
The year 2017 opened on an excellent note with his song Lailakame from Ezra becoming a smash hit, [32] prompting several cover versions, including one by Rahul Raj himself.
In early 2018, the film Kuttanadan Marpappa met with negative reviews with the music too receiving a lukewarm response. He signed Academy Award Winner Resul Pookutty's multilingual titled The Sound Story directed by Pookutty's protege Prasad Prabhakar. The movie was touted to feature 164 tracks comprising background score pieces and 2 songs. [33] He composed the songs of the film, but opted out before composing the background score, as there were schedule conflicts with his stint in Berklee, Spain. [34] For the same reason, he also had to opt out of Kodathi Samaksham Balan Vakeel after giving two songs.
In June 2019, he composed and conducted the symphonic piece Birth of the Nemesis, which was performed by the London Orchestra. [35] He returned from Europe in July 2019 and was immediately signed by Priyadarshan to compose the background score of his magnum opus Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham , a historical epic set in the 16th century. Having no release in 2020 due to pandemic-induced postponements, his first release after the 2020 lockdown was the Mammootty-starrer The Priest in early 2021. The film opened to mixed reviews, but the music met with overwhelmingly positive responses, [36] particularly the score with IBTimes hailing it as the major highlight of the film. [37] His first release in 2022 was the Mohanlal-starrer Aarattu , directed by B. Unnikrishnan which received predominantly positive reviews for the music, despite the film being critically panned. Meanwhile, veteran director Sathyan Anthikad signed him to score his Jayaram-starrer Makal . His other notable upcoming releases are Narayaneente Moonaanmakkal directed by Sharan Venugopal, The Statesman directed by Kishore Prakash Menon and an untitled film directed by Rathish Ambat in Malayalam; Yaar in Tamil; and another untitled film in Hindi. [38] [39]
Rahul Raj is known for giving ultra-modern orchestration in his songs. He uses international elements for the instrumentation in his songs. His background scores in particular are rich with elements of symphony and Western Classical music. [40]
Rahul is married to Miriam, a German national and has a daughter Akshaine, who was born in 2012.
| Year | Film | Language | Songs | Score | Director | Other Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Chotta Mumbai • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Anwar Rasheed | |
| Time • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Shaji Kailas | Winner – JayCee Foundation Award for Best Music Direction | |
| 2008 | Annan Thambi • | Malayalam | Yes | No | Anwar Rasheed | |
| Malabar Wedding • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Rajesh-Faisal | ||
| One Way Ticket • | Malayalam | Yes | No | Bipin Prabhakar | ||
| Maya Bazar • | Malayalam | Yes | No | Thomas Sebastian | ||
| Crazy Gopalan • | Malayalam | Yes | No | Deepu Karunakaran | ||
| 2009 | Ritu • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Shyamaprasad | Winner – Kerala State Film Award – Best Background Score Winner – Vayalar Movie Award – Best Music Direction |
| Year | Film | Language | Songs | Score | Director | Other Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Chekavar • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Sajeevan | |
| 2011 | Oh My Friend • | Telugu | Yes | No | Venu Sriram | Telugu Debut. Winner – Maa Music Award – Best Debut Music Composer |
| 2012 | Bachelor Party • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Amal Neerad | |
| 2013 | Kili Poyi • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Vinay Govind | |
| Paisa Paisa • | Malayalam | No | Yes | Prasanth Murali | Background Score only. | |
| D Company • | Malayalam | No | Yes | Vinod Vijayan | Anthology film. Segment: Day of Judgement. | |
| 2014 | London Bridge • | Malayalam | Yes | No | Anil C. Menon | Opening Credits Theme & 2 songs only. |
| Mannar Mathai Speaking 2 • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Mamas K. Chandran | ||
| Kadavul Paathi Mirugam Paathi • | Tamil | Yes | Yes | Raj-Suresh | Tamil Debut. | |
| Pathasala • | Telugu | Yes | Yes | Mahi V. Raghav | ||
| 2015 | Fireman • | Malayalam | No | Yes | Deepu Karunakaran | |
| Ain • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Sidhartha Siva | ||
| Kohinoor • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Vinay Govind | ||
| Style • | Malayalam | No | Yes | Binu Sadanandan | Background Score only. | |
