Karthik Raja returns to Kannada cinema

Bangalore, Sep 1 (IANS) Music director Karthik Raja, son of maestro Ilayaraja, returns to Kannada films with 'Jamaana'.

Karthik, less prominent today than his younger brother Yuvan Shankar Raja, had earlier scored music for the Kannada film 'Hoo Anthiya, Oohoo Anthiyaa'. It was directed by photojournalist Praveen Nayak, with Ramesh Arvind and Isha Koppikar in the lead.

'Jamaana' will be directed by Lucky Shankar and it will introduce two fresh faces - Nitish and Akarsha - in the lead roles. Jayanth Kaikini is writing the lyrics for the film.

This year Karthik has composed music for only one Tamil film, 'Maa Madurai'. Earlier he worked for the Tamil film 'Ullasam', produced by Amithabh Bachchan's ABCL, Kamal Haasan's 'Kadhala Kadhala' and Mani Ratnam's 'Dum Dum Dum'.

His brother Yuvan Shankar Raja composed music for the Kannada film 'Manmatha', directed by Jai Jagadish, with Audithya as the hero.

Karthik's younger sister, Bhavathaarini, a popular singer, composed music for the Hindi film 'Mitr', which was directed by Revathy, with Shobhana in the lead role.