Music is one of the most integral parts of Indian cinema, with every language having music and songs within it. Not every song needs to warrant a dance number, but every film needs music in form or another, for better impact on the audience. Having said that, here’s a list of the top 16 music directors in Telugu, of all time:
While Ghantasala is predominantly known as a playback singer to many, what many do not know is that he’s an accomplished classical musician, and has composed music for over 110 films throughout his career. He single handedly established the way Telugu music sounds, giving it a distinct feel. He worked predominantly for Telugu cinema, but has also worked for Tamil, Kannada and even Tulu films.
Another highly accomplished classical musician, KV Mahadevan was also a highly popular music director during his time. He has worked in several industries as a music composer, including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. He has worked as a music director for over 45 films in Telugu.
A highly popular music composing duo of Telugu cinema, they shaped the sound and feel of emerging contemporary Telugu cinema, from the late eighties through early 2000s. They have composed music for over 180 Telugu films, and over 3000 songs. Out of this, 2,500 songs were sung by SP Balasubrahmanyam and KS Chitra.
This legendary music composer has been working in the Indian film industry for over five decades now, having started his career in the 1970s. He has composed thousands of songs, and has become popular for his fusion style of music, where he blends classical Indian music with folk music, or any other type of music. He has worked in several languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Hindi, etc., and continues to be one of the most sought after music directors to this day.
K Chakravarthy started our his career as a music director in the 1970s and went on to compose music for 949 films, which included films of stalwarts like NT Ramarao, Akkineni Nageswara Rao as well. He even composed music for a few of Megastar Chiranjeevi’s films as well. K Chakravarthy has also been seen in several films as an actor.
This is one name that the Telugu audience doesn’t need introduction to. Not just songs, but Mani Sharma is extremely famous for his background score, which he took to new heights, once he was in the picture. He has defined the music of Telugu cinema from the 2000s to the 2010s. While he has slowed down in recent times, the impact that he has created with his music continues to be quite high, with all of his works enjoyed to date. He has also worked for several films in Tamil and Kannada.
This music director is most known for his frequent collaborations with director Teja, who was the one who gave him the biggest break, with the film Chitram. Since then, RP Patnaik has worked for several Telugu films, and as well as for Tamil and Kannada films. Patnaik’s voice was once highly familiar with Uday Kiran as the leading man on the big screen.
At a point in time, Ramana Gogula’s voice was synonymous with Pawan Kalyan, such was the impact that was created by Ramana Gogula’s music for Pawan’s films. The music director composed music for over 25 films in his career, of which most are Telugu films, and a few Kannada and Tamil films.
Chakri has one of the most unique and identifiable voices ever. He has provided memorable music for several films throughout his career. He made his debut with the 2000 film Bachi, directed by Puri Jagannath. He has also collaborated the most with director Puri in his career. He was one of the leading music composers of Tollywood, at the time of his passing.
In a career spanning over three decades, MM Keeravani has worked in several languages as a music director, and has composed music for various genres of films. He made his debut in 1990, with the film Manasu Mamatha, but gained recognition for his work in Seetharamayya Gari Manavralu. He has composed music for 188 films so far. He even gained global recognition for his work in the Baahubali franchise.
Devi Sri Prasad is one music composer who changed the face of Telugu music. Starting his career in early 2000s, the music director is known for incoporating a lot of different styles of music into his composition. He has made the foot tapping and party songs popular in Telugu. He has also worked in other languages, including Tamil and Hindi.
While Thaman made a major impact with his songs with his very debut film, he has since become synonymous with rousing background score. He has become so much associated with his background score that he is often hired for a film for just his background score. Other than that, the music director has also managed to create a good impact with his songs as well.
Mickey J Meyer is known for his more classy and down to earth tunes. His tunes are catchy and a lot of his songs have become pop culture icons as well, sitting next to other popular songs. He has worked for over 50 films so far, mostly in Telugu, and with just one film each in Kannada and Tamil.
Anup has been working in Tollywood since 2004, having composed music for several well known films. However, the music director managed to get his biggest break in 2011, with the film Prema Kavali. Ever since then, there has not been any turning back for the music director, who went on to compose music for films of even big stars.
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