S. V. Venkatraman Biography 
S. V. Venkatraman, shortly known as SVV was a noted music director, singer and actor of south Indian cinema. He has also composed music for a few Hindi movies. He entered film field in the late 1930’s and was active in the industry till 1977. His works were mostly concentrated on to Tamil movies and has worked with all leading singers of the time like T. M. Soundararajan, A. M. Rajah, Seerkazhi Govindarajan, K. Jamuna Rani, P. Suseela, K. Ranee, S. Janaki, M. L. Vasanthakumari, P. Leela, Jikki, T. V. Rathinam and L. R. Eswari.
His full name is Sozhavanthan Varadharajan Venkatraman and he was born on 25 April 1911 in Ayyampalayam, Madras Presidency of British India. Varadharajan Iyer and Lakshmi Ammal were his parents. He lost his father at the age of 3 and later his uncle became his local guardian. He studied till fourth standard and showed interest in music at a younger age. To pursue his passion for music he went to Chintadripet, Chennai where he joined a drama troupe. He performed as a singer and actor though he didn’t have any formal training in Carnatic music. During this time, he learnt harmonium also. He has also acted in 5 Tamil movies and debut as music director with A. V. Meiyappa Chettiar's Nanda Kumar.
Nanda Kumar, Tahsildar, Valmiki, Manonmani, Kannagi, Nandanar, Meera (Tamil and Hindi), Naga Panchami, Sri Murugan, Manohara (Tamil, Telugu and Hindi), and Irumbu Thirai are his noted works as a music composer. M. S. Subbulakshmi sang for his beautiful compositions of the movies – Meera and Bhaja Govindam. He has also tuned several devotional albums including Narayaneeyam and the Guruvayur Suprabhatam, rendered by Trichur Ramachandran.
Published: N/A
Updated: January 17, 2014
