S. Thaman has firmly stamped himself as one of the most in-demand music directors in Tollywood, famous for his work with some of the biggest names in the film industry. With a run of hit soundtracks to his credit, he’s now the preferred music director for directors who want to create music that won’t be forgotten. Still, even as he maintains an incredible track record, Thaman has not escaped persistent criticism, much of which takes the form of charges of similarity with other films’ songs. This has resulted in social media nicknaming him as “Copy Thaman,” with devotees frequently drawing comparisons between his songs and current ones.
Every time a new Thaman song is dropped, social media is abuzz with comparisons to other songs, and fans engage in heated debates. This was particularly the case when he was working on Mahesh Babu’s Guntur Karam, when trolling became unprecedented, going deep into Thaman’s emotions.
In an open interview, Thaman spoke about how the trolling affected him. “When Guntur Karam was out, I was flooded with a lot of trolling on social media. It was difficult to cope with,” Thaman admitted. “Then, when it was revealed that I would be doing the music for SSMB 28 with Trivikram, the trolling just increased in intensity.”. Hashtags like #RemoveThamanFromSSMB28 started trending, and there were over 67.1k posts on X (formerly Twitter) criticizing me. Seeing all that negativity was heartbreaking. Even now, the emotional effects of that time linger. Mahesh Babu’s fans were especially vocal, but I’ve always given my best to Mahesh Babu’s projects. During this challenging period, Trivikram stood by me, encouraging me to focus on my work and disregard the online noise. His support kept me grounded, though I won’t deny that there were times when I broke down because of the criticism.”
Thaman also addressed the controversy surrounding the song Kurchi Madatpetti from Guntur Karam, which faced allegations of being a copy. This only fueled the online backlash at the time.
In addition to The Raja Saab, Thaman is also composing the music for Akhanda 2, starring Balakrishna. He’s been signed on for NBK111, and has several prestigious films he will be working on with other big stars. He’ll even be working on some films with Chiranjeevi and director Bobby. With a busy schedule and some good releases coming, Thaman’s music will continue to hold as strong a position in the Tollywood industry.