Devanesan Chokkalingam, more popularly known as Deva, is an Indian composer and singer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He has composed songs and provided background music for Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam films in a career closing in on four decades. He has composed music for more than 400 films.
Before coming to cinema, Deva worked for some time in Doordarshan Podhigai channel and composed songs for the show Vayalum Vaazhvum. In those days, Deva's brothers were working in the musical troupes of Illayaraja and other music directors as instrumentalists. His first film, Manasukketha Maharasa, was released in 1989. He was then called to work on the movie Vaigasi Poranthachu. After the release of Vaikaasi Poranthaachu, his name became known throughout the Tamil community.
The great music composer M. S. Viswanathan called him âÂÂthenisai thendralâÂÂ, or the breeze of sweet music. So far, he has composed music for more than 400 films, which include Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films. He is also famous for his compositions for religious films. He was widely acclaimed for his scores for the Rajinikanth starrer Annaamalai (1992) and Baashha (1995).
In 1996, Deva composed tunes for 36 movies. His scores played a big role in the emergence of actors Ajith Kumar and Vijay, with hits such as Aasai (1995), Kadhal Kottai (1996), Nerrukku Ner (1997), Ninaithen Vandhai (1998), Priyamudan (1998), Vaalee (1999), Kushi (2000) helping them establish themselves as the next-generation superstars.
In 2014, Anirudh Ravichander chose Deva to sing a gaana song in his album Maan Karate.
In 2023, Deva collaborated with lyricist Alpha Something and game developer Visai Games to create a song for the video game Venba, drawing heavily from themes of Tamil culture.
His son Srikanth Deva is also a music composer, as are his brothers, who have formed the duo SabeshâÂÂMurali. His nephew Jai is an actor and occasional music composer.
In 1990, he received his first Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director. He received the Tamil Nadu Government's Kalaimamani Award in the year 1992. In 1995, the film Aasai brought him another state film award. For Baashha, he got the Tamil Nadu Arts and Cultural Academy Award. He received an award by Guinness world records for Sivappu Mazhai as the world fastest movie from script to screening. He has also been honoured by awards from popular journals like Dinakaran, Cinema Express and Screen. He won the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director - Kannada film Amrutha Varshini.