Music is way of life for this Hyderabad-based multi-talented musician
Many people dream of making a mark in the film industry but only few make the effort needed to make it come true. Penumatsa Venakatarama Raju, a.k.a. PVR Raja, left his hometown and his comfort zone to test his luck in the film industry. Raja, who hails from Visakhapatnam and settled in Hyderabad, says he […]
Many people dream of making a mark in the film industry but only few make the effort needed to make it come true. Penumatsa Venakatarama Raju, a.k.a. PVR Raja, left his hometown and his comfort zone to test his luck in the film industry.
Raja, who hails from Visakhapatnam and settled in Hyderabad, says he first took up the job of a music teacher to survive in the city of pearls. “I left my house without any money to realise my dream of composing music for films. It is really hard to sustain in the industry without having a background. Creating our own identity is harder,” says the 35-year-old.
PVR Raja is now a popular music composer, lyricist, and guitarist who is in demand for Telugu short-films. He has worked predominantly for digital short-films and independent films from 2013 to the present. He has worked for 150-plus short-films in English, Hindi, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, and even silent films.
Having moved to Hyderabad in 2006, he looked forward to taking up any opportunity that came to him at that point. That’s when the trend of short-films started in the city. Considering those short-films as his golden opportunity, he provided film-level, original tracks for short-films.
Raja spends all his hard-earned money on these films, which finally got him recognition in the film industry. “I am currently working as a music director for Pragathi Pictures’ ‘Madhi’, ‘Chukkallo Vunde Kundelu’, ‘Maro Prapancham’ and ‘Responsible Men and Respectable Women’ (RR),” revealed PVR, who won many awards and nominations for short-films as Best Music Director.
He was one of the nominees in the Best Music Director Category for 2020 SIIMA Short-film awards. In 2017, Raja won at the International Telugu Short-Film Festival for his composition for the short-film ‘Itlu Mee Laila’.
Some independent films that he composed music for include Jayashankarr’s ‘Happy Ending’, ‘Advika’, ‘Akasamantha Prema’, ‘Naa Seetha Mahalaxmi’, ‘Happy Married Life’ (Kannada), and ‘Pushpavilapam’. He also worked for OTT films like ‘Atma Rama Ananda Ramana’ (aha),’ Vitamin She’ (MX Player), and ‘Chai Kahani’ (MX Player).