V. Harikrishna
V. Harikrishna (born 5 November 1974) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer, playback singer and film producer. He has mainly scored music for Kannada films. After his stint as a programmer and assistant musician, Harikrishna made his debut as an independent composer in actor Darshan's first production venture "Jothe Jotheyali" in 2006. Since then, he has been scoring for majority of Darshan's films besides working for many other leading production houses. He owns an audio company called "D-Beats" established in 2013 and produces music under his own company starting from the film "Bulbul  (2013). He has turned into a director with the 2019 Kannada film 'Yajamana'. Harikrishna has won three consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Music for Gaalipata" in 2008, "Raaj The Showman" in 2009 and "Jackie" in 2010. Early life. Harikrishna was born in 1974 in Bangalore, in the Karnataka state of India. At the age of eight, he began playing keyboard in an orchestra that his father bought and named after him. He took to playing the keyboard professionally in 1987 and discontinued his studies after matriculation. In his first professional assignment, he worked with composer, Manoranjan Prabhakar. Following his father 's death in 1990, Harikrishna took over his mechanic shop, where he worked as a mechanic. In 1994, following composer Sadhu Kokila's insistence, Harikrishna took to music again. Career. Music programming and arranging. Harikrishna started out working as an assistant to many leading music directors in 1990's including Hamsalekha, V. Ravichandran, Sadhu Kokila, Gurukiran among others. He has worked as a programmer, an arranger and as a keyboard player for many music directors. He has worked for feature films, short films, daily soaps, ad jingles and private musical albums. Music direction. In 2006, Harikrishna was first signed up  to compose music for actor Darshan's first home production "Jothe Jotheyali". Until this time, Harikrishna was a struggling musician under the protege of actor - director V. Ravichandran. Despite the industry's negative feedback for his move, Darshan went on to sign him as the music director. The film, starring Prem and Ramya in the lead and Darshan in a guest role, was directed by Dinakar Thoogudeepa and had a successful run for about 25 weeks. The film's soundtrack was hugely popular upon release and this immediately silenced the critics. This was immediately followed by the actor's second  home production "Navagraha". Since then, Harikrishna has been the official composer for most of the Darshan starrer films and productions. Some of the successful collaborations with Darshan include "Bhoopathi" (2007), "Gaja" (2008), "Porki" (2010), "Prince" (2011), "Saarathi" (2011) and "Chingari" (2012) to name a few. His first collaboration with director - lyricist Yogaraj Bhat for the film "Gaalipata" (2008) starring Ganesh fetched him his maiden Filmfare award for his successful soundtrack. Another film "Payana" in the same year saw him belting out soft romantic melodies which was appreciated. The year 2009 proved to be more successful for him with back to  back successful soundtracks for the films such as "Ambari", "Junglee", "Raam", "Maleyali Jotheyali" and "Raj, The Showman". While in the former film, he debuted as a playback singer, the latter film fetched him his second Filmfare award for best music direction. In 2010, Harikrishna composed for 8 feature films and most of them were received very well upon release. Most noteworthy being "Jackie" which fetched him his third and hat trick Filmfare award and "Super" directed and enacted by Upendra. The year 2011 saw him composing for over 14 films with many of them turning to be blockbusters and musically  well appreciated. "Prince", "Hudugaru", "Vishnuvardhana", "Saarathi", "Paramathma" and "Jogayya" turned out to be biggest musical blockbusters cementing the top status for him. The success was followed in 2012 with "Chingari", "Anna Bond", "Katariveera Surasundarangi", "Addhuri", "Jaanu", "Drama" "Yaare Koogadali" and "Prem Adda" receiving enormous positive response both musically and at the box-office. He was also awarded for his singing in "Anna Bond" by the SIIMA. His fourth Filmfare award was for his second collaboration with Yogaraj Bhat, "Drama". "Addhuri" won him Udaya awards for his music direction. The successful journey continued further in 2013 with many chartbuster soundtracks for  the films such as "Topiwala", "Bachchan", "Bulbul", "Kaddipudi", "Sakkare" and "Shravani Subramanya". In 2014, his first musical release "Gajakesari" evoked mixed response while his scores for upcoming films such as "Fair & Lovely" and "Ambareesha" is highly expected to be successful. Film production. In 2012, Harikrishna announced his intention in producing films and he started it with the upcoming film "Jai Bhajarang Bali" starring Ajay Rao and Sindhu Lokanath. He was also reported to be directing the Yogesh starrer "Raate". His audio company D-Beats acquired the audio rights of the film "Adyaksha" in 2014 which had music composed by Arjun  Janya. Personal life. Harikrishna is married to singer and composer Vani Harikrishna, the granddaughter of veteran composer G. K. Venkatesh. They have a son, Aditya, who started as a playback singer with one of Harikrishna's composed films.