S. V. Venkatraman

S. V. Venkatraman
Birth name	Sozhavanthan Varadharajan Venkatraman
Born	(1911-04-25)25 April 1911
Origin	Ayyampalayam, Madras Presidency, British India
Died	7 April 1998(1998-04-07) (aged 86) Palavakkam, Tamil Nadu, India

Sozhavanthan Varadharajan Venkatraman (Tamil: சோழவந்தான் வரதராஜன் வெங்கட்ராமன்) (25 April 1911 – 7 April 1998), also known as SVV, was an Indian actor, singer, and music director, who was active in the Indian film industry from 1938 to the 1970s.

Venkatraman composed the music for Meera, starring M. S. Subbulakshmi. He also composed music for more than 200 Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films.

Early life

Sozhavanthan Varadharajan Venkatraman was born on 25 April 1911, to Varadharajan Iyer and Lakshmi Ammal. When he was three years old, his father died, and his uncle took responsibility for his upbringing. He displayed an aptitude for music from an early age, & his school education ended after the fourth standard.

To pursue his passion for music he went to Chintadripet, Madras. There the head of a drama troupe heard him singing, and offered Venkatraman a job as a stage artist/singer/musician. Venkatraman learnt to play the harmonium, but had no formal training in Carnatic music.

During his time in Madras, Venkatraman acted in five films. During a fight scene in one of the films he broke his left hand. While recuperating at Cubbon Park, Bangalore, A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar found Venkatraman and invited him back to Madras to work as the music director for Chettiar's next film, Nanda Kumar.

Career

Venkatraman composed music for many films, including Nanda Kumar, Tahsildar, Valmiki, Manonmani, Kannagi, Nandanar, Meera (Tamil and Hindi), Naga Panchami, Sri Murugan, Manohara (Tamil, Telugu and Hindi), and Irumbu Thirai.

Venkatraman worked with actors such as C. N. Annadurai, M. G. Ramachandran, M. Karunanidhi, Jayalalitha, and N. T. Rama Rao. Many popular composers, including M. S. Viswanathan, T. K. Ramamoorthy, and G. K. Venkatesh worked with him.

All leading playback singers of the time from P. U. Chinnappa Bhagavathar and G. N. Balasubramaniam to M. M. Dandapani Desikar and T. M. Soundararajan lent their voices to Venkatraman's tunes. Carnatic music legends D. K. Pattammal and M. L. Vasanthakumari also came under his baton. Venkatraman himself also proved his prowess as a singer in a few films. Venkatraman's last assignment was Sri Krishna Leela.

Venkatraman scored the music for the famous "Bhaja Govindam", sung by M. S. Subbulakshmi and worked on songs that she made famous, such as "Vadavaraiyai Mathakki", "Mudiondrum Moolangalum", and a few Mahakavi Bharathiyar songs. He set to tune the Narayaneeyam and the Guruvayur Suprabhatam, rendered by Trichur Ramachandran and Papanasam Sivan's Sree Rama Charitha Geetham and sung by Sirkazhi Govindarajan. He tuned Mahakavi Bharathiyar songs and tuned Karpagambal Andhadi for M. M. Dandapani Desikar. He was the composer for All India Radio's Serndhisai, Vadhya Vrindha, and many other music ventures. Music for the Voice of India by Mahatma Gandhi's son had been scored by him.

Venkatraman worked with singers like T. M. Soundararajan, A. M. Rajah, Sirkazhi Govindarajan, Thiruchi Loganathan, V. N. Sundaram, T. A. Mothi, M. L. Vasanthakumari, P. Leela, Jikki, T. V. Rathnam, A. P. Komala, Radha Jayalakshmi, K. Jamuna Rani, P. Susheela, K. Rani, S. Janaki, and L. R. Eswari.

