Yuvan Shankar Raja
Mafia
Yuvan began work on his first score at the age of 16 for a 1996 Tamil movie called Aravindhan. Other works on films like Velai (1998) and Kalyana Galatta (1998), however, did not manage to draw out much support and audience and in fact, sparked debate on the quality of the sound tracks amongst the critics. Raja went through a difficult time in his career at this early stage, where having left his studies after grade 10 and a seemingly failing music career, work was hard to find in the film market. Fortunately for Raja, movie directors like Vasanth, Sundar Pillai and Arunasalam Muragadoss recognized the special talents Raja possessed and hired him to make sound tracks for blockbusters like Poovellam Kettupar (1999), Rishi (2000) and Dheena (2000).
Yuvan Shankar Raja is an Indian musician and composer, mainly focusing production on the Tamil film industry in India. He was born in 1979 in the Indian province of Tamil Nadu, and grew up in a family where music was given much value and importance. His father, Ilaiyaraaja, is a famous musician and composer as well, having contributed several scores to Indian Tamil films in the past. Quite expectedly, Raja attributes his talents to his father and brother. Yuvan Raja spent his childhood hoping to join the aircraft industry, due to his fascination with airplanes. However, having grown in an environment where music was everywhere, he was drawn immediately to instruments such as the guitar and keyboards and started focusing more on a career in music.