| 2016 | Mudhugauv • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Vipin Das | |
| Karingunnam Sixes • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Deepu Karunakaran | ||
| Kasaba • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Nithin Renji Panicker | ||
| White • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Uday Ananthan | ||
| IDI- Inspector Dawood Ibrahim • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Sajid Yahiya | ||
| 2017 | Ezra • | Malayalam | Yes | No | Jay K | |
| E • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Kukku Surendran | ||
| Sherlock Toms • | Malayalam | No | Yes | Shafi | ||
| 2018 | Hey Jude • | Malayalam | Yes | No | Shyamaprasad | One song only. |
| Kaly • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Najim Koya | ||
| Vikadakumaran • | Malayalam | Yes | No | Boban Samuel | ||
| Kuttanadan Marpappa • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Sreejith Vijayan | ||
| B. Tech • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Mridul Nair | ||
| Ente Mezhuthiri Athazhangal • | Malayalam | No | Yes | Sooraj Tom | ||
| Dakini • | Malayalam | Yes | No | Rahul Riji Nair | Guest composer. Two songs only. | |
| The Sound Story • | Malayalam | Yes | No | Prasad Prabhakar | Announced by Resul Pookutty. Multilingual film. [41] [42] | |
| 2019 | Kodathi Samaksham Balan Vakeel • | Malayalam | Yes | No | B. Unnikrishnan | Announced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures. Guest composer. Two songs only. |
| Oru Nakshathramulla Aakasham • | Malayalam | Yes | No | Ajith Pulleri, Suneesh Babu | Guest composer. Two songs only. |
| Year | Film | Language | Songs | Score | Director | Other Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | The Priest • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Jofin T. Chacko | |
| Lalbagh • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Prasanth Murali | ||
| Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea • | Malayalam | No | Yes | Priyadarshan | ||
| 2022 | ||||||
| Aaraattu • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | B. Unnikrishnan | [43] | |
| Freedom Fight • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Jeo Baby | Anthology film. Segment Old Age Home. | |
| Makal • | Malayalam | No | Yes | Sathyan Anthikad | ||
| Eesho • | Malayalam | No | Yes | Nadirshah | ||
| 2023 | ||||||
| Lovefully Yours Veda • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Praghesh Sukumaran | ||
| Dance Party • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Sohan Seenulal | Three songs and score. | |
| 2024 | ||||||
| Narayaneente Moonnaanmakkal • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Sharan Venugopal | ||
| Brocode [44] • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Bibin Krishna | ||
| Pushpaka Vimaanam • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Ullas Krishna | ||
| Varaaham [45] • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Sanal V. Devan | ||
| Untitled Netflix Anthology segment • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Rathish Ambat | ||
| The Statesman • | Malayalam | Yes | Yes | Kishore Prakash Menon | ||
The following section contains the independent studio album(s) composed, arranged and produced by Rahul Raj.
| Year | Title |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Indiasoundz: The Cosmic Series |
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Hambre: A Post-apocalyptic Story | |
| 2020 | Mattoru Kadavil | |
| Award | Year | Project | Category | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kerala State Film Award | 2009 | Ritu | Best Background Score | Won |
| Vayalar Movie Award | 2009 | Ritu | Best Music Composer | Won |
| Jay Cee Foundation Award | 2007 | Time | Best Music Composer | Won |
| Maa Music Award | 2011 | Oh My Friend | Best Debut Music Composer (Telugu) | Won |
| Flowers Music Awards | 2018 | Lailakame (Ezra) | Best Song Composition | Won |
In 2013, Rahul Raj was designated as the President of the FEFKA Music Directors' Union, the official association of film composers in the Malayalam film industry. [46] [47]
Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja is a 2009 Indian Malayalam-language epic period drama film based on the life of Pazhassi Raja, a king who fought against the East India Company in the 18th century. The film was directed by Hariharan, written by M. T. Vasudevan Nair and produced by Gokulam Gopalan. It stars Mammootty in lead role with an ensemble supporting cast. The music score and soundtrack were created by Ilaiyaraaja, while its sound design is by Resul Pookutty.
