Rajagopala Kulashekharan or R. K. Shekhar (21 June 1933 – 09 September 1976) was an Indian music composer who worked mainly for Malayalam movies.

[1] His debut song as a music director was "Chotta Muthal Chudala Vare" ("from cradle to grave"), which was a big hit in Kerala.

His career as an independent music composer started with the 1964 film Pazhassi Raja, of which the philosophical song "Chotta Muthal Chudala Vare" became a big hit.

He composed tunes for his last film Chottanikkara Amma when he was in bed for treatment and he died leaving the project incomplete.

[2] Their marriage took place in the most prominent Hindu shrine in India, the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple located in Tirupati.

Shekhar and Kasthuri had four children, A. R. Reihana, Allah Rakha Rahman (born A. S. Dileep Kumar), Fathima Rafiq and Ishrath Qadri.

The family fell on hard times after Shekhar's death and came under the guidance of Sufi peer Karimullah Shah Qadri, later converting to Islam with Rahman's name being suggested by a Hindu astrologer.