The singing actors M. M. Dandapani Desikar, G. N. Balasubramaniam, M. S. Subbulakshmi, D. K. Pattammal, P. U. Chinnappa, C. Honnappa Bhagavathar, U. R. Jeevarathinam, N. C. Vasanthakokilam, T. R. Mahalingam, T. R. Rajakumari, V. Nagayya, N. S. Krishnan, T. A. Madhuram, T. S. Durairaj, and J. P. Chandrababu all sang songs under his compositions.

Personal life

Venkatraman married Saraswathi at the age of 28 in 1939. The couple had four sons and four daughters. Venkatraman died in his sleep on 7 April 1998, at his residence in Palavakkam.

Filmography

Music Direction

Year	Film	Language	Director	Banner	Co-Music Director
1938	Nandakumar	Tamil	Keshav Rao Dhaibar	Pragati Pictures
1940	Bhookailas	Telugu	Sundar Rao Nadkarni	Pragati Pictures	R. Sudarsanam
1940	Sakunthalai	Tamil	Ellis R. Dungan	Royal Talkies	Thuraiyur Rajagopala Sharma
1941	Mani Maalai or Mainarin Kaadhal	Tamil	Fram Sethna & A. T. Krishnaswamy	AL.RM & Company
1942	Kannagi	Tamil	M. Somasundaram & R. S. Mani	Jupiter Pictures
1943	Kubera Kuchela	Tamil	R. S. Mani	Jupiter Pictures	Kunnakudi Venkatarama Iyer, N. S. Balakrishnan & T. R. Ramanathan
1944	Harichandra	Tamil	K. B. Nagabhushanam	Sri Rajarajeswari Films	S. Rajeswara Rao
1944	Mahamaya	Tamil	T. R. Raghunath & Elagovan	Jupiter Pictures	Kunnakudi Venkatarama Iyer
1945	Meera	Tamil	Ellis R. Dungan	Chandraprabha Cinetone
1945	Paranjothi	Tamil	B. S. Ramaiya	Shyamala Pictures
1946	Sri Murugan	Tamil	M. Somasundaram & V. S. Narayanan	Jupiter Pictures	S. M. Subbaiah Naidu
1946	Valmiki	Tamil	Sundar Rao Nadkarni	Central Studios	Papanasam Sivan
1947	Meera	Hindi	Ellis R. Dungan	Chandraprabha Cinetone
1947	Thiyagi	Tamil	Ramjibhai Arya & S. R. Krishna Ayyangar	Moorthi Productions	T. R. Ramanathan
1947	Mahathma Udhangar	Tamil	G. Pattu Iyer	Sri Kamal Productions
1948	Gnana Soundari	Tamil	F. Nagoor & Joseph Thaliath Jr	Citadel Film Corporation
1948	Gokuladasi	Tamil	K. Subrahmanyam	Neptune Studios
1948	Thirumazhisai Aazhwar	Tamil	D. S. Kotnis & P. S. Chettiar	Sri Kanna Films	T. R. Ramanathan
1949	Krishna Bakthi	Tamil	R. S. Mani	Krishna Pictures
1949	Navajeevanam	Tamil	K. B. Nagabhushanam	Rajarajeshwari Films
1950	Laila Majnu	Tamil	F. Nagoor	Balaji Pictures
1950	Ithaya Geetham	Tamil	Joseph Thaliath Jr.	Citadel Film Corporation
1950	Paarijatham	Tamil	K. S. Gopalakrishnan	Lavanya Pictures	C. R. Subbaraman
1951	Vanasundari	Tamil	T. R. Raghunath	Krishna Pictures	C. R. Subbaraman
1951	Soudamini	Telugu	K. B. Nagabhushanam	Sri Rajarajeswari Films
1951	Saudamini	Tamil	K. B. Nagabhushanam	Sri Rajarajeswari Films
1951	Lavanya	Tamil	G. R. Lakshmanan	Eastern Art Productions
1951	Singari	Tamil	T. R. Raghunath	National Productions	T. A. Kalyanam & T. R. Ramanathan
1953	Panakkaari	Tamil	K. S. Gopalakrishnan	Uma Pictures
1953	Manithan	Tamil	K. Ramnoth	Jupiter Pictures & Lavanya Movies
1953	Kangal	Tamil	Krishnan–Panju	Motion Pictures Team	G. Ramanathan
1954	Karkottai	Tamil	Kemparaj Productions	Kemparaj Urs	G. Ramanathan
1954	Manohara	Tamil	L. V. Prasad	Manohar Pictures	T. R. Ramanathan
1954	Manohar	Hindi	L. V. Prasad	Manohar Pictures	T. R. Ramanathan
1954	Manohara	Telugu	L. V. Prasad	Manohar Pictures	T. R. Ramanathan
1955	Maaman Magal	Tamil	R. S. Mani	Mani Productions
1955	Koteeswaran	Tamil	Sundar Rao Nadkarni	Sri Ganesh Movietone
1956	Kannin Manigal	Tamil	T. Janakiraman	Maheswari Pictures
1956	Naga Panjami	Tamil	K. B. Nagabhushanam	Sri Rajarajeswari Films
1956	Naga Panchami	Telugu	K. B. Nagabhushanam	Sri Rajarajeswari Films
1956	Nannambikkai	Tamil	K. Vembu & Charlie	Film Center
1956	Ondre Kulam	Tamil	N. Krishnaswamy	Triveni Pictures
1958	Paanai Pidithaval Bhaagyasaali	Tamil	T. S. Durairaj	Maragatha Pictures	S. Rajeswara Rao
1960	Irumbu Thirai	Tamil	S. S. Vasan	Gemini Studios
1961	Akbar	Tamil	K. Asif	Sterling Investment Corporation
1961	Marutha Nattu Veeran	Tamil	T. R. Raghunath	Sri Ganesh Prasad Movies
1963	Arivaali	Tamil	A. T. Krishnaswamy	A.T.K. Productions
1971	Kannan Karunai	Tamil	N. T. Rama Rao	NAT & Ramakrishna Cine Studios
1977	Sri Krishna Leelai	Tamil	A. P. Nagarajan	C. N. V. Movies

