Raghavendra Raja Rao, known by his stage name Sean Roldan is an Indian musician who has worked on

Carnatic music Carnatic music, known as or in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, and Sri Lanka. It is o ...

independent music Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...

, and

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

s for the Tamil film industry. He rose to fame after gaining critical acclaim for his work in

Balaji Mohan Balaji Mohan (born 25 May 1987) is an Indian filmmaker and actor in Tamil-language films. After discontinuing his engineering studies to pursue his passion and become a director, he enrolled at a film academy and attended courses and workshops, ...

's Tamil-Malayalam bilingual ''

Vaayai Moodi Pesavum ''Vaayai Moodi Pesavum'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language satirical romantic comedy film directed by Balaji Mohan. Produced by Varun Manian and S. Sashikanth under their respective production houses, Radiance Media Group and YNOT Studios, ...

'' / ''

Samsaaram Aarogyathinu Haanikaram ''Vaayai Moodi Pesavum'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language satirical romantic comedy film directed by Balaji Mohan. Produced by Varun Manian and S. Sashikanth under their respective production houses, Radiance Media Group and YNOT Studios, t ...

'' (2014).

Early life

Roldan was born as Raghavendra Raja Rao to the renowned

mridangam The mridangam is a percussion instrument of ancient origin. It is the primary rhythmic accompaniment in a Carnatic music ensemble. In Dhrupad, a modified version, the pakhawaj, is the primary percussion instrument. A related instrument is th ...

player

Srimushnam V. Raja Rao Srimushnam V. Raja Rao (born 1955) is an Indian mridangam player and Carnatic vocalist. He received his initial training in Mridangam from his father S. Venkataramana Rao. He was later a student of Shri Kumbakonam M Rajappa Iyer. He has also ...

and Padma, the daughter of novelist Sandilyan. He is married to Lalitha Sudha, a playback singer who works in the Indian film industry, primarily for films composed by him. He was drawn into film music by A.R. Rahman's debut album Roja.

Career

Rao began a career in music composing and working on Carnatic tracks before venturing into independent Tamil music with his band Sean Roldan & Friends. Roldan was recommended by film producer

C. V. Kumar C. V. Kumar (born as C. Vijayakumar) is an Indian Tamil film producer, director and distributor who heads the production studio Thirukumaran Entertainment. Known for producing innovative and critically acclaimed films, Kumar has also primarily ...

to Varun Manian, the producer of the bilingual film ''

'' / ''

'', who was looking for a composer after the director's original choice,

Anirudh Ravichander Anirudh Ravichander (born 16 October 1990), also known mononymously as Anirudh, is an Indian film scorer music composer music producer singer and instrumentalist who primarily works in Tamil films. He is the son of actor Ravi Raghavendra. ...

, had opted out. He subsequently signed the film and chose to continue to credit himself as Sean Roldan for a career in the Tamil film industry. He produced eight tracks for the film, singing two, while including one inspired by the single track "Mayakkura Poo Vaasam" composed for his band. That same year, he composed music for the films ''

Sathuranga Vettai ''Sathuranga Vettai'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language heist film written and directed by debutant H. Vinoth, starring Natraj and Ishaara Nair in the lead roles, while Ponvannan, Ilavarasu, and Piraisoodan, among others, play supporting ...

'', ''

Mundasupatti ''Mundasupatti'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language period comedy film written and directed by Ram Kumar and produced by C. V. Kumar under his banner Thirukumaran Entertainment and Fox Star Studios. It stars Vishnu Vishal and Nandita Swetha, w ...

'', and ''

Aadama Jaichomada ''Aadama Jaichomada'' () is a 2014 Tamil language black comedy film directed by Badri. Produced by B&C films and Upshot Films, co-produced by Skilite Creations, the film stars Karunakaran, Bobby Simha and Vijayalakshmi in prominent roles, wh ...

''. All soundtracks were well-received. 2015 saw him composing the songs for '' 144''. In 2016, Roldan composed music for the political satire film '' Joker''. The songs were well-received. 2017 saw him composing music for ''

Pa Paandi ''Pa Paandi'' (also known by its former title ''Power Paandi'') is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film, written and directed by Dhanush in his directorial debut. He also produced the movie under his studio Wunderbar Films. The film ...

'', the directorial debut of actor

Dhanush Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja (born 28 July 1983), known professionally as Dhanush, is an Indian actor, producer, director, lyricist and playback singer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Starring in 46 films over his career, among hi ...

. Three more films were released that year featuring Roldan's music: '' Neruppu Da'', '' Katha Nayagan'', and ''

Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 ''Velaiilla Pattadhari 2'' () is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Soundarya Rajnikanth. It is a sequel to the 2014 film '' Velaiilla Pattadhari'' and has Dhanush, Amala Paul, Vivek, Hrishikesh, Saranya Ponvannan, ...

'', the last of which he collaborated with Dhanush, though this time as a lead actor. Roldan's only film composed in 2018 was '' Kathiruppor Pattiyal''. He composed two films in 2019: ''

Mehandi Circus ''Mehandi Circus'' is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action romantic drama film written by Raju Murugan and directed by Saravana Rajendran who is also his elder brother on his directorial debut. The film casts newcomer Madhampatty Rangaraj in ...

'' and ''

Raatchasi ''Raatchasi'' () is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language social drama film, written and directed by Syed Gowthamraj, and produced by S. R. Prakashbabu and S. R. Prabhu under the banner of Dream Warrior Pictures. The film stars Jyothika in the lead rol ...

''. In 2020, Roldan composed one song from ''

Dharala Prabhu ''Dharala Prabhu'' () is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Krishna Marimuthu in his directorial debut. A remake of the 2012 Hindi film ''Vicky Donor'', the film stars Harish Kalyan, Tanya Hope and Vive ...

'', and in 2021, he composed one song from ''

Kasada Thapara ''Kasada Tabara'' is a 2021 Tamil-language drama hyperlink film produced jointly by Venkat Prabhu's Black Ticket Company and R. Ravindran of Trident Arts, directed by Chimbu Deven with an ensemble cast and technicians. The film premiered on 27 A ...

''. 2021 also saw him composing the legal drama '' Jai Bhim'' in his first collaboration with

Suriya Saravanan Sivakumar (born 23 July 1975), known by his stage name Suriya, is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter and a philanthropist. He primarily works in Tamil cinema where he is one of the highest paid actors. He received numerou ...

. The film, based on a true incident, became the first Indian movie to emerge as the highest user-rated film on

IMDb IMDb (an abbreviation of Internet Movie Database) is an online database of information related to films, television series, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and personal biographies, p ...

Musical style

Roldan's music draws heavy inspiration from Tamil composer

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one o ...

. His greater aim is to represent Indian music internationally.

Discography

As composer

* The films are listed in order that the music released, regardless of the dates the film released. * The year next to the titles of the films indicates the release year of the either dubbed or remade version in the named language later than the original version. * • indicates original language release. Indicates simultaneous makes, if featuring in more languages.

As singer

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Roldan, Sean Living people Tamil musicians Tamil film score composers Male film score composers Musicians from Chennai 1987 births