“Every music composer has a style of his own and is associated with a genre of music. I hail from Chennai, and gaana is inseparable from Chennaiites… It may sound raw, but the musicality of this genre is very deep,” the composer, popularly known as Thenisai Thendral Deva, had told The Hindu in an interview.
Born Devanesan Chokkalingam, Deva worked in the Public Works Department (PWD) of the Tamil Nadu government before entering the film industry. His debut as a film music composer was with Mattukkara Mannaru in 1986; though the film failed at the box office, its songs later gained popularity. It was Vaikasi Poranthachu (1990) that brought him wider recognition and his first Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Music Director, and Annamalai (1992), starring Rajinikanth, that proved to be his turning point, with all its songs becoming chartbusters.