Rohini Molleti, known professionally as Rohini, is an Indian actress, screenwriter, dubbing artist and lyricist. She has mainly acted in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu, films along with few Kannada films. Having started her acting career at five, she has about 300 south Indian films to her credit. She received National Film Award – Special Mention and Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Special Jury Award for Best Performance as Rangi in the 1995 film Stri.
Resul Pookutty CAS MPSE is an Indian film sound designer, sound editor and audio mixer. He won the Academy Award for Best Sound Mixing, along with Richard Pryke and Ian Tapp, for Slumdog Millionaire. Pookutty has worked in Hindi, Tamil, Telegu,Marathi and Malayalam languages in addition to British films. And now he is a member of the Executive committee of Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, Motion Picture Sound Editors Guild (MPSE) and CAS of America. Recently Mr. Pookutty is been awarded the title Distinguished Engineer by Rocheston, New York. (Distinguished Engineer is an honor awarded to Engineers of repute, selected from across the world in recognition of caliber, technical excellence and accomplishments that are an inspiration to people. In 2010, the Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to cinema. In the same year, he was also conferred an honorary Doctorate by the Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit, located in Kerala, India.
Chekavar is a 2010 Malayalam-language action thriller film written and directed by Sajeevan. It stars Indrajith, Kalabhavan Mani, Sarayu and Samvrutha Sunil in the lead roles. Its music was composed by Rahul Raj with lyrics penned by Anil Panachooran. The film released on 8 October 2010. Indrajith Sukumaran plays the role of a police officer while Kalabhavan Mani plays an underworld don. The story progresses as both of them fight each other, for their siblings.
Gopi Sundar C.S. is an Indian music director, programmer, playback singer, songwriter, actor and performer who works in the Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil film industries.
Oh My Friend is a 2011 Telugu-language romantic drama film written and directed by newcomer Venu Sri Ram. It stars Siddharth, Hansika and Shruti Haasan with Navdeep in a supporting role. It was produced by Dil Raju.
Kadavul Paathi Mirugam Paathi is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Raaj Menon and Suresh. The film produced by Raj Zacharias, also features him in the lead role while Sethu, Abhishek Vinod and Swetha Vijay form the leading cast. Although originally planned with a different ensemble cast in 2011, the project finally materialised in mid 2013. The original score and soundtrack of the movie were composed by Rahul Raj. The film released to negative reviews from both audience and critics alike and was a box office bomb. The film was dubbed and released in Telugu as Rahadaari in 2016.
Shutter is a 2012 Indian Malayalam thriller film written and directed by theater actor and playwright Joy Mathew in his directorial debut. The film set and filmed in Kozhikode, stars Lal, Sreenivasan, Vinay Forrt, Sajitha Madathil and Riya Saira. Renganaath Ravee does the sound design, and Hari Nair is the cinematographer. The film notably features a poem by Pablo Neruda, set to music and sung by Shahabaz Aman. Biby Sam and Jacob Panikker composed the background score for the film.
Paathasala (transl. School) is a 2014 Indian Telugu-language film written and directed by Mahi V Raghav. The original score & soundtrack of the movie are composed by Rahul Raj. The film released on 10 October 2014.
London Bridge is a 2014 Indian Malayalam-language romantic drama film directed by Anil C. Menon and written by Jinu V. Abraham, starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, Andrea Jeremiah, Nanditha Raj, Pratap Pothen and Mukesh. The film was entirely shot in the United Kingdom. Rahul Raj composed three original songs and left the project owing to scheduling conflicts. Thus Carnatic vocalist Dr. Sreevalsan Menon was hired to compose two additional songs and Gopi Sundar was signed in to compose the background score. The film is produced by Antony Binoy and Sathish B under the banner Ordinary Pictures.
Sooraj Santhosh is an Indian singer, songwriter, producer, and composer. He straddles the worlds of independent music and playback singing, moving smoothly between the two. Sooraj is the recipient of a Kerala State Film Award (2016), 2 Mirchi Music Awards, and a Kerala State Film Critics Award (2021). He has sung around 300 songs in 8 languages.
