Arun R often credited as Achu Rajamani, is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer. He has scored music for several

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

films. He made his music direction debut in the Telugu film ''

Nenu Meeku Telusa? ''Nenu Meeku Telusa?'' () is a 2008 Indian Telugu-language psychological thriller film directed by Ajay Sastry and produced by Lakshmi Manchu. The film stars Manoj Manchu, Sneha Ullal and Riya Sen while Nassar and Brahmanandam play supporting ...

'' in 2008.

Early life

Achu is the grandson of music director B. A. Chidambaranath who is considered to be one among the pioneers of the Malayalam music industry. His father, Rajamani, was also a music director and was widely known as the king of background score. Rajamani has scored for more than 1000 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam languages. He is a graduate from

Loyola College, Chennai Loyola College is a government aided private Catholic higher education institution run by the Society of Jesus in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It was founded in 1925 by the France, French Jesuits, Jesuit priest, Francis Bertram, along with other ...

. Hailing from a musical family, Achu's natural interest was to become a pilot. He chose music over aviation and became a full-fledged musician. He also assisted prominent music director M. M. Keeravani for few years, before he became an independent music composer.

Career

Achu has worked as a keyboard programmer for 410 songs and has programmed background music for over 175 films. He is also a professional pianist and has accompanied his father playing the piano to many of his compositions. He first played keyboard for Bollywood film

Chup Chup Ke ''Chup Chup Ke'' () is a 2006 Cinema of India, Indian Bollywood, Hindi-Hindi, language comedy drama film co-written and directed by Priyadarshan. The film stars Shahid Kapoor, Kareena Kapoor, Suniel Shetty, Neha Dhupia, Paresh Rawal, Rajpal Ya ...

(2006) directed by

Priyadarshan Priyadarshan Soman Nair (born 30 January 1957) is an Indian film director and screenwriter. He has worked primarily in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam and Hindi cinema, Hindi cinema since 1982, directing over 90 films in multiple Indian languages, ...

. He was the called upon to score the background music for the Malayalam film Keerthi Chakra's sequel film

Kurukshetra Kurukshetra () is a city and administrative headquarters of Kurukshetra district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is also known as Dharmakshetra ("Realm of duty") and as the "Land of the Bhagavad Gita". Legends According to the Puranas ...

(2008). Achu's background music was well appreciated. Following this short stint, Achu got his major break when he got to compose the songs and background score for the Telugu film

(2008). His next work was for the Telugu remake of the Tamil film Polladhavan, named

Kurradu ''Kurradu'' (Telugu language, Telugu: కుర్రాడు, ) is a 2009 Telugu language, Telugu language action thriller film, directed by Sandeep Gunnam, the son of Gunnam Gangaraju. The film stars Varun Sandesh and Neha Sharma. The film wa ...

(2009). Apart from composing, Achu also worked as a playback singer. His song "Take It Easy" for the Malayalam film Happy Husbands composed by M. Jayachandran was among the major hits of 2010. In 2012, Achu released his first full-fledged Tamil soundtrack for the film

Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathilaey ''Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathilaey'' () is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language romance film written and directed by Narayan Nagendra Rao. It stars Aari Arujunan and Shubha Phutela, with Subbu Panchu, R. S. Shivaji, and Balaji Venugopal in other pivotal ...

. The album was very well received by critics and received the Album of the Year Award. His Telugu songs Bujji Pilla and Devatha from Potugadu and Padipoya from DK Bose were the biggest hits of 2013. His songs Siru Nadai and Hey Umayaal from the movie Urumeen (2015) were also superhits of the time. His song Pondatti from the movie Golisoda 2 (2018) was in the top list in the radio charts for over 11 weeks since its release in June 2018. Apart from composing and playback singing Achu was into professional racing from 2009 till 2012. He was also into sports events like sprint and had won numerous medals during his school days. He took a break from films to pursue his racing career from 2009 till 2012. He was also a cricketer and had played for few years. In 2015, he made his debut as an actor with the Telugu film Gaddam Gang.

Discography

Composer

As singer

*'' Aakasame Haddu'' (2011) *'' Puthumugangal Thevai'' (2012) *''

Naadodigal 2 ''Naadodigal 2'' () is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by Samuthirakani and produced by S Nandagopal under the banner of Madras Enterprises. It stars Sasikumar and Anjali. The film's release was on 31 January 2020 ...

'' (2020)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Achu Rajamani Living people Telugu film score composers Tamil film score composers Telugu playback singers Malayalam film score composers Malayalam playback singers Tamil playback singers Indian male playback singers Film musicians from Andhra Pradesh Indian male film score composers Year of birth missing (living people)