Music of Devi Sri Prasad

**NOV** · 5th June 2010, 08:19 AM

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Devi Sri Prasad (born 2 August 1979) was born in Vedurupaka and later moved to Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. His father was a school teacher and a writer. He completed his schooling at Sir M. Venkata Subba Rao Boys High School, T. Nagar, Chennai. He won several prizes in the culturals organised at inter-school level for both dance and singing competitions.

His debut music album Dance Party, along with S. P. B. Charan and a few more debutants at the time, was the kick start of his music career. He began his musical-direction career in 1999 in the Telugu film Devi. Devi Sri Prasad was a disciple of the renowned mandolinist, U. Srinivas, and he has directed music for dozens of South Indian films, including several box-office successes.

Devi Sri Prasad is known to be a big fan of Ilaiyaraaja. He has a younger brother named Sagar who is also a playback singer.

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devi_Sri_Prasad

**Google Adsense** · 5th June 2010 08:19 AM

**NOV** · 5th June 2010, 08:23 AM

Originally Posted by The Hindu

Devi Sri Prasad is upbeat. As “Singam” rocks the box office, the music composer talks about his passion-turned-profession.

Devi Sri Prasad is smiling from ear to ear. The musician, who is back after a frenzied round of theatre-hopping to gauge the audience pulse at the “Singam” shows, breaks into song. “Stole My Heart…tran tran tran…” he mock-strums ecstatically.

The number is one of Devi a.k.a DSP's current favourites from a spice-spangled oeuvre that covers 40 films in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. At his tech-tuned studio on the backstreets of Vadapalani, the buoyant musician, famous for some recent sonic adventures, is living out his dream. And guess what, a larger-than-life portrait of the maestro he respects most — Ilayaraja — in his trademark pensive mood, watches over the proceedings!

For someone who did his school homework listening to “Ilayaraja's plaintive ‘Solai pushpangalae en sogam kaelungalae…' from a tiny transistor, and grew up on a steady diet of Michael Jackson's head bobbing beats, Devi says he's lucky because his passion is his profession. “It's like a beautiful paid holiday! I'm having fun composing tunes. To be a composer, you have to be a die-hard music lover — which I am.”

He breaks into another song — “Excuse Me Mr. Kanthasamy” — this time with a mock keyboard, to explain that it isn't easy to compose songs for commercial films. “Any song has to be catchy. People think class films are tough and mass films come easy. But that's not true. Not many know I'm a disciple of Mandolin U. Shrinivas. The Prabhu Deva-directed ‘Pournami' has many songs with classical influences. The biggest test is to bring freshness to any proven format.”

In the same vein, the composer whose cheeriness is so much in tune with his sunshine tracks such as ‘Adada Adada Adada' (“Santhosh Subramaniam”) and ‘Daddy Mummy Veetil Illa' (“Villu”), says, “I believe in breaking rules. You can succeed even without breaking rules. But only if you look beyond preset notions, you can get to the next level. Look at Mani Ratnam or Ram Gopal Varma. They are not judged by their latest hit or flop. They will always be respected because they paved new paths. I'm inspired by such people. I'm trying too — in my own way to be individualistic, even while alchemising varied influences — from folk and kuthu to pop and hip-hop.”

Creative freedom

Talk about directors he's worked with and the creative freedom he enjoys, and Devi says, “It's the director who holds the key to the success of a film. To begin with, he is the source of my inspiration for any score. Thankfully, whether it is Susi Ganesan (‘Kanthasamy'), Hari (‘Aaru', ‘Singam') or K.S. Ravi Kumar (RR for ‘Dasavatharam'), I've enjoyed freedom. And music happens in a very casual atmosphere — in the course of a conversation. Or over a cup of coffee. Filmmaking is based on trust between many creative people. I'm conscious of the fact that a good film can become a super hit if the music strikes a chord with the audience and that even a fantastic score cannot save a poorly made film!”

Born in Andhra Pradesh and bred in Tamil Nadu, Devi undoubtedly has an edge. The musician who made his debut at the age of 17 with the Telugu runaway success “Devi” (don't miss the happy coincidence), and didn't have to hit the pause button since, says, “I'm totally clued in when it comes to Tamil and Telugu films. I can even write lyrics in Tamil! Knowing the languages and understanding local sensibilities are a big advantage because music is an important form of expression. From my school days at Venkata Subba Rao in T. Nagar, I've participated in culturals and straddled many passions — music, dance and photography.”

Devi is hopeful of cutting a non-film disc too. “I feel sad when I go back in time to the days of good old desi pop. Channels and music companies that once promoted the genre are today out of business. In my teens, I did ‘Dance Party' and ‘Mr. Devi'. Non-film albums are a great avenue for music aspirants. Not all wanting to get into films realise their dreams.”

With a clutch of big banners in Telugu and Tamil (upcoming works of K.S. Ravikumar-Kamal Haasan, Bhoopathy Pandiyan-Vikram and Hari), there's a lot to sing about on Devi's career front. “The past few years have been a whirl. It's a capricious industry. So you feel mighty responsible about the work you take on. But despite the frenetic schedules and cancelled vacation plans, I don't feel I've missed anything. Because I'm composing music not by force, but by choice,” he smiles and returns to mock strumming — this time it's throaty Baba Sehgal's ‘Kadhal Vandhale' from “Singam”.

http://beta.thehindu.com/life-and-st...icle446403.ece

**Bala (Karthik)** · 8th June 2010, 10:42 AM

Devi Sri Prasad was a disciple of the renowned mandolinist, U. Srinivas

What a guru to have

**raajarasigan** · 8th June 2010, 09:38 PM

Objection your honor....DSP ellam thaniya thread create pandra alavukku innum valarala enbathu en karuthu...

**satissh_r** · 8th June 2010, 09:42 PM