My Retrospective on D.Imman

My Retrospective on D. Imman

It all started in January 24, 1983 when J. David Kirubbakara Dass and his wife Manjula were blessed with a young child. He would grow up to become the Big Brother of the Music World. To say it in Tamil, He is Isai ulagathil Annatthe D. Imman.

When so many of his friends used to go to school and return home to do homework and play, D Imman would head to the studio straight from school where he started working. He was a great musician who had been influenced by Ilayaraja and A.R Rahman. When the Roja Album released, the songs that Imman listened to when he was 9 had such a big influence on him. He started out as a keyboard player working with K-Town's Underrated Legends such as Adithyan Master and Mahesh Mahadevan.

His luck came when his tunes caught the ears of TV Baroness, Kutty Padmini who brought him under her wing to compose for small screen soap dramas produced by Sun Network. Krishnadasi saw Industry Veteran Gemini Ganesan in his last screen appearance. His work got him a chance to make his debut in Kollywood with Kadhale Swasam which she produced. This film had an audio launch but never saw the light of the day. But the songs got him recommended to G. Venkateshwaran who selected him to work on Tamizhan that starred Vijay and Priyanka Chopra Jonas. Tamizhan saw his actual debut at just 19 years of age. 

He later went on to expand his work towards movies while even working on serials. His work expanded to Hindi Cinema and Malayalam Cinema. But he never got noticed. One Single from Giri, Dai Kaiya vechikitu Summa Iruda won him audiences from the C centres, His struggle for recognition went on as he worked with Sundar C, A. Venkatesh and other directors who were dominant in the action genre. It was on 2007 when he worked with Prabhu Solomon on Lee that he was getting some success to a degree. 

In 2010, his luck turned with the release of Mynaa that won him fame as a composer. He worked as a composer for Saatai which featured an amazing track called Adi Raangi. This got my elder cousin Arjun so excited and he introduced me to it. Adi Rangi was what introduced me to the genius of D. Imman who had truly arrived. Kumki cemented D Imman's reputation as a composer to reckon with. 

D Imman expanded himself to village oriented films where he made use of folk beats making him yet another composer to do so after Ilayaraja. He later forged collaborations with Shakti Soundar Rajan in 2016 with Miruthan. The same year marked his entry into Kannada Cinema with Kotigobba 2 which was directed by Mass Director K.S Ravikumar. His 2nd collab with Shakti; Tik Tik Tik marked his 100th film as a composer. He brought in musician Yuvan Shankar Raja , Yogi B and Sunitha Sarathy for the title song of the same name. 

Imman's work in 2019 Viswasam brought him a National Award and he also worked on yet another Kannada film Natasarvabhouma that starred Late Puneeth Rajkumar.  His crowning glory came when he composed for Annatthe that starred Rajinikanth. His output then slowed down as the new generation of musicians came and developed their own trend. D Imman till date is the most underrated music composer who has often emphasized more on melody irrespective of any genre that he works in.

Imman Sir, I am a huge fan of your work and I can't wait to see what you have cooked up with.