Deva (composer)

Devanesan Chokkalingam, popularly known as Deva, is an Indian film composer and singer who predominantly works in Tamil Cinema. He has composed songs and provided background music for Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films in a career spanning about 20 years. Many know his gaana songs, written mostly using Madras Tamil, though he has gained notoriety for plagiarising others' songs. He has composed music for more than 400 films.
Personal life.
Deva was born to M. C. Chokkalingam and M. C. Krishnaveni. Even in his childhood, Deva was attracted to the world of music. Teaming up with Chandra Bose, he staged many musical programmes. He started learning classical music under Dhanraj and has completed a course in Western music at Trinity College of Music in London. His son Srikanth Deva is also a music director, as are his brothers, who have formed the duo Sabesh-Murali. His nephew Jai is an actor.
Career.
Before coming to cinema, Deva worked for some time in the television field. In those days, Deva's brothers were working in the musical troupes of Illayaraja and other music directors as instrumentalists. His first film, "Manasukketha Maharasa", was released in 1989. He was then called to work on the movie "Vaigasi Poranthachu". After the release of "Vaikaasi Poranthaachu", his name became known throughout the Tamil community.
The great music composer M. S. Viswanathan called him “thenisai thendral”, or the breeze of sweet music. So far, he has composed music for more than 400 films, which include Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. He is also famous for his compositions for religious films. He was widely acclaimed for his scores for the Rajinikanth starrer "Annamalai" (1992) and "Baashha" (1995).
The 1990s belonged as much to Deva as it did to A. R. Rahman. In 1996, Deva composed tunes for 36 movies. His scores played a big role in the emergence of actors Ajith and Vijay, with hits such as "Aasai" (1995), "Kadhal Kottai" (1996), "Nerrukku Ner" (1997), "Ninaithen Vandhai" (1998), "Priyamudan" (1998), "Vaalee" (1999), "Kushi" (2000) helping them establish themselves as the next-generation superstars.
In 2014, Anirudh Ravichander chose Deva to sing a gaana song in his album "Maan Karate".
Awards.
In 1990, he received his first Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director. He received the Tamil Nadu Government's Kalaimamani Award in the year 1992. In 1995, the film "Aasai" brought him another state film award. For "Baashha", he got the Tamil Nadu Arts and Cultural Academy Award. He received an award by Guinness world records for "Sivappu Mazhai" as the world fastest movie from script to screening. He has also been honoured by awards from popular journals like " Dinakaran", "Cinema Express" and "Screen". He won the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director - Kannada film "Amrutha Varshini".