Hamsalekha

He is an instrumentalist, dialogue and screenplay writer, and a composer. He is an Indian, who works in the field of cinema predominantly in the South Indian region. He has contributed through his works in more than 300 movies. He is known for his tremendous work in Kannada films. He has been accorded a National Award and six Filmfare Awards. He is considered one of the vital icons responsible for the change and the craze among fans for the Kannada flicks. He is the pioneer in writing lyrics and composing music which directly appeals to the youth and inspires them. He started to fuse the folk and western music together.

He brought them to the mainstream cinema which was loved and appraised by the audiences. He has also given many newcomers an opportunity to show their talent and earn some name in the field of singing and composing. He was born as ‘Govindaraju Gangaraju’ to a middle-class family in the beautiful city of Mysore. His father used to work in a printing press. After finishing his studies, he joined the printing press along with his father but after some time, he moved to his brother’s orchestra group. Here he found out that he had a keen interest in writing poetry and creating music for his lyrics.

He used to write his lyrics with a pen which has a swan (‘Hamsa’ for Kannada) made on it. His teacher renamed him as Hamsalekha, which means “the Brahma of Music” i.e. the creator of music. He got his first chance in the mainstream cinema when director M.N. Prasad asked him to write a song for his film ‘Triveni’ in 1973. He wrote “Neena Bhagavantha” in his first movie which was filmed with actor Uday Kumar in the lead role. His debutant movie as a music director was ‘Rahuchandra’ in 1981. Unfortunately, the film couldn’t get on floors, and the flick remained unreleased. His popularity peaked up after his collaboration with action flick director Ravichandran. Their partnership lasted for 12 long years. In his private life, he is a happy to go, zealous family man.

He is married to Latha, a playback singer dating back to the 1990’s. They have two children - a boy named Alankar and a daughter named Nandini. Alankar is on his father’s way, and he indulged himself in movies and is working as a musician and actor. Nandini is a playback singer. He is always ready for philanthropic work. He started a free educational institution for SC/ST and underprivileged students where along with studies, they also teach drama, singing and dance. He also opened an Arts College, which provides degree courses.