Rahul Raj

Rahul Raj is an Indian music composer. He has composed and produced scores and soundtracks predominantly for Malayalam movies. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Berklee College of Music and holds a postgraduate degree in scoring for films, TV and video games.

Early life Rahul Raj was born in Kochi to Advocate E. Thankappan and N. S. Kunjoonjamma. His schooling was in Bhavans Vidya Mandir, Elamakkara Kochi. He has one sister, Rehna Raj. From the age of 6, he was trained in Mridangam and Carnatic Music. He graduated as an IT Engineer from CUSAT, Kochi and later on pursued courses such as CCNP and CCIE in Bangalore ILloka networks, before moving to London.

During his stint in London, he underwent training in Electronic Sound Production. He helped Pradeep Menon, a UK-based Indian businessman, remix a Tamil Ayappa record that was originally produced, composed and sung by Pradeep Menon and Shashi Kumar in 1985. The devotional album produced in the UK, Canada and India is titled Sabari Beats.

Career

On returning to India, Raj composed more than 100 jingles for commercials in Malayalam, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu. During this period, he had also composed original themes for many television productions, including shows for Asianet and Amrita TV. The soundtrack album became a pop culture phenomenon over the years.

In 2008, he scored a hit with Anwar Rasheed's Mammootty-starrer Annan Thampi. But his subsequent releases that year, including Malabar Wedding and Crazy Gopalan failed to make any impact.

His only release in 2009 was Shyamaprasad's Ritu, for which he won the Vayalar Award. The award was given by a jury of old school musicians including K.P. Udayabhanu.

In 2010, he won the Kerala State Award for Best Background Score for Ritu. The same year, he was invited to University at Buffalo, The State University of New York to rework and expand Pomp and Circumstance Marches, the traditional convocation music used by them, composed by Sir Edward Elgar. In addition to expanding Edward Elgar's piece, he composed two original music pieces for the convocation, Dance of the Gods and The Circumstance by Rahul Raj. In the same year he signed a project called Mathilukalkkapuram, a sequel to Adoor Gopalakrishnan's classic Mathilukal. The Mammootty starrer which also had Ravi K. Chandran and Resul Pookutty on board as cinematographer and sound designer respectively was subsequently shelved.

In 2011, Rahul Raj made his debut in Telugu cinema by composing music for the Siddharth – Shruti Haasan starrer Oh My Friend. The audio of the film opened to overwhelming responses and rave reviews, climbing to the No. 1 position in Telugu music charts, with the song "Maa Daddy Pockets" in particular becoming a rage among the youth. The audio went on to mark record sales of 3 lakh CDs within nine days of release.

After almost a two-year hiatus, in 2012 he returned to the Malayalam industry by scoring for Amal Neerad's Bachelor Party. The songs became sensational hits and the background score received critical acclaim.

In 2013, he composed for Kili Poyi, which was supposedly the first stoner film in Malayalam Cinema. Though the film opened to mixed responses, the title song became a huge hit. Several critics hailed the background score as the most interesting technical aspect of the movie.

Rahul Raj had a dull opening in 2014 with the high budget romantic comedy London Bridge and Mannar Mathai Speaking 2 the much hyped sequel to the cult comedy classic Mannar Mathai Speaking failing at the box office. Raj had composed only three tracks for London Bridge, as he had to leave the project owing to scheduling conflicts. Later in the year, the Telugu film Paathshala for which he had composed, became a box office success. Rahul's songs for the movie were received well, but it was his background score that was unanimously praised by all reviewers, as a major plus point, crediting it to have elevated the movie to a different level.

The year 2015 opened on a favourable note for Rahul Raj, as his background score for the Mammootty starrer Fireman received praise. His second release of the year was Sidhartha Siva's Ain which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam. The month of August saw the release of his songs from Kohinoor, a heist film set in the 1980s. The song Hemanthamen went on to rake in unanimous praise from critics and public alike, being hailed as an outstanding nostalgic melody.

The year 2017 opened on an excellent note with his song Lailakame from Ezra becoming a smash hit, prompting several cover versions, including one by Rahul Raj himself.

In early 2018, the film Kuttanadan Marpappa met with negative reviews with the music too receiving a lukewarm response. He signed Academy Award Winner Resul Pookutty's multilingual titled The Sound Story directed by Pookutty's protege Prasad Prabhakar. The movie was touted to feature 164 tracks comprising background score pieces and 2 songs. He composed the songs of the film, but opted out before composing the background score, as there were schedule conflicts with his stint in Berklee, Spain.