Kochadaiiyaan is the soundtrack album composed by A. R. Rahman to the motion capture animated Tamil film of the same name directed by Soundarya R. Ashwin. The original version as well as the dubbed Telugu version of the soundtrack was released on 9 March 2014. The Hindi version was released online on Eros Now on 13 March 2014. Upon its release, the soundtrack became the first Tamil film music album to trend on Twitter and top the iTunes India charts.
White is a 2016 Indian Malayalam-language romantic drama film directed by Uday Ananthan, starring Mammootty and Huma Qureshi. It marks the debut of Huma Qureshi in Malayalam cinema. The score and songs are composed by Rahul Raj.
Lukka Chuppi is a 2015 Indian Malayalam-language drama film co-produced and directed by Bash Mohammed and written by Gafoor Arackkal from a story by Mohammed. The film features an ensemble cast led by Jayasurya, Murali Gopy, Joju George, Ramya Nambeeshan, Chinnu Kuruvila, Muthumani, Dinesh Prabhakar, and Asmita Sood. The plot features the reunion of a group of friends from college after 14 years, reviving episodes from their past and how it affects their present life. The entire film was shot in an artificially created resort in Thrissur.
Pathemari (transl. Dhow) is a 2015 Indian Malayalam-language period drama film written and directed by Salim Ahamed and starring Mammootty in the lead role, with a supporting cast that includes Jewel Mary, Siddique, Sreenivasan, Salim Kumar, Shaheen Siddique, Viji Chandrasekhar, and Joy Mathew. The plot follows the life of Pallikkal Narayanan (Mammootty) who migrated to the Middle-East in the early 1960s, when the Kerala Gulf boom was just beginning.
The Sound Story is a 2019 Indian Malayalam-language film written and directed by Prasad Prabhakar, starring sound designer Resul Pookutty in the lead role, marking his acting debut. The films narrates the story of a sound designer who strives hard to realize his dream of recording all the sounds of the Thrissur Pooram. The film was released on 5 April 2019. The film also contains Tamil, English and Urdu dialogues/lyrics. The film was dubbed and released in Hindi under the same title and in Tamil as Oru Kadhai Sollattuma.
Praana (transl. Life) is a 2019 Indian Malayalam-language psychological thriller film directed by V. K. Prakash and written by Rajesh Jayaraman. Nithya Menen is the only person appearing in the film, who plays an English writer named Tara Anuradha. Resul Pookutty and Amrit Pritam was the sound designers and P. C. Sreeram was the cinematographer. Louis Banks, Arun Vijay, and Ratheesh Vegha provided the music for the film. The film was released on 18 January 2019.
Kolaambi (transl. Loudspeaker) is a 2023 Indian Malayalam-language drama film written and directed by T. K. Rajeev Kumar, starring Nithya Menen, Renji Panicker, Rohini, Sijoy Varghese and Dileesh Pothan. The film is produced by Roopesh Omana under the production house Nirmalyam Cinema. Resul Pookutty handles the sound recording, while music is composed by Ramesh Narayan and cinematography is done by Ravi Varman. Production design is done by Sabu Cyril.
Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea is the soundtrack to the 2021 Indian period drama action film of the same name directed by Priyadarshan. The film features five songs composed by Ronnie Raphael, whilst the original score is composed by Rahul Raj, Ankit Suri and Lyell Evans Roeder. The album features lyrics written by Prabha Varma, B. K. Harinarayanan, Shafi Kollam for the Malayalam version, and Priyadarshan, R. P. Bala, Samji for the Tamil version, whereas the lyricists for the dubbed versions are: Vennelakanti (Telugu), Aniruddha Sastry, Vybhav M (Kannada), Nawab Arzoo and Ishtiaq Feroz (Hindi). The album released through Saina Music on 1 August 2021.
Otta is a 2023 Indian Malayalam-language drama thriller film directed by Resul Pookutty in his directorial debut, based on S. Hariharan's book Runaway Children. The film stars Asif Ali, Indrajith Sukumaran and Arjun Ashokan in the lead roles, alongside an ensemble supporting cast. The story follows two friends, Hari and Ben, who abandon their homes due to family problems.
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