Celebrating Kannada cinema's magical composer Arjun Janya’s best musicals on OTT

Whether it is soulful romantic numbers, foot-tapping dance tracks or a song to suit any mood in a film, Kannada cinema composer Arjun Janya has an ace up his sleeve for any requirement. His repertoire is so vast that it is no wonder that he’s inching close to 150 films in his nearly 2 two-decade-long career. Arjun is soon turning director with 45, starring Shivarajkumar, Upendra and Raj B Shetty in the lead. Although it is difficult to pick and choose only a few from Arjun’s vast discography, as the composer celebrates his birthday (May 13), here are 5 recent films with hit numbers that were much talked about.

Krishnam Pranaya Sakhi 

Dandupalya maker Srinivasa Raju’s first attempt at making a love story with Golden Star Ganesh in the lead became a massive hit solely on the back of the hit album, as the filmmaker chose not to release a trailer and instead gave audiences a taste of the music only prior to the theatrical outing. While all 6 songs were major highlights, the run-way hit was Dwapara, which became viral for reels across the country.

Love 360 

Kannada filmmaker Shashank has collaborated with Arjun on 4 of his 10 films so far, and the duo have given audiences hits like Sariyagi Nenapide Nanage (Mungaru Male 2), Preethisuve (Kousalya Supraja Rama) and Jagave Neenu Gelathiye from the romantic crime thriller Love 360, in the voice of Sid Sriram. Inspired by the Korean movie Mother, Love 360 introduced Dr Praveen, who was paired with Rachana Inder.

Gaalipata 2 

Golden Star Ganesh’s films always have great music and while V Harikrishna almost monopolised the early years of the actor as a leading man, Arjun’s journey with him began with Romeo (Aalochane). In the last decade or so, they’ve collaborated on at least 10 films, including Mungaru Male 2 (Sariyagi Nenapide Nanage), Auto Raja, Dil Rangeela, Baanadariyalli, etc. Given that the music of the original Gaalipata by V Harikrishna was a big hit, Arjun had his work cut out for him from the word go and he did not disappoint, with tracks like, Nanaadada Matellava and Prayashaha, among others.

Ek Love Ya 

Filmmaker Prem has a special knack in ensuring his films have crackling music tracks. Ek Love Ya, which was the debut vehicle of his brother-in-law Raana had several great numbers, which were elevated by great visuals in terms of the locations and the dance skills of the lead pair. Raana was paired with Reeshma Nanaiah in the film. Some of the most memorable songs from the film include Yaare Yaare, Edebaditha Joragidhe and Meet Madana Illa Date Madana, among others.

Raambo 2 

Arjun Janya's album for Sharan and Ashika Ranganath's Raambo 2 featured the hit number Chuttu Chuttu, which became the first Kannada song to register 100 million views on YouTube. The sequel to 2012's Rambo, which also had a memorable soundtrack by Arjun, Raambo 2 also featured Yavva Yavva, Dumm Maro Dumm, etc., all of which were big hits.