Mani Sharma

Yanamandra Venkata Subrahmanyam (Telugu: యనమండ్ర వెంకట సుబ్రహ్మణ్యం; born 11 July 1964), professionally known as Mani Sharma, is an Indian composer and music producer known for his work primarily in Telugu cinema, along with contributions to Tamil, Kannada, and Hindi films.

Mani Sharma was born as Yanamandra Venkata Subrahmanyam on 11 July 1964 in Madras, where he was also raised. His family has ancestral roots in the West Godavari and Machilipatnam regions.

His father was a violinist who played with composer Saluri Rajeswara Rao. Mani Sharma discontinued his studies after the 12th standard.

Mani Sharma began his career as a programmer under Satyam and Saluri Rajeswara Rao, later working with composers like Ramesh Naidu and M. M. Keeravani. Director Ram Gopal Varma entrusted him with composing the background score for Raathri and Antham (both 1992), along with a song for Antham.

Sharma was initially signed as a full-fledged music director (songs and background score) for a film produced by Aswini Dutt, starring Chiranjeevi and directed by Ram Gopal Varma.[ 11] However, the project was later helmed by Gunasekhar. While this film was in development, Super Heroes and Bavagaru Bagunnara? were released earlier, and the Chiranjeevi–Aswini Dutt film was eventually released as Choodalani Vundi.[ 11]

As music director, he has worked on several films with producer Aswini Dutt, starting with Super Heroes.[ 12] As of July 2023[update] he has been music director on more than 200 films, for the most part Telugu but also including 25 Tamil productions and several in Kannada. His first hit was Preminchukundam Raa (1997); Choodalani Vundi and Samarasimha Reddy in particular have been highly successful.[ 12] He has also collaborated on albums with many actors, including Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, Mahesh Babu, Pawan Kalyan and Ram Charan.

His works are noted for integrating Indian with Western classical instrumentation. He is sometimes known as Melody Brahma and Swara Bramha.

Composers including S. Thaman, Devi Sri Prasad, and Harris Jayaraj worked under him in their early days.[ 13] [ 14] [ 15]

He has received two state Nandi Awards, three Filmfare Awards South, two CineMAA Awards and three Mirchi Music Awards South for Best Music Direction.