I was paid 50 paise as advance for my first film: Deva

The first 13 films for which I composed songs did not see the light of day. It was very tough those days and I had to struggle to come up in the film industry. And with the technology boom and programmes like Sruti, everything has become very easy for singers and opportunities are aplenty,” remarked ace composer Deva. The composer has given several hit songs for Rajini. He has just launched the second edition of Sruti, a first of its kind global online singing contest exclusively for Tamil film songs.

A brainchild of popular playback singers Vinod Venugopal and Reshmi, Sruti aims to provide a platform to participate in a singing contest from the comfort of one’s home.

Deva shared his first film experience, “I became a music composer only at the age of 40. There was a movie called Aththan and ace comedian Thegai Srinivasan was supposed to do the lead as a transgender. The producer called me and said, ‘I have invited a singer here to sing a song. You have to praise him saying he did a wonderful job. Then only you will get a chance to compose. I was tense. Then came a person on a bike who I knew was as he was running a provision shop in Mylapore. I realised he was going to fund the recording for that day. He crooned an old song without any life and I was forced to tell him that he was too good. After he left, my producer said he wanted to give me an advance and went inside.

I had so many dreams to spend that money and you know what he gave was a 50 paise coin as my advance. That the film did not get released is a different issue.”