Music composer Raj of the Raj-Koti duo passes away!

Tollywood’s veteran music composer Raj of Raj-Koti duo passed away in Hyderabad this evening. His real name is Thotakura Somaraju (Raj) and he is the son of noted Telugu music composer TV Raju. Raj along with music composer Koti formed a team and gave several memorable musical hits in Tollywood. A few current-generation music composers of Tollywood, such as AR Rahman, have worked under him as keyboard player/programmer for several years in Tollywood.

The untimely passing away of Thotakura Somaraju has left the music fraternity shocked.

Raj along with Koti had composed music for over 180 films and has given several blockbuster hits in Tollywood. Most of their songs are sung by SP Balasubramanian and Chitra. They also have reportedly written songs and sung a few of them.

The music composer duo Raj-Koti bagged Nandi Award in 1994 as Best music composers for their film ‘Hello Brother’ that had Nagarjuna playing the lead. They both split and did music individually too and gave several super hits in Tollywood. In one of the recent interviews, the duo announced that they are teaming up again.

Several musicians, filmmakers, singers, lyricists and music composers are mourning his untimely demise and more details about his last rites are awaited.

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