Karthik Raja (born 29 June 1973) is an Indian composer and playback singer based in Chennai. He made his debut as a film composer in the Tamil film
''Pandiyan'' (1992) and went on to score music for many critically and commercially acclaimed feature films.
Personal life
Karthik Raja is the eldest son of music composer
Illayaraja. His brother
Yuvan Shankar Raja and sister
Bhavatharini
Bhavatharini Raja (23 July 1976 – 25 January 2024) was an Indian playback singer and composer. She was the only daughter of noted composer Ilaiyaraaja and sister of Yuvan Shankar Raja and Karthik Raja. Starting her career in the 1990s, she mo ...
, also
Tamil film
Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Chen ...
music directors and playback singers, have worked with him on notable projects. He was schooled at
St. Bede's School and Boston Matriculation higher secondary school in Chennai. On 8 June 2000, Karthik Raja married Raja Rajeshwari at
Tirupati
Tirupati () is a city in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Andhra Pradesh and serves as the administrative headquarters of Tirupati district. It is known for its significant religious and cultural heritage, being home to th ...
, Andhra Pradesh, India.
Career
Born to a family of musicians, Raja had exposure to various kinds of music from a very early age. He had his formal training in Western classical music from the Trinity School of Music, mainly in piano (affiliated with Jacob John). He also had training in Carnatic music from
T. V. Gopalakrishnan and
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 ...
composer,
V. Dakshinamoorthy.
As a child, Raja often used to accompany his father to the recording studios. At the age of 13, Karthik Raja played the keyboard for the song ''Kannukkum'' from the Tamil movie ''Ninaikka Therinda Maname'' (1987). Many such outings followed including playing keyboard for the soundtrack of the movie ''
Nayakan''. Karthik also arranged many recordings for his father and composed his first song "Pandianin Rajiyathil" for the movie ''
Pandiyan'' (1992) and "Ninaikindra" for the movie ''
Athma'' (1993). Around this time, he also composed some background scores for the TV series ''Bible''.
Raja debuted as a fully-fledged composer in 1996 through the Tamil movie ''Alexander'', soon followed by ''
Manikkam''. Then came many chart-busters that included ''
Ullaasam'', ''
Naam Iruvar Nammaku Iruvar'', ''
Kadhala Kadhala'' and ''
Dumm Dumm Dumm'' among others. He also debuted in Hindi films with ''
Grahan'' which won him the
R.D. Burman award for the best new talent.
Discography
Film scores/Soundtracks
As playback singer
Albums
Television
Awards
* 1998:
Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent – ''
Grahan''
* 2001: Cinema Express Award for Best Music Director – ''
Dumm Dumm Dumm''
References
External links
*
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Raja, Karthik
1970 births
Living people
People from Theni district
Tamil film score composers
Loyola College, Chennai alumni
20th-century classical composers
21st-century Indian classical composers
Musicians from Tamil Nadu
Kannada film score composers
Telugu film score composers
Hindi film score composers
Filmfare Awards winners
20th-century Indian musicians
Ilaiyaraaja