Karthik Raja is an Indian film composer who made his debut with the Tamil film Alexander (1996) and went on to score music for many critically and commercially acclaimed feature films. He had his formal training in Western classical music from the Trinity School of Music, mainly in the piano (affiliated with Jacob John). He also had training in Carnatic music from T. V. Gopalakrishnan and Malayalam composer V. Dakshinamoorthy. At the age of 13, Karthik Raja played the keyboard for the song Kannukkum from the Tamil movie Ninaikka Therinda Maname (1987). Many such outings followed, including playing the keyboard for the soundtrack of the movie Nayagan. Karthik also arranged many recordings for his father and composed his first song ``Pandianin Rajiyathil`` for the movie Pandiyan (1992) and ``Ninaikindra`` for the movie Athma (1993). Then came many chart-busters that included Ullaasam, Naam Iruvar Nammaku Iruvar, Kadhala Kadhala and Dumm Dumm Dumm among others. We will next hear his music in the film Avan Aval, releasing in April, 2016.