From viral songs to background scores, Telugu film music is changing rapidly. Yet it remains one of the few industries where every style of music thrives. Take this week’s film The Paradisefor instance. While Anirudh Ravichander’s compositions for ‘Aaya Sher’ and ‘Yesha Nagula’ were chartbusters, the more soulful numbers emerged closer to the release date.
A few years ago, composer S. Thaman compared a music album to a marriage invitation card that entices listeners to hit theatres. Music can sell a film, enrich its world, stir nostalgia, tap into pop culture, or simply exist as music.
From a musical like Sing Geethamto Lenin’s peppy album for a mass rural drama, from the operatic soundtrack of Rao Bahadurto the near songless actioner DC, mass, class and niche coexist here.
The pace at which Telugu films release — an average of four a week — and music is consumed as singles do not allow enough room for every song to be appreciated. However, it makes the ecosystem interesting.
Anirudh Ravichander
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Special Arrangement
The audience pulse
This awareness of changing audience tastes prompted director Nandini Reddy to rethink her approach for Maa Inti Bangaaram(by composer Santosh Narayanan). Unlike her earlier films where songs were written into the screenplay, the tight narrative offered little space for song sequences. ‘Muthyamanta Pasupu’, from the yesteryear film Muthyala Muggu, was the only track she had in mind; another dramatic song planned for the second half was eventually edited out.
But Nandini knew the film needed a chartbuster to draw the audience in. ‘Thassadiya’, as she puts it, was “retrofitted into the narrative”. “I had to create room for the song. From the choreography to the hook phrase to the tune, everything was designed to elicit attention.”
This indicates the balancing act filmmakers often perform — making music work within a film while recognising that, in an age of reels and singles, one song can carry the promotional burden of the album.
Irumudi’s‘Mallepula Pallaki’ is another example. The suggestion to use the song, played during the Sabarimala pilgrimage season, came from Ayyappa devotees, while director Shiva Nirvana was looking for a high-energy devotional number. Its popularity helped in the Ravi Teja-starrer’s theatrical reception.
Nag Ashwin, Singeetham Srinivasa Rao and Devi Sri Prasad
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Special Arrangement
But Telugu music is more than a chartbuster-producing machine. Aditya Ravindran’s Couple Friendly,with its soft, reflective music, gained traction after the film opened. Music blogger Karthik Narasimhan calls it “one of the freshest-sounding albums” in recent times. He was similarly surprised by Mani Sharma’s return to form with Chennai Love Story, which he terms “a soundtrack steeped in the Ilaiyaraaja school of melody”.
Nostalgia sells big-time
Nostalgia remains a potent currency. Ramana Gogula’s return for ‘Godari Gattu Meeda’ in Sankrantiki Vastunnamand Udit Narayan’s ‘Meesala Pilla’ in Mana Shankara Varaprasad Garushow how a familiar voice can become part of a film’s marketing as much as its musical identity.
Lenin, meanwhile, is consciously tailored like a 90s album — a hero introduction, folk dance number, soft duet and soulful melody.
Elsewhere, A.R. Rahman’s return to Telugu cinema with Peddibrought a global texture to an otherwise loud, hero-worshipping sports drama, fusing hyper-local folk instruments with Western classical and electronic influences.
In Dacoit, composer Gyaani’s EDM treatment of Chiranjeevi’s ‘Kannepettaro Kannukottaro’ became a talking point. The styles may be different, but the music helped create an identity for a film.
Testing new waters
The change in Telugu film music can be attributed to composers testing new waters. Devi Sri Prasad found greater room to breathe in Sing Geethamand Kuberaa.
In the former, where songs function almost as a conversational element for over two hours, DSP preserves the story’s humanitarian core without turning the experiment into an indulgent showcase. Kuberaabrought the urgency of a thriller alongside the groundedness one expects from a Sekhar Kammula film. It also raises the question of whether a composer of his ability could be choosier, when compared with his routine commercial outings such as Juniorand Ustaad Bhagat Singh.
Mickey J. Meyer has similarly widened his repertoire beyond the ‘melody specialist’ tag, with Hit 3, Championand Anaganaga Oka Rajufollowing the shift already visible in Gandeevadhari Arjunaand Mr Bachchan.
Hesham Abdul Wahab, meanwhile, is occupying the middle-road space once associated with names such as Gopi Sundar and Mickey — alternative films with noted names, where breezy melodies can take centre-stage. His work in Hi Nannaand 8 Vasantaluhas aged well, while his score for The Girlfriendamplified its psychological intensity.
