MM Keeravani's birthday: Remembering his notable compositions
MM Keeravani, the Indian music composer, singer, and lyricist who predominantly works in Telugu films, turned 62 on Tuesday. He began his career in 1990 and since then he has contributed to Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films. However, he rose to global fame by winning the Oscar award for RRR's Naatu Naatu. Here are five of his notable compositions over the years.
'RRR'
Naatu Naatu became the first-ever Indian song to win over 10 international accolades, including the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Original Score this year. It is an original score that features Ram Charan and Jr. NTR dancing in the 2022 Telugu film RRR directed by SS Rajamouli. It took as long as 19 months to complete its production.
'Annamayya'
Keeravani won the National Award for music direction of the album featured in the 1997 Telugu biographical film Annamayya starring Nagarjuna in the lead. Released under the banner of T-Series, the album is one of the highest-sold Telugu music albums ever. Vinaro Bhagyamu, Telugu Padaniki, Ele Ele Maradala, Padhaharu Kalalaku, and Adhivo Alladivo are a few songs among the 20 in the album.
'Baahubali: The Beginning' and 'Baahubali 2: The Conclusion'
The soundtrack and background score of the popular Rajamouli franchise Baahubali won him several awards, including the Filmfare Awards South and Nandi Awards for music direction as well as lyrics. Starring Prabhas, Tamannaah Bhatia, Rana Daggubati, Anushka Shetty, and Ramya Krishnan, Baahubali: The Beginning was released in 2015 while Baahubali 2: The Conclusion was released two years later in 2017.
'Zakhm'
Keeravani composed nine songs for the Mahesh Bhatt-directed 1998 Hindi film Zakhm starring Ajay Devgn including the iconic song Gali Mein Aaj Chand Nikla. Besides music direction, Keeravani gave vocals to the male version of the song Maa Ne Kaha and Chitra sang the female version while most of the songs were sung by Alka Yagnik.
'Rog'
Composed by Keeravani, Maine Dil Se Kaha from another Mahesh Bhatt-directorial, Rog, is a ballad of nostalgia. It features late actor Irrfan Khan and is sung by late singer KK. Neelesh Mishra wrote the lyrics for the song. Mishra and Keeravani's combination has given us an era of sad songs like Awarapan Banjarapan, Jaadu Hai Nasha Hai, and Chalo Tumko Lekar Chalein, among others.
