S. P. Venkatesh

S. P. Venkatesh (5 March 1955 – 3 February 2026), also credited as Sangeetharajan or Sangeetha Raja, was an Indian music director and composer who primarily worked in Malayalam films besides Tamil and Kannada films. He was at his prime in the late 1980s and 1990s, being reputed for his background scores and songs in Malayalam cinema.

Venkatesh's father Pazhani was an accomplished mandolin player. Earlier in his life, he played guitar, banjo and mandolin, and was an assistant musical director to Shyam and Raveendran during his early days. He was introduced into the Malayalam film industry by Dennis Joseph, with his first break coming in the film Rajavinte Makan, directed by Thampi Kannanthanam. The film and the songs in it were big hits, and Venkatesh subsequently became a regular collaborator of Thampi's, resulting in a series of hit musical albums during the 1990s. His most well-known film scores include Indrajaalam, Kilukkam, Minnaram, Spadikam, Dhruvam, Kauravar, Johnnie Walker, Kizhakkan Pathrose, and Hitler.

He also handled the orchestration for many other music directors. He composed background scores for films for which songs were composed by other composers, such as Devasuram. He has also scored for some Bollywood and Bengali films.

In 1993, he won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director for his work in Paithrukam and Janam, Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for his work in Paithrukam.

In 1999, he notably recorded nine songs in a single day for the unreleased Tamil film Ithu Mudivithillai starring Babu Ganesh and Vichithra.^[1]

Venkatesh died from cardiac arrest on 3 February 2026, at the age of 70.^[2][3]

• "SP. Venkatesh – Malayalam Music Director". www.raaga.com. Retrieved 15 November 2008.

• S. P. Venkatesh at IMDb
• www.gomolo.in profile Archived 4 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
• www.citwf.com profile
• SP Venkitesh at MSI
• S. P. Venkatesh discography at Discogs