How Telugu film music is changing: A space where mass, class and niche coexist

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 Paradise for 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 Geetham to Lenin’s peppy album for a mass rural drama, from the operatic soundtrack of Rao Bahadur to the near songless actioner DC , mass, class and niche coexist here.