In June 2019, he composed and conducted the symphonic piece Birth of the Nemesis, which was performed by the London Orchestra. He returned from Europe in July 2019 and was immediately signed by Priyadarshan to compose the background score of his magnum opus Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham, a historical epic set in the 16th century. Having no release in 2020 due to pandemic-induced postponements, his first release after the 2020 lockdown was the Mammootty-starrer The Priest in early 2021. The film opened to mixed reviews, but the music met with overwhelmingly positive responses, particularly the score with IBTimes hailing it as the major highlight of the film. His first release in 2022 was the Mohanlal-starrer Aarattu, directed by B. Unnikrishnan which received predominantly positive reviews for the music, despite the film being critically panned. Meanwhile, veteran director Sathyan Anthikad signed him to score his Jayaram-starrer Makal. He scored two films in 2023, both ending up has box-office duds with the music too making no significant impact. His notable upcoming releases are the Suresh Gopi-starrer Varaaham directed by Sanal V. Devan, The Statesman directed by Kishore Prakash Menon and an untitled film directed by Rathish Ambat in Malayalam; Yaar in Tamil; and another untitled film in Hindi.

In 2013, Rahul Raj was designated as the President of the FEFKA Music Directors' Union, the official association of film composers in the Malayalam film industry.

Film discography 2000s

2010s YearFilmLanguage Songs Score DirectorOther notes2010Chekavar • Malayalam Sajeevan 2011Oh My Friend • Telugu Venu Sriram Telugu Debut. Winner – Maa Music Award – Best Debut Music Composer2012Bachelor Party • Malayalam Amal Neerad 2013Kili Poyi • Malayalam Vinay Govind Paisa Paisa• Malayalam Prasanth Murali Background Score only. D Company • Malayalam Vinod Vijayan Anthology film.Segment: Day of Judgement.2014 London Bridge • Malayalam Anil C. Menon Opening Credits Theme & 2 songs only. Mannar Mathai Speaking 2 • Malayalam Mamas K. Chandran Kadavul Paathi Mirugam Paathi • Tamil Raj-Suresh Tamil Debut.Paathasala • Telugu Mahi V. Raghav2015 Fireman • Malayalam Deepu Karunakaran Ain • Malayalam Sidhartha Siva Kohinoor • Malayalam Vinay Govind Style • Malayalam Binu SadanandanBackground Score only.2016 Mudhugauv • Malayalam Vipin Das Karingunnam Sixes • Malayalam Deepu Karunakaran Kasaba• Malayalam Nithin Renji Panicker White • Malayalam Uday Ananthan IDI- Inspector Dawood Ibrahim • Malayalam Sajid Yahiya 2017 Ezra • Malayalam Jay K E • Malayalam Kukku Surendran Sherlock Toms • Malayalam Shafi 2018Hey Jude • Malayalam Shyamaprasad One song only. Kaly • Malayalam Najim KoyaVikadakumaran • Malayalam Boban Samuel Kuttanadan Marpappa • Malayalam Sreejith VijayanB. Tech • Malayalam Mridul NairEnte Mezhuthiri Athazhangal • Malayalam Sooraj TomDakini • Malayalam Rahul Riji Nair Guest composer. Two songs only.The Sound Story •Malayalam Prasad PrabhakarAnnounced by Resul Pookutty.Multilingual film. 2019 Kodathi Samaksham Balan Vakeel • Malayalam B. Unnikrishnan Announced by Viacom 18 Motion Pictures. Guest composer. Two songs only.Oru Nakshathramulla Aakasham • Malayalam Ajith Pulleri, Suneesh Babu Guest composer. Two songs only.

2020s YearFilmLanguage Songs Score DirectorOther notes2021The Priest • Malayalam Jofin T. Chacko Lalbagh • Malayalam Prasanth MuraliMarakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea • Malayalam Priyadarshan2022 Aaraattu • Malayalam B. Unnikrishnan Freedom Fight • Malayalam Jeo BabyAnthology film. Segment Old Age Home. Makal • Malayalam Sathyan Anthikad Eesho • Malayalam Nadirshah2023 Lovefully Yours Veda • Malayalam Praghesh Sukumaran Dance Party • Malayalam Sohan Seenulal Three songs and score.2024 Pushpaka Vimanam • Malayalam Ullas KrishnaPorattu Nadakam • Malayalam Noushad Saffron Manorathangal • Malayalam Rathish Ambat2025 Narayaneente Moonnaanmakkal • Malayalam Sharan VenugopalOka Padhakam PrakaramTelugu Vinod Vijayan Aabhyanthara Kuttavaali • Malayalam Sethu Nath Padmakumar 2026 Malayalam G. Marthandan Varaaham • Malayalam Sanal V. Devan Kaalante Thangakkudam • Malayalam Nithish K.T.R The Statesman • Malayalam Kishore Prakash Menon

Short films

Awards and nominations Award Year Project Category Outcome Kerala State Film Award 2009 Ritu Best Background Score Vayalar Movie Award 2009 Ritu Best Music Composer Jay Cee Foundation Award 2007 Time Best Music Composer Maa Music Award 2011 Oh My Friend Best Debut Music Composer (Telugu) Flowers Music Awards 2018 Lailakame (Ezra) Best Song Composition