Ram Gopal Varma believes that A R Rahman, Keeravani, Manisharma and Devi Sri Prasad had together buried the music in South India.

Responding to Rana’s comment about Ilayaraja’s soulful music in Chinarayudu, RGV commented that the above music directors killed the music in our films. Interestingly, RGV was to introduce Keeravani as music director with his maiden film, Shiva but later had him on board for Kshanakshanam.

RGV also introduced Manisharma as music director in a Chiranjeevi film but the film dropped off mid-way. And it was with RGV’s Rangeela that Rehman was introduced to Hindi audiences. Yet, Varma believes that these music directors have buried the music and brought importance to sound unlike Ilayaraja. It remains to be seen how these top music directors would react to RGV’s comments.