Vidhya Sagar

Vidyasagar (born 2 March 1963) is an Indian composer, musician and singer who works predominantly in the Tamil, Malayalam, and Telugu film industries. After working with several composers as assistant and conductor, Vidyasagar made his debut as a film composer in the 1989 Tamil film ''Poo Manam'' and is nicknamed as "Melody King". Working for over 225 feature films, he is the recipient of one National Award, multiple State Awards and five Filmfare Awards. He is widely regarded as one of the finest and most acclaimed composers in the history of Indian cinema.

Life and career

Vidya Sagar was born into a Telugu-speaking family of U. Ramachandar, a musician, in Suryakantham in Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh. His grandfather was a court vidwan in Bobbili Samsthanam.

Vidya Sagar is settled in Chennai. He is married and has 3 daughters and a son. One of his daughters, Susarla Pallavi is a social media influencer, and another daughter Srivardhani is a playback singer. His son, Harsha Vardhan, works as a musician and programmer in Tamil Cinema Industry. He underwent Carnatic vocals training first and then started taking classical guitar classes in Chennai from Master Dhanraj and then later piano.

Vidyasagar became an independent film composer with the song ''En Anbe'' in the 1989 Tamil movie ''Poomanam''. Vidyasagar started his music career with a Tamil film, he gained recognition good in the Tamil music industry at a later stage. He also started composing for Telugu Films in 1989.

In 1993–94, Vidya Sagar was approached by Tamil actor-director Arjun, with whom he worked for many musical films like ''Jai Hind'', ''Karna'' and ''Subash''. Their combination resulted in acclaimed Tamil language melodic songs like ''Malare'' and ''Paadu .. Paadu''.

From 1996 to 2001 Vidyasagar mainly concentrated on Malayalam films. During this period, Vidyasagar also composed for a few Tamil movies like ''Nilaave Vaa'' and ''Uyirodu Uyiraga''. He won three Kerala State Film Awards. About his stint in the Malayalam Cinema, Vidyasagar was quoted saying "I believe that it was a God sent opportunity for me to work in one of the finest film industries".

From the year 2001, he started composing soundtracks for ''Dhil'', ''Run'', ''Dhool (ithunondu muthathile)'', ''Ghilli'' etc. in Tamil and ''Summer in Bethlehem'', ''Meesha Madhavan'', ''Kilichundan Mampazham'', '' Pattalam'', '' C.I.D. Moosa'' etc. in Malayalam. His Bollywood venture '' Hulchul'' directed by Priyadarshan was a box-office blockbuster, but the songs only became nominal hits, not bringing him the acclaim he was usually used to in Tamil and Malayalam films.

During this period, Vidya Sagar became the first South Indian Composer to have composed for an English language feature, ''Beyond The Soul'', an Indo American film directed by Rajiv Anchal.

Between 2003 and 2005, he composed songs for several notable films like ''Anbe Sivam'', ''Madhurey'', ''Kochi Rajavu'', '' Ji'' and ''Chandrolsavam'' in 2004–05. The year 2005 saw Vidyasagar receiving his first National Film Awards for his music in the Telugu film ''Swarabhishekam'' directed by K. Vishwanath. The music in the film was predominantly Carnatic. The same year, he composed music for the film ''Chandramukhi''.

In 2007, Vidyasagar was signed by Prakash Raj for his production venture '' Mozhi'' starring Prithviraj Sukumaran and Jyothika. The film directed by Radha Mohan had critically acclaimed melodies like ''Kaatrin Mozhiye'' and ''Sevvanam''. The songs of ''Mozhi'' had the distinction of being completely devoid of duets. The only female voice was of Sujatha Mohan in Katrin Mozhi. In 2008 Vidyasagar's notable releases were Vijay's ''Kuruvi'' and the Priyadarshan directed ''Mere Baap Pehle Aap'' in Hindi.

After his brief dull phase in Malayalam, he bounced back into the scene with the Lal Jose directorial '' Neelathamara'', scripted by M.T. Vasudevan Nair, with the song ''Anuraga Vilochananaayi'' becoming a cult favourite. He followed it up with hits in Apoorva Ragam and Makeup Man. Meanwhile, in Tamil, he delivered hits with Karthi's ''Siruthai'' and Vijay's ''Kaavalan''.

In 2012, Vidyasagar had three releases in Malayalam with '' Diamond Necklace'', Thappana and ''Ordinary''.

In 2013, Priyadarshan signed him in for his film, ''Geethaanjali'' in Malayalam with Mohanlal in the lead role. Lal Jose's ''Pullipulikalum Aattinkuttiyum'' and ''Jannal Oram'', the Tamil remake of ''Ordinary'' were his other releases of the year. The end of veteran filmmaker Sathyan Anthikkad's 10-film long collaboration with composer Ilaiyaraaja saw him collaborate with Vidyasagar for the film ''Oru Indian Pranayakatha''. Sathyan Anthikad continued his collaboration with Vidya Sagar for his next 2 films, ''Ennum Eppozhum'' (released in 2015) and ''Jomonte Suvisheshangal'' (released in 2017).

Discography

Awards

See also

* List of films directed by Lal Jose featuring Vidyasagar
* Varsha Vallaki Studios

References

External links

*
* Vidy Sagarat AllMusic

Vidyasagar
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Vidyasagar

1963 births
Living people
Telugu people
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners
Tamil film score composers
Telugu film score composers
Malayalam film score composers
Filmfare Awards South winners
Kerala State Film Award winners
Best Music Direction National Film Award winners
20th-century Indian composers
Film musicians from Andhra Pradesh
People from Vizianagaram
Recipients of the Kalaimamani Award
Indian male film score composers