Ilaiyaraaja, the legendary and celebratory composer of Indian Cinema, hails from a tough and poor background. His long-time friend and legendary singer SP Balasubramanyam had a huge hand in helping him and his brother, Gangai Amaran, survive during their initial days in Chennai. Legendary director Bharathiraja gave the composer, his first big break, 16 Vayathinile while he debuted with Annakkili.
He became a huge name in South Indian Film Industry as a composer from 1977, post 16 Vayathinile. He gave major musical hits that still resonate with music listeners in 1980’s and early, 1990’s. Post the entry of AR Rahman, he did not compose for same number of films he did in the decade before.
Ilaiyaraaja’s journey from being a band member to a renowned composer can inspire many and hence, Dhanush has decided to play his favourite composer in the biopic titled, “Ilaiyaraaja – The King of Music”. Captain Miller director Arun Matheswaran has been asked to direct the film and it will release in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi languages. Interestingly, the legendary composer did compose songs in every language, we have mentioned.
Dhanush has invited Kamal Haasan to announce the movie on 20th March at a specially designed event in Chennai. Bharathiraja, Vetrimaaran have also been invited as special guest. A pic with Dhanush as young Ilaiyaraaja in old Madras has been released with the announcement. Dhanush stated that Ilaiyaraaja’s music has been guiding him to act and he will only guide him in this film, too.
Nirav Shah is handling cinematography for the film. Ilaiyaraaja popular songs could be used in the film while the maestro himself might compose fresh tunes, remembering his story. We have to wait and see, who will play SP Balasubramanyam, Gangai Amaran, Bharathiraja characters in the film as they all have great importance in the rise of the maestro.
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