The year was 1976. I glanced upon the jacket of an EP record of the forthcoming movie’Annakkili’. A dark young man’s photo was printed on it with the name Ilayaraja. The movie got released and received a lukeworm response, and suddenly after the third week, it became a hit, thanks to the songs! Ilayaraja’s name was everywhere, and every marriage hall’s sound system was blowing out the songs. As banner artists for the film, my father was invited to the 58th day function of the movie at Coimbatore to receive a memento. Being a shy person, he sent me to receive it on his behalf. There was a lot of fanfare and Ilayaraja’s troupe was performing. Abiding my secret wish, the organisers arranged Ilayaraja himself to present me