The Underrated Composer: Golden Globe Winner Keeravani’s Genius in Tamil Music

In the light of MM Keeravani’s victory at the 2023 Golden Globes, here’s mapping his journey in Tamil music.

MM Keeravani holds the Golden Globe that RRR won in the Best Original Song category. 

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

With MM Keeravani winning the Golden Globe for Best Original Song for ‘Naatu Naatu’ from SS Rajamouli’s RRR, many would have searched on YouTube and Google to find a playlist of the supremely underrated composer.

And then, like the gift that keeps on giving, first-time listeners would have revelled in the amazement that the three people they had individually admired – MM Keeravani, MM Kreem and Maragatha Mani – were one and the same person. And then, the playlist would have seemed unending, rich and diverse with songs in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi.

There’s the additional joy of discovering that there’s a huge body of delectable work by the composer, before he became a “pan-Indian” sensation, scoring for his cousin SS Rajamouli’s big-ticket bonanzas.

The Tamil Connection

Growing up in Tamil Nadu on a healthy diet of Ilaiyaraaja songs, many of us heard a fresh tune in 1991, not 1992, as is famously thought.

On 12 September 1991, director Vasanth S Sai’s sophomore film Nee Paadhi Naan Paadhi released. It was the first film in Tamil that bore Maragatha Mani’s name as music composer. The film had hit numbers aplenty, including the famous ‘Nivedha,’ a song with just one word – ‘Nivedha’ – preceded and followed by different combinations of swara for lyrics.

Just three months later in December 1991 came K Balachander’s Azhagan, again with his music. Even today, if you’ve to think of a song that captures the passage of time when two lovers speak throughout the night, you can’t think further than the lilting ‘Sangeetha Swarangal’ from Azhagan.

The inventive song by Maragatha Mani concluded with the delightful signature tune of Doordarshan as it opened its morning programming. 

After a four-month gap, in May 1992, Balachander’s Vaaname Ellai hit the screens, again with fabulous music by Maragadha Mani. In January 1993 came Jaadhi Malli that had a heavy influence of Hindustani and folk music.

And then barring some films for Arjun and Paatondru Kettaen, starring Rahman, Maragadha Mani stopped working in Tamil. He’s not composed here for nearly 25 years, but people still turn to his melodies – ironically,  many presume they are by Ilaiyaraaja.

The Illaiyaraaja Influence

Interestingly, Ilaiyaraaja is a composer Keeravani deeply admires – sometime in 2021, he shot a selfie in front of the maestro’s new studio in Chennai and said ‘today has been a good day!’

National Award-winning director Vasanth, known for his keen ear for music, his films uniformly boasting great numbers, still remembers the joy of working with Keeravani. 

Those days, he had just struck out on his own after working with K Balachander for many years.

“Sir (Balachander) was producing my film Nee Paadhi Naan Paadhi and this was the time when he was actively working with composers other than Ilaiyaraaja – he introduced Marakatha Mani in 1991 and AR Rahman in 1992. The late singer SPB Sir (SP Balasubrahmanyam) spoke very highly about Keeravani (who had assisted Charavarthy and Ramesh Vinayagam in Telugu) to KB sir, and he got signed for two films – Azhagan and Vaaname Ellai – that Sir was directing and mine that he was producing."

Vashanth, Tamil Film Director

Vasanth’s film came out before Balachander’s. 

“I’ll always remain very proud that due to release date issues, the introduction card for Keeravani happened with my film,” smiles Vasanth. 

The director said he could never forget how Keeravani worked on ‘Nivedha.’

“We worked out of Savera hotel in Chennai for a week. I asked him if we could do a song without lyrics and just the character's name. I wanted to do something different in every movie. He used the name ‘Nivedha’ and swaras for the rest of the lyrics. You have his music, SPB’s voice...What else did that song need?”

Vasanth, Tamil Film Director

In other songs, Maragatha Mani also gave great importance to lyrics, almost using his music as a scaffolding to hold up the lines. Vasanth agrees. “He’s a melody king. I still don’t know why we did not celebrate him more then.”

The Underrated Composer

Nagarajan Natarajan, who tweets about Indian film music at @SoundTrackIndia, points to Nivedha.

“One of the immediate things that pop in my mind when I hear Maragatha Mani is the quirky genius of Nivedha. Though he hasn't been prolific in Tamil, he anchored the sound of the early 90s for me through his stellar collaborations with K Balachander."

Nagarajan Natarajan

Communications Strategy consultant and music blogger Karthik Srinivasan (@milliblog on twitter) says 1991 was when Tamil music found a definitive new voice after Ilaiyaraaja.

“Balachander picked Keeravani up hardly a year after he made his Telugu debut. His music was very unusual, not pathbreaking like Rahman, but very uniquely different from Ilaiyaraaja. He produced some very good music, but it was very limited.”

Karthik Srinivasan, Communications Strategy Consultant

One word often used by filmmakers and film critics, when it comes to Maragatha Mani is underrated. And, there’s reason to think he has been underrated.

“It is a shame that his work remains sorely underrated despite an ever-so-impressive repertoire. Perhaps his assumed names for each industry he set foot in – and went on to deliver iconic hits over decades – played a part in eclipsing his tremendous work in quality and quantity,” says Nagarajan.

Srinivasan says Maragatha Mani literally set music to standalone words/phrases in ‘Sangeetha Swarangal.’ 

“He has done a whole lot of stellar work with small films, which are not very well known. I don’t think fame has ever touched him. He’s the person who once fixed his retirement date (as 8 December  2016) but then decided to continue. He’s very unguarded with popularity. Looking back, Tamil has not got the best of him. Telugu might be taking him places now, but ironically, I think the Hindi industry made the best use of him (Criminal, Zakhm, Sur, Jism, Paheli)."

Karthik Srinivasan

What makes everyone happy with Keeravani winning the Golden Globe is that recognition has finally come his way. “It really doesn't matter that the song that won this coveted award pales in front of his fantastic compositions over the years. What matters is that MM Keeravani is getting the stage and the limelight,” concludes Nagarajan.

(Subha J Rao is a senior film critic and journalist based in Tamil Nadu.)