Happy birthday, Karthik Raja: Non-Tamil projects of the music composer
Music composer Karthik Raja has created a niche for himself in the Tamil film industry. The eldest son of legendary composer-singer Ilaiyaraaja, he made his debut in 1992 with the Tamil movie Pandian. He predominantly works in Kollywood but on his 50th birthday on Thursday (June 29), we take a look at his works in other languages, including Hindi.
'Grahan' (Hindi)
Raja's first non-Tamil project was 2001's Grahan, starring Jackie Shroff, Manisha Koirala, and Raghuvaran. Raja composed the album for the film while the songs were reportedly penned by Mehboob and Ila Arun. Incredibly, Grahan's audio was originally released in 1997, but the movie was released in the year 2001. Raja also won the Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent for it.
'Hoo Anthiya Uhoo Anthiya' (Kannada)
After making his Hindi debut, Raja entered the Kannada film industry in 2001 with the film Hoo Anthiya Uhoo Anthiya. Starring Isha Koppikar, Ramesh Aravind, and Anu Prabhakar, the film by K Praveen Nayak mostly gained positive reviews. Along with Raja, it was also the Kannada debut for Hindi singer Sadhana Sargam who is famous for songs such as Saath Samundar Paar.
'Mitr, My Friend' (English)
In the year 2001, Raja also ventured into the English language with Revathi's directorial debut film Mitr, My Friend. Raja reportedly joined the team only for the movie's background score, and not for comping its music album. The English-language Indian film revolved around the plight of women who sacrificed their dreams and life for the betterment of their families.
'Tuneega Tuneega' (Telugu)
MS Raju's 2012 movie Tuneega Tuneega was the Telugu debut for Raja as the music composer. The lyrics of the album, consisting of a total of eight tracks, all composed by Raja, were penned by Krishna Chaitanya and "Sirivennela" Seetharama Sastry. The soundtrack album, released through Aditya Music Label, was dropped on June 10, 2012, at Lalitha Kala Thoranam in Hyderabad.
'Rajadhi Raja' (Malayalam)
Raja was roped in to compose the music for 2014's Malayalam action thriller titled Rajadhi Raja, directed by Ajai Vasudev. It featured Mammootty and Siddique as the actors leading in the front. The album comprised only three songs- Pattum Chutti, Kham Kham, and Midumidukkan. Of these, the first two were Raja's compositions while Midumidukkan was composed by the duo Berny-Ignatius.
