S. Thaman

Ghantasala Sai Srinivas, popularly known and credited as S. Thaman, is an Indian music composer who predominantly works in Telugu cinema and Tamil cinema. Thaman entered the film industry as a supporting musician with the Telugu film Bhairava Dweepam in the year 1994, when he was 8 years old, he later turned into a film music composer and became popular for his work as a music director. His debut films as music director were Sindhanai Sei in Tamil, and Malli Malli in Telugu. He made his acting debut with Boys (2003).

He was born in Nellore, Andhra Pradesh, India into a Telugu speaking family. He is the grandson of veteran director Ghantasala Balaramayya. Thaman hails from a family of musicians from Pottepalem, Nellore District. His father Ghantasala Siva Kumar was a Drummer, who worked for seven hundred films, under composer, K. Chakravarthy, his mother Ghantasala Savitri is a playback singer and his aunt is singer B. Vasantha. Thaman is married to playback singer Sri Vardhini.

He studied Don Bosco school at Chennai. At the age of nine, he joined a music team consisting of S.P. Balasubrahmanyam and G. Anand as a rhythm pads player, and discontinued studies when he lost his father at the age of 13. He was compelled to make his hobby into a profession to overcome the crisis in his family. He then joined Raj-Koti team, and worked for three years on sixty films and then joined M. M. Keeravani and worked with him for three years completing thirty films. He has also gained experience from composers like Vandemataram Srinivas, Chakri, R. P. Patnaik and Devi Sri Prasad.

Thaman considers Mani Sharma as his very important Guru, he spent Eight 8 years under the tutelage of Manisharma and worked on Ninety Four(94) films with him. On the whole he put in fourteen years of rhythm and keyboard programming with the veterans before branching out on his own. In his early years under Manisharma composed the song Yeh Mera Jahaan for the movie Kushi which earned immense popularity among the youth.

Aagadu in 2014 was Thaman's 50th film as a music director & Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava in 2018 was Thaman's 100th film as a music director. In May 2017, Rohit Shetty signed Thaman for his Golmaal Again, a comedy franchise in Bollywood. This marked Thaman's Bollywood debut. In the following year, he composed a theme song for Rohit Shetty's successful venture Simmba starring Ranveer Singh. He owns a music band named Thakkali.

South Indian International Movie Awards

• 2011: SIIMA Award for Best Music Director for Dookudu
• 2012: SIIMA Award for Best Music Director for "Sir Osthara" – Businessman
• 2016: SIIMA Award for Most streaming song for "Aagadu title song" – Aagadu

Filmfare Awards South

• Filmfare Award for Best Music Director – Telugu for Dookudu|

Other Awards

• The Hyderabad Times Film Awards 2011 – Best Music Director for Dookudu
• MAA Music Awards 2011 – Best Music Director for Dookudu
• TSR TV9 Awards 2011 – Best Music Director for Dookudu.
• TSR TV9 Awards 2016 - Best Music Director for Sarrainodu, Srirastu Subhamastu.
• Gama Awards 2016 - Best Love song "Nuvve Nuvve" in Kick 2.
• Zee Cine Awards 2018 – Favorite Music Director for Tholi Prema.
• Zee Santosham Film Awards 2019 – Best Music Director for Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava .