Achu Rajamani, often credited as Achu, is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer and singer. He has scored music for several Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil films. He made his music direction debut in the Telugu filmNenu Meeku Telusa...? in 2008.
Early life
Achu is the grandson of music director B. A. Chidambaranath who is considered to be one among the pioneers of Malayalam music industry. His father, Rajamani, was also a music director who scored for more than 1000 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam languages. He is a graduate from Loyola College, Chennai. Hailing from a musical family, Achu's natural interest was to become a pilot. He chose music over aviation and became a full-fledged musician. He learned Carnatic classical from music director M. M. Keeravani.
Career
Achu has worked as a keyboard programmer for more than 350 songs and has programmed background music for over 150 films. He is also a professional pianist and has accompanied his father playing the piano to many of his compositions. He first played keyboard for Bollywood filmChup Chup Ke directed by Priyadarshan. He was the called upon to score the background music for the Malayalam filmKeerthi Chakra's sequel filmKurukshetra. Achu's background music was well appreciated. Following this short stint, Achu got his major break when he got to compose the songs and background score for the Telugu film Nenu Meeku Telusa...?. His next work was for the Telugu remake of the Tamil filmPolladhavan, named Kurradu. Apart from composing, Achu also worked as a playback singer. His song "Take It Easy" for the Malayalam film Happy Husbands composed by M. Jayachandran was among the major hits of 2010. In 2012, Achu released his first full-fledged Tamil soundtrack for the film Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathilaey. The album was very well received by critics. His Telugu songs Bujji Pilla and Devatha from Potugadu and Padipoya from DK Bose were the biggest hits of 2013. Apart from composing and playback singing Achu is into professional racing. He took a break from films to pursue his racing career from 2009 till 2012. He is a cricketer too. In 2015, he made his debut as an actor with the Telugu film Gaddam Gang.
