G. V. Prakash Kumar is an Indian film composer, singer, and actor predominantly working in Tamil cinema. He emerged in the mid-2000s as one of the leading music directors of his generation, later expanding his career into playback singing and acting in lead roles. He is the nephew of composer A. R. Rahman and a member of an extended family with deep roots in the South Indian film music industry.
| Full name | Gnana Varma Prakash Kumar |
|---|---|
| Born | 1987, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Occupation | Music director, playback singer, actor, producer |
| Years active | 1991 – present |
| Notable family | A. R. Rahman (uncle); G. V. Kumar (father, composer) |
| Production house | G. V. Studios |
| Languages of work | Tamil, with selected projects in Telugu, Malayalam, and Hindi |
Prakash was born into a musical family in Chennai. His father, G. V. Kumar, was a film composer; his mother, A. R. Reihana, is a playback singer and the elder sister of A. R. Rahman. He began his musical exposure at a young age, contributing as a child performer in compositions by Rahman and others before formally training in Indian classical and Western music traditions.
Prakash entered cinema as a child artiste, with early credits in singing and instrumental performance during the early 1990s. He worked closely with several Chennai-based studios while pursuing his school education.
He made his debut as an independent film composer with the Tamil film Veyil (2006), directed by Vasanthabalan and produced by Wide Angle Creations. The soundtrack received critical attention and established him in the Tamil industry. He went on to score music for a steady stream of films, often collaborating with directors of the new wave Tamil cinema of the late 2000s and 2010s.
His prominent soundtracks include Aadukalam (2011), Mayakkam Enna (2011), Saivam (2014), Darling (2015), and Soorarai Pottru (2020), among others. For Aadukalam, directed by Vetrimaaran, he received the National Film Award for Best Music Direction at the 58th National Film Awards.
Prakash transitioned into acting with the romantic drama Trisha Illana Nayanthara (2015), directed by Adhik Ravichandran. He subsequently took on lead roles in films such as Pencil (2016), Enakku Innoru Per Irukku (2016), Kuppathu Raja (2019), Jail (2021), and Bachelor (2021), often combining acting duties with composing for the same projects.
He is an active playback singer, performing in Tamil and other South Indian languages. His vocal contributions span both his own compositions and films scored by other music directors.
He launched the banner G. V. Studios to produce films, with releases including Watchman and other small to mid-budget Tamil productions.
Prakash married playback singer Saindhavi in 2013. The couple have a daughter. He is based in Chennai.
Prakash represents the second generation of the Rahman family lineage in Tamil film music, and is regarded as one of the composers who shaped the sound of independent and director-driven Tamil cinema in the late 2000s and 2010s. His ability to blend folk Tamil idioms with contemporary arrangements has been frequently noted by critics. His later move into acting also placed him among the few Indian film personalities to maintain parallel careers as composer, singer, and lead actor.