BIOGRAPHY

Varkey is an Indian composer, piano player, arranger, music producer, and singer who has been manifesting himself at the forefront of experimental pop, folk, and contemporary music. In his independent works, he draws out a broad spectrum of sounds from his compositions, ranging from intimate simplicity to huge soundscapes. His work for Film and Television includes the “Chronicles of 4.5 Gangs (Webseries for Sonyliv)”, “Clean Up Crew (Webseries for Jio Studios)”, “Sleeplessly Yours (2019) (Official IFFK selection)”, “Daayam (2023) (Official MAMI Mumbai Film Festival selection)”, “Oru Kattil Oru Muri (2024)”, “Standup (2019)” to name a few. 

Varkey has released many acclaimed singles: ‘Nammal Onnale’ (for Netflix India in 2022), ‘Thoraathe (for Karikku Tuned in 2021)’, ‘Benki Boom (for Kappa Originals in 2019), ‘Aarpo Irro (2017)’, ‘Njan Kaalam (2017)’, ‘Aare Jiyare (2022)’ and Chiripaatu (2021). 

 

His notable compositions for films include ‘Sleeplessly Yours Theme (2019)’, ‘Daayam Theme (2023)’, ‘Mathivaraathe (from Standup - 2019)’, ‘Kathakal Paraye (Stand up)’, ‘Manjerunne (Cheenatrophy)’, ‘Sanchaari (Cheenatrophy)’, ‘Apranaar (Oru Kattil Oru Muri)’, ‘Rukmanghadhavidhi (Oru Kattil Oru Muri)’.

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In addition, his body of work includes the score for the series “Dangals of Crime ( Documentary series for Discovery Plus)”, “Toofani Biriyani Hunt (Disney Hotstar)”, “Fanpulse (Disney Hotstar)”, “MITR Clinic (USAID documentary about the LGBTQIA+ community in Hyderabad), and “Champions of the hour (for Disney Hotstar)” to mention a few.

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Varkey had collaborated with filmmaker Bharatbala for the VirtualBharath documentary series where he worked on documentaries like “Thaalam (with a foreword by composer A R Rahman), “Shabad Aag Ki Khushboo (featuring singer Shreya Ghosal), Tanpuras of Miraj (featuring Kaushiki Chakraborty), and Ramnami (featuring singer/songwriter Khailash Kher).

 

His avant-garde works include composing music for an art installation featured at the ‘Indian Pavillion’ during the Dubai Expo 2022. His music was featured alongside the compositions of Ramin Djawadi, Sami Yusuf, and A R Rahman. The work featured in an immersive room with visuals from every nook of corner India being projected everywhere except the floor.

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He has worked on over a hundred jingles from different parts of India with diverse brands like Myntra, Ajio, Airtel, Kerala Tourism, Green Trends, Mahindra, XYXX, Reliance, and Desjardins Financial Security (Canada) to name a few.

Additionally, Varkey has collaborated with other composers for 35 feature films in different roles; either co-writing, producing, arranging, or engineering records or scores within a decade.

Varkey began playing piano as a child, entered the KM College of Music and Technology for a composition diploma, and then moved on to composition & film scoring honors at Middlesex University, London. He did a film scoring certification from SAE Germany. His academic interest is lately in field recording and transcribing folk music of Kerala.

 

He has composed music for theatre and dance performances. The Firebird Chamber Orchestra, Allegri String Quartet, FourforMusic Strings section from Bulgaria, Madras Chamber Orchestra, members of BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and Arioso String Quartet, are among the ensembles that have collaborated with  Varkey. “Enter the Endocrine (2014) was composed by him for the Middlesex University Ballet group. “Mumukshathva (2014)” was his one-act opera composed and performed in London. His composition “Amma - for cello and piano (2015)” was world premiered at Burgh House museum in London. Varkey has composed the music for Kerala Shastra Sahitya Parishad’s street play “She Archive (2023). He has represented his country in the ROLI International Awards, where he presented his composition ‘Moody Days’ with the accompaniment of a ROLI seaboard (an enhanced version of the traditional keyboard).

 

Additionally, Varkey has performed live and recorded and produced music with Sooraj Santhosh, Sayonara Philip, Azad Khan, Varkey & Friends, A. R Rahman, Ousepachan Louis, Deepak Dev, Job Kurian, Olga Vinokur, Jitka Vlasankova. In 2023, Varkey won the Pepper Awards 2023 for the most creative music and sound design for his work for the ‘Keralam Maariyo’ campaign for AJIO

 

Varkey lives in Kochi, Kerala.