Playback Singer

Year	Film	Language	Song	Co-Singer	Music
1950	Parijatham	Tamil	Ulagathukae Unavalikkum	Jikki	S. V. Venkatraman & C. R. Subbaraman
1951	Saudamini	Tamil	Kaarum Karunaanidhiye		S. V. Venkatraman
			Vidhiyai Meira Vasama
1953	Manithan	Tamil	Ulagamellaam Nee Odi		S. V. Venkatraman
1953	Kangal	Tamil	Sinna Penne Vaadi		S. V. Venkatraman & G. Ramanathan
			Sathiyame Thavaraamale
1954	Manohara	Tamil	Sandhegam Illai Sandhegam Illai	C. S. Pandiyan	S. V. Venkatraman & T. R. Ramanathan
			Pombalathaanaa Nee Pombalathaanaa	C. S. Pandiyan
			Radhi Manmadha	C. S. Pandiyan
1955	Koteeswaran	Tamil	Kattikko Thaali Kattikko	P. Leela	S. V. Venkatraman
1956	Kannin Manigal	Tamil	Yaen Marandhaai Eesaa		S. V. Venkatraman
1956	Nannambikkai	Tamil	Vaaraamal Irundhiduvaano	K. Rani	S. V. Venkatraman
			Sooriyanum Oru Thozhilaali

References

• Randor Guy. "Idhaya Geetham 1950". The Hindu.
• Randor Guy. "Meera 1945". The Hindu.
• Randor Guy. "Sakunthalai 1941". The Hindu.
• Randor Guy. "Panakkari 1953". The Hindu.
• Special Correspondent. "Kalaimamani Awards Announced". The Hindu. {{cite news}}: |author= has generic name (help)

External links

• Tamil article on S. V. Venkatraman
• S. V. VENKATRAMAN
• S. V. Venkatraman at IMDb