The modern era of Telugu Film Music was never dearth of melody thanks to a composer like R.P.Patnaik. He is not only adept at composing music, but also a singer, actor and a director. He began his career with Srinu Vaitla’s Nee Kosam starring Ravi Teja in the lead. The songs in the film were like a whiff of fresh air amidst the then heavy sounding music of Tollywood. However, he earned fame as a talented composer with the success of Teja’s small budget film Chitram. The album had a unique blend of folk, melodies and fast beat songs, which made it a tremendous hit. Since then, R.P.Patnaik was an undisputed choice for Teja in music department. Most of the films, which arrived in their combination such as Nuvvu Nenu and Jayam, were highly successful musically as well as commercially. R.P.Patnaik lent his voice for some good songs in his own albums as well. By the early 2000s era, he became the no.1 choice for youthful love stories- that became a huge trend then. Manasantha Nuvve, Nuvvu Leka Nenu Lenu, Santhosham, Nee Sneham, and Dil come under this category.
R.P.Patnaik gave the much-needed break for Usha who got some great melodies in her career in his films. While he was working on commercial ventures, R.P.Patnaik even worked on films like Aa Naluguru that had social responsibility theme. He ventured into acting as well by doing a challenging role of a blind singer in Seenu Vasanthi Lakshmi and composed for the film as well. He received three consecutive Film fare Awards for Santhosham, Nuvvu Nenu and Excuse Me (Kannada) respectively.
As a singer, R.P.Patnaik has a breezy style of singing and he is well known for the heart wrenching songs. Maestro Ilaiyaraaja also noticed this brilliance and made him sing “Chirugaali Veechene” in Shivaputrudu. R.P.Patnaik frequently says Geethanjali is one of his most favorite films in terms of music and the story and tells it has a profound influence in his life.
R.P.Patnaik scored many films in Kannada as well earning a great name in Karnataka as well. He later ventured into direction and writing for films like Andamaina Manasulo, Broker, Friends Book etc.,
