Chennai: He is the doyen of film music in South India. Music genius, Ilayaraja, has composed music for over 1000 films and has bagged five National film awards so far. He has created many music composers, including AR Rahman, who started his career as an assistant to Ilayaraja. He has composed not just Tamil songs, but also Hindi songs, including 'Cheeni Kum', 'Shamitabh' etc. As he turns 73, the who's who of the film fraternity shares their journey with the legend.
Speaking to CNN News 18, Ulaga Nayagan Kamal Haasan said: "We have nearly done a 100 films together. It is almost a lifetime. He is taking the place of my late brother Chandra Haasan."
"He has promised to play that role and his duty has only increased apart from his duty of giving music to the people of our country and the world." Ilayaraja is also the music director for Kamal's upcoming Trilingual -- 'Sabaash Naidu'.
While there was a tiff of sorts between Ilayaraja and SP Balasubhramaniam, Balasubhramaniam spoke to CNN News 18 wishing the legend a happy birthday, "Wish the Genius a long healthy life to churn out more melodies to drench the Music lovers all over the world".
Balasubhramaniam didn't wish to add more. Reason: Ilayaraja had served a notice to the legendary singer asking him not to perform Ilayaraja's songs at public events without his consent. Balasubhramaniam reacted to the notice, saying he wouldn't use any of Ilayaraja's composition.
KS Chitra on facebook thanked Ilayaraja for helping her grow as a playback singer. Chitra said: "In my career, all the unforgettable songs I sang were his compositions. He helped me grow as a playback singer. I wish him a very happy birthday and I am sure he will compose more and more songs for us."
Swetha Mohan, another veteran singer told CNN News 18: "Raja sir is God for us in the industry because the kind of music he has given us is like a syllabus. Most musicians if you take in this generation or previous one, they have learnt songs and bisected it to grow musically. As a singer, I have been lucky to have worked with him especially in Malayalam films. It has been a nice journey working with him. For me, it was more of an awe working with him. He is one of the greatest musicians the world has seen. It is unbelievable how he has done so much work in these many years."
She added that working for his films was a different experience. “What’s most interesting in Raja sir’s recording is that it is not like a singer sings and goes. For me, it wasn’t like that. I had a rare opportunity. The male and female singers sing together. It was a different experience where both the singers sang together and not separately.”
She has also shared the stage with the legend. Swetha said: “I remember a stage show where I performed with him for the song ‘Senthura poove’. I was singing it, Raja sir was on the stage and Kamal sir entered the venue. The feeling of that episode was really nice. That song was so beautiful that with 800 musicians on stage, live orchestra, the audience coming alive and Kamal sir entering was magical.”
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