“Thenisai Thendral” Deva – The man who overcame all odds to achieve success.

The introduction of AR Rahman in 1992 took the music world by storm and his debut album, Roja, was a runaway hit but Roja was not the number 1 selling album for 1992, nor was its background score much talked about – Both these accolades belong to music composer Deva for his work on Rajinikanth’s Annamalai.

Deva had very humble beginnings and his family could not even afford a radio, Deva’s first exposure to music was through loudspeakers at shops, Temple festivals and in buses. He began to play the harmonium by ear and was soon in demand for stage productions.

In 1973, he teamed up with Chandhrabose to form the duo called Bose-Deva but when a film chance came their way in 1977, Chandhrabose decided to go solo.

A disappointed Deva then took a job as a floor assistant in Doordarshan TV but was suspended for 15 days for touching a piano. He then learnt music under Dhanraj Master, who was also Illaiyaraja’s Guru.

Deva then turned his attention to composing music for devotional albums and completed a phenomenal 450 albums before being persuaded by MS Viswanathan to try his hand at film music. It was MS Viswanathan who first started referring to Deva’s music as Thenisai Thendral.

Deva’s first film signing was for Ramarajan’s 1989 film, Manasuketha Maharasa but he found fame for his second film, the 1990 Prashanth-starrer, Vaigasi Porandhaachu.

With Illaiyaraja ruling with melodies and AR Rahman winning the hearts of the youth, Deva had to find his own niche and he did so by introducing Gana songs to films. He did this while still providing melodious and foot-tapping hits.

With more than 400 films to his credit, Deva has enjoyed a slew of hits with all major actors of his time, including Sivaji Ganesan, Rajinikanth, and Kamalhassan. He also played a major role in bolstering the films of Vijay, Ajithkumar, Sathyaraj, Karthik, Vijayakanth and Prabhu in his heydays, the 1990s.

Deva turned 75 on 20 November.