Biodata

Gopi Sundar C. S. (born 30 May 1977) is an Indian music director, programmer, playback singer, songwriter, actor and performer who works in the Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil film industries. He began his career composing music for television commercials, and is credited with writing nearly 5,000 jingles. As a keyboardist he has collaborated with many music directors, including the composer duo Vishal–Shekhar. He has won several accolades for his soundtrack albums and film scores, including a National Film Award, a Kerala State Film Award, and two Filmfare Awards South. Sundar started his own recording label, Gopi Sundar Music Company in 2014 with an idea to promote aspiring musicians and to make low-budget productions possible. In 2016, he formed a live performance music band called "Band Big G" in Dubai. In 2017, his work in the film Pulimurugan was included in the contender list for the 90th Academy Awards nominations for Best Original Song and Best Original Score categories, but none were nominated. His father, Suresh, helped him get into the Malayalam composer Ouseppachan's music troupe. Ouseppachan, a longtime friend of Sundar's father, took him as an assistant and became a mentor to the youngster. While on the team, Sundar worked his way up, playing tabla and keyboard, and began getting noticed for his composing skills as well. In an association that spanned more than a decade, Sundar assisted him with several works. In the years that he spent in Chennai, he struggled to find a foothold in the music industry. His first exposure to professional music came in the form of composing jingles for TV commercials. In those difficult days, his uncle Devan, an actor-politician in Malayalam films, helped him get a roof over his head. Sridhar Kariat, son of the legendary Malayalam filmmaker Ramu Kariat, showed him the ropes of how to stand out in the fast lane of advertising. In the world of the catchy jingle music of advertising, it took him seven years to create a niche for himself. His ever-growing repertoire consists of almost 5,000 jingles, a number of them advertising the work of filmmaker and feature film cinematographer Rajiv Menon. He has also done keyboard programming for the Bollywood music director duo Vishal–Shekhar, including for popular songs like "Ek Main Aur Ek Tu Hai" (Bluffmaster!), "Aankhon mein teri" (Om Shanti Om), and music for Taxi No. 9211.