S. P. VenkateshTamil Music Director – Song Lyrics & Movies

Venkatesh's father, Pazhani, was an accomplished mandolin player. Earlier in his life, he played the guitar, banjo and mandolin, and was an assistant music director to Shyam and Raveendran during his early days. He was introduced into the Malayalam film industry by Dennis Joseph, with his first break coming in the film Rajavinte Makan, directed by Thampi Kannanthanam. The film and its songs were big hits, and Venkatesh subsequently became a regular collaborator to Thampi's work, resulting in a series of hit musical albums during the 1990s. Indrajaalam, Kilukkam, Minnaram, Spadikam, Dhruvam, Kauravar, Johnnie Walker, Kizhakkan Pathrose, and Hitler featured his best known film scores.

He also handled the orchestration for many other music directors. He composed background scores for films for which songs were composed by other composers, such as Devasuram. He has also scored for some Bollywood and Bengali films.

In 1993, he won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Music Director for his work in Paithrukam and Janam, Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for his work in Paithrukam.

In 1999, he notably recorded nine songs in a single day for the unreleased Tamil film Ithu Mudivithillai starring Babu Ganesh and Vichithra.

Venkatesh died from cardiac arrest on 3 February 2026, at the age of 70.