Form Carnatic music to Tinsel town tunes

There have been many instrumentalists from the Carnatic music world who’ve made a foray into films
There have been many instrumentalists from the Carnatic music world who've made a foray into films There is always hype about the Carnatic music vocalist’s entry into film music. But a little known fact is that there have been several instrumentalists from the Carnatic music world who have been successfully performing for film compositions.
In performing the instrument for the films, the role of an instrumentalist demands a greater job in re-recordings, interludes and to bring feelings in different situations. Many would have heard the lilting Singaravelane..., the popular number of yesteryears from the Tamil film Konjum Salangai, with the beautiful strains of the nagasvaram.
The great Karaikuruchi Arunachalam was the one rendered this tune. The film Deivam had the song Marudamalai Mamaniye... that created waves for which Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan performed the violin as an accompanist to the singer Madurai Somu. In fact, Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan scored music for several films too. Present-day musicians are no exception for this.
The film Duet made Kadri Gopalnath popular as a saxophonist. Violinist Embar Kannan, who is a favourite accompanist of many vocalists, entered the film world with the movie Puli Pettra Pillai and has worked with several music directors. His violin can be heard in the films Ivan, Dum Dum Dum, Kanda Naal Mudal and Sivaji to name a few. Violinist Nandini Muthuswamy has scored the music for Suhasini Maniratnam’s short film Kaicha Maram.
The melodious strains coming from those of Veena Gayathri and Chitti Babu can be heard in many films, including Kalai Kovil. Ghatam Karthick is a much sought after percussionist in the film industry having worked with top music directors. The brothers’ duo Ganesh and Kumaresh, apart from acting in the popular Oru Veedu Iru Vasal, lent their violin music in several films.
Guitar Prasanna has done orchestra arrangement for many films including Aamir Khan’s Lagaan. Though Carnatic music is mostly a vocalists’ world, these instrumentalists have carved a niche for themselves in the film world by their sheer talent and versatility.