Hesham Abdul Wahab
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Speical Arrangement
Another striking development is the rise of G.V. Prakash Kumar among big and mid-budget Telugu films, an arena long dominated by DSP, Thaman and Anirudh Ravichander. He followed up Sirand Lucky Baskhar with Irumudi, while Vishwanath and Sonstravelled across the Tamil and Telugu markets.
Narasimhan attributes the concentration of big assignments partly to a simple ratio: composers who consistently deliver hits are the ones who bag the biggest films. That also raises the question of whether a handful of names can sustain the workload without creative fatigue.
Changing roles of film music
The answer also lies in how audiences consume music. The life of an album continues after a film’s release, through reels and shorts on social media, and streaming platforms. However, the idea of an album containing five or six enduring hits has weakened. Nandini reasons that films like Geethanjali, Anandand Bommarilluare products of a different era.
Narasimhan sees a structural reason for the change. “There are no music charts anymore outside streaming platforms, whose algorithms determine individual listening patterns. Without a YouTube video, even a lyrical one, an unfamiliar song has almost zero visibility.”
A song can no longer slowly grow on listeners. It has to announce itself, often immediately. That pressure has also altered the background music.
A trendsetter in this space has been They Call Him OG, where Thaman’s score was remembered more than the songs, a pattern that worked similarly with Daaku Maharaj. Even Miraidropped the viral ‘Vibe Undi’ at the last minute in favour of brief songs that blended into the narrative.
For Maa Inti Bangaaram, Nandini drew from Malayalam cinema’s inventive use of background scores and local rap artists to compensate for having fewer songs and to build character themes.
For composer Smaran Sai, who scored Rao Bahadur, this shift isn’t entirely positive. He points out that background scores are increasingly overpowering the scenes they are meant to support: “Background music is now foreground music.”
Composer Smaran Sai
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Special Arrangement
He still believes the scene has to work and music should subtly direct emotion. What worries him is the disappearance of silence: “It almost feels like gaslighting the audience into a specific emotion.”
Narasimhan, however, sees Telugu cinema as an outlier — one of the last industries still holding on to the old-world style of big productions, dancers, sets and lip-sync songs.
In this contested space, a new crop of composers is finding room to express themselves differently. Sinjith Yerramilli’s music for Little Heartsstayed in light, breezy territory but paired it with conversational, digital-era lyrics.
Sinjith Yerramilli
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Special Arrangement
Working with director Sai Marthand and lyricists Swaroop Goli and Kittu Vissapragada, he looked back at DSP’s early hits while making the songs accessible to a mainstream audience.
“The lyricist is a core part of the music,” says Sinjith, who also worked on Newton’s 3rd Law. Growing up watching movies around Hyderabad’s RTC Cross Roads and listening to Keeravani, Mani Sharma, DSP and early works of Thaman made commercial music feel less alien than his indie beginnings suggested. He realised that rhythm was as important as the melody. “Songs remain the primary gateway to the audience here.”
Smaran’s Rao Bahadur deliberately resisted the temptation to cater to a reel-consuming audience. “Director Venkatesh Maha and I knew that these weren’t going to be quick, catchy songs. We wanted to make something everlasting. The ‘Conditioning’ song was built around a nursery-rhyme-like tune to make the lyrics accessible, while ‘O Sundari’ was imagined as an old-school 80s or 90s Hindustani melody with fresh orchestration.”
The composer’s rooted work on Ameer Log, by contrast, is effective without attempting sophistication.
There are several other voices worth tracking. Vijai Bulganin, building on the popularity of Baby, also impressed in Court. Narasimhan calls him and Chaitan Bharadwaj composers to watch out for.
Long after his debut in Sekhar Kammula’s Love Story, Pawan Ch delivered a lively, folksy album for Pallaburusu.
Kannada composer Vasuki Vaibhav debuted in Telugu with Romanchakam, while Sai Abhyankar, whose dubbed versions of Dudeand Karuppu (Veerabhadruduin Telugu) found an audience in Telugu states, is set to debut in Telugu with Allu Arjun’s Raakain 2027.
Hopes also ride high on Vivek Sagar’s fourth collaboration with Tharun Bhascker for ENE Repeat (Ee Nagaraniki Emaindi’ssequel), and Vishal Chandrashekhar’s war drama Fauzi, with Prabhas and director Hanu Raghavapudi.
There is also anticipation around Ranabaaliby Ajay-Atul, and Devi Sri Prasad’s music for Nagarjuna’s 100th film besides Yellamma(in which he also makes his acting debut).
The takeaway here is the vast array of musical talent — nascent, promising, hungry, experienced — one worthy opportunity away from displaying its range. It is an exciting time to be a composer, or a Telugu music enthusiast, anticipating the next viral number, classic melody or the instantly attractive background score.
