 "Ilayaraja 75: AR Rahman, Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth attend celebration of legendary composer's illustrious career")
The Tamil Film Producers Council organised a grand musical event on 2 and 3 February to pay tribute to legendary composer Isaignani Ilayaraja, who is often credited for introducing western musical sensibilities in the Indian mainstream music scene. The event, Ilayaraja 75, was held in Chennai. The two-day affair witnessed the presence of some of the greatest personalities from Indian film and music industries. On the first day, Ilayaraja shared the stage with his disciple, AR Rahman who together performed his classic song ‘Mandram Vandha thendralukku’ from Mouna Raagam.
33 years later with the Maestro, What a great feeling ! #EllamPugazhumIraivanukke pic.twitter.com/CUBATJqsnh
— A.R.Rahman (@arrahman) February 3, 2019
On the second day, director Mani Ratnam, superstar Rajinikanth, Mohan Babu, Venkatesh and Kamal Haasan attended the event, along with his daughters Shruti and Akshara. Kamal Haasan and Shruti performed several hit numbers together, including ‘Ram Ram’ from Hey Ram, ‘Unna vida’ from Virumandi and ‘Ninaivo oru Paravai’ from Sigappu Rojakkal, according to IndiaGlitz.
Both Haasan and Rajinikanth spoke about their associations with the legendary music composer. According to Haasan, it was Ilayaraja, apart from his brother who encouraged him to enter politics. Rajinikanth highlighted how Ilyaraja used to manage re-recording of three films in a single day, without any sleep. He also added that he used to often give up his own salary for producers who were undergoing financial trouble. “In the 1980s, there used to be up to 15 films releasing for festivals like Diwali, Pongal and Tamil New Year. Raja sir used to be the composer for at least 10 of those films. Producers used to queue up outside his studio in the hope that he would complete the re-recording of their film. He used to manage the re-recording of three films in a single day, without any sleep; nowadays composers take 30 days for a single film! Raja sir would also give story level inputs to make sure that the song’s situation makes sense. So many films have benefited from his presence,” in.com quoted Rajinikanth as saying.
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