G. K. Venkatesh


Gurajada Krishnadas Venkatesh was a prominent composer of film music in Kannada cinema during the 1960s, 1970s and until the late-1980s. He also composed music for
Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil movies. He produced numerous master pieces of Kannada film music. He also brought in Western background score into Kannada films and scored music for all Bond movies of Dr.Raj in the 1960s to 1970s.

Early life

He learned music since young and was very talented. Even as a child, he was appreciated by the Raja of Bobbili. He learned veena from his elder brother G. K. S. Pathi. As a teenager, he played Veena for the great music directors such as S. V. Venkatraman, S. M. Subbaiah Naidu and C. R. Subburaman.
GKV was also a talented singer. Before entering to cinema, he was singing in the Bangalore All India Radio. He had done chorus under S. V. Venkatraman for Meera.

Career

He became a close friend to M. S. Viswanathan while working under S. M. Subbaiah Naidu during the late-1940s. They shared the same room in Jupiter Lodge, Madras when MSV was offered to compose some songs for Genova. When N. S. Krishnan offered an opportunity to M. S. Viswanathan and T. K. Ramamoorthy to compose music for Panam for Madras Pictures, GKV became a part of their troupe. He had a chance to sing Ezhayin Kovilai Naadinaen in Panam which was also Sivaji Ganesan's second film. He was named as their assistant by Viswanathan Ramamoorthy.
In 1952, he composed music independently for a Malayalam film, which was also dubbed in Tamil as Nadigai. In 1955, he started to compose music for a Kannada film named Sodari starring Rajkumar and Pandaribai along with H. R. Padmanabha Shastry. Since then he became a much sought after and one of the successful music directors in Kannada films along with T. G. Lingappa and Vijaya Bhaskar. He was showered with offers where he composed music from Ohileshwara until Kalitaaroo Henne in a row. GKV launched P. B. Sreenivos as a successful in Kannada films.
He came back to Tamil films in 1964 for Thirumagal Films movie Magale Un Samathu. Since then he began to compose music for both Kannada and Tamil films.
In the late-1960s, it is notable that Ilaiyaraja and L. Vaidyanathan were playing instruments under GKV's troupe, assisting to compose music.

Work with Rajkumar

GKV composed music for 51 films in which Dr. Rajkumar played the lead role. He launched Dr. Rajkumar as a singer in the film Ohileshwara and also recorded Dr.Rajkumar's first duet in Mahishasura Mardhini.
GKV would insist Dr. Rajkumar to sing regularly, owing to his grooming in the Gubbi Company. Rajkumar, however preferred P. B. Sreenivas, to sing for him.
In 1974, P. B. Sreenivas, was hesitant to sing the song in the movie Sampattige Saval. The song had the hero singing praises of a buffalo and the conservative-minded P. B. Sreenivas wasn't enthusiastic to sing it. GKV proposed to Rajkumar to sing the song. It marked the re-emergence of the singer in Rajkumar.
A versatile music director, GKV used elaborate Western-style orchestration in his songs, be they of any genre. He successfully brought Master singer Dr. Bhimsen Joshi to sing for films Sandhyaraga. Bhimsen Joshi sang again in the movie Nodi Swamy Navirodu Hige.
Ustad Bismillah Khan was reluctant to play Shehnai for films during his later part of years. GKV got the Maestro to play Shehnai for lead character Appanna, enacted by Dr.Rajkumar in Sanadi Appanna. The songs became chartbusters and are aired regularly on the Kannada Radio.

Style of Composing

GKV was a technical wizard and one of the finest composer in india, He brought in the western background score first into Kannada cinema, His re-recording played a vital role in each and every movie he did, his use of instruments in his songs and background scores still feels fresh and advanced even today.

Ilaiyaraaja's Guru

was hired as an assistant by GKV, an event that marked the entry of Ilaiyaraaja into film music composition and direction. Ilaiyaraaja assisted GKV in 200 Kannada film projects. Later Ilaiyaraaja went on to become one of the most prominent film music composers in India.

Acting

GKV had a small part to play in AVM Productions's Mella Thirandhathu Kadhavu in 1986 in which he acted in the role of Mohan's musician father. His dialogues were dubbed by V. Gopalakrishnan. The music directors were M. S. Viswanathan and Ilaiyaraja.
He had appeared on-screen in the Kannada movie Kanteredu Nodu in 1961 in the song "Kannadada Makkalella Ondagi Banni", composed and sung by himself.

Film producer

During the fledgling days of Kannada film movement, he produced movies such as Ranadheera Kantheerava, Immadi Pulikeshi in partnership with other artists. In 1987, he produced the Ramarajan and Revathi starrer Gramathu Minnal Tamil film.

Works

Prominent compositions of G. K. Venkatesh in Kannada include:
Some compositions of G. K. Venkatesh in Tamil, include:
Some compositions of G. K. Venkatesh in Telugu include:

Music direction

As a Playback Singer