BENGALURU: GF, Baahubali and RRR... the music of these movies continue to linger in the minds of fans. And if the music of these blockbusters reached fans, it is because of two brothers from Bengaluru — G Manoharan Naidu and G Thulasiram Laharivelu, aka Lahari Velu, who run music label Lahari Music. The label has been on a roll this year, producing back-to-back hits, including that of two-time Grammy award winner Ricky Kej and veteran rock guitarist Stewart Copeland’s album Divine Tides.
Thulasiram (57), who is the director of the music label, feels nothing less than being blessed to be able to recognise good music. He recalls in the year 1987, the music label bagged the contract of Sandalwood star V Ravichandran’s movie Premaloka. And people thought the owners were making a huge mistake. “Gandhinagar laughed at our company for investing so much on Hamsalekha, who was a new and upcoming music director then. We had bought the audio rights for the movie for Rs 4,50,000.
In those days they were giving Rs 100 or Rs 200 as royalty,” laughs Thulasiram as he recalls his early days. The movie didn’t do well at the box office for the first five weeks, but went on to become a classic. The label sold 36 lakh cassettes, which was a big number for those days.
Same was the story for the movie Roja in 1991, which was the debut of Grammy winning music director AR Rahman. “For this movie too, people questioned our judgement. Rahman was a budding music director at that time and Ilayaraja was a huge name. What was in our favour was that Mani Ratnam was directing the movie. He was the only hero in the movie,” says Thulasiram, adding that the rest is history. Despite so many hits, Thulasiram has seen many ups and downs but it was a moment of pride when the label’s name was announced at the Grammy’s when Divine Tides won the award.
“We still live in a joint family of 36 members and most of us were up late at night to see the award function. When they announced Lahari Music, we were almost in tears,” says an emotional Thulasiram.
While it may sound like the brothers have a formula for success, they have also faced their own share of hurdles. They were especially concerned about digitisation of music. “We did fear that period. We didn’t know what to do and thought the industry had changed for good. It took us around four years to change our approach and survive,” says Thulasiram, adding, “The pandemic was a rough time but since everyone was indoors, music turned out to be a huge support. So, it actually turned out to be profitable for us.”
Started by Thulasiram’s elder brother Naidu (67), in the year 1972, with an amount of `500, the 48-year-old company always works on bringing out good music. “For us, it is the music that matters. Whether it’s film music, folklore, or an independent artiste, our selection criteria is only good music,” says Naidu, founder of the label.
Lahari Music brothers – G Manoharan Naidu and G Thulasiram Laharivelu – have become trailblazers in the South Indian music industry by producing back-to-back hits for films like RRR, Baahubali, KGF, among a host of others