P.K. Raghu Kumar, the unsung composer of Malayalam

He started his career as a tabla artist, later composed music for various films, including 8 films of film maker Priyadarshan

A musician who remained unsung

He started his music career as a tabla artist. After that, he turned to a music director and composed nearly 200 songs, which became all-time hits. Moreover, Raghu Kumar composed music for eight films of film-maker Priyadarshan, even then he is less popular among masses for the reason unknown. In addition to his credits include songs of movies like Thalavattam, Hello My Dear Wrong Number, Boeing Boeing, Aryan, Aram + Aram = Kinnaram, Veendum Lisa, etc.

P.K. Raghu Kumar
Image source: Wikipedia (Tarun Krishna)

Firstly Raghu Kumar was introduced to the film industry by R.K. Shekhar(A.R. Rahman’s father). Secondly, he was part of the orchestra by R.K. Shekhar. Ans also worked as an assistant in various films. His compositions achieved prominence in the 1980s. Moreover, he worked during a time when musicians like Johnson, Shyam, Jerry Amaldev, Raveendran, and Ouseppachan were far more visible. However, Raghukumar came up with some charming compositions.

Some of his compositions like “Ponmuraliyoothum…” (Aryan), “Oru punnaram…” (Boeing Boeing), “Neeyen kinavo…” (Hello My Dear Wrong Number) and “Kaikkudanna niraye…” (Mayaamayooram), “Chembarathipoove cholloo…” (Shyama ), topped the charts. Moreover, there were also some like “Thusharamuthirum…” (Veendum Lisa) and “Madhumasa chandran manju…” (Kanaakkinavu) that went largely unnoticed.

One of his compositions Ponmuraliyoothum…

Mayesh Babu