Photo of Deva
Sound

Deva

Profession
Sound
Born
November 20, 1950 · Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Died
October 17, 2026

Biography

Devanesan Chokkalingam, popularly known as Deva, was an Indian film composer and singer. He had composed songs and provided background music for Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films in a career spanning about 35 years. Many know his gaana songs, written mostly using Madras Tamil. He was known as the "Father of Gaana Genre" in the Tamil film industry. Deva had composed music for many films within a very short period. He had debuted as a film music director in the film Mattukara Mannaru in 1986. In the intervening years he had composed music for a total of more than 400 films.

Known for

Theri poster
Theri
Film · 2016 · ★ 6.9
Baasha poster
Baasha
Film · 1995 · ★ 7.6
Karnan poster
Karnan
Film · 2021 · ★ 7.3
Hello poster
Hello
Film · 1999 · ★ 6.2
Michael Madana Kama Rajan poster
Michael Madana Kama Rajan
Film · 1990 · ★ 7.2
Panchatanthiram poster
Panchatanthiram
Film · 2002 · ★ 7.0
Kushi poster
Kushi
Film · 2000 · ★ 7.1
Arunachalam poster
Arunachalam
Film · 1997 · ★ 7.3
Annamalai poster
Annamalai
Film · 1992 · ★ 7.3
Avvai Shanmugi poster
Avvai Shanmugi
Film · 1996 · ★ 7.0
Sivakasi poster
Sivakasi
Film · 2005 · ★ 5.6
Vaali poster
Vaali
Film · 1999 · ★ 7.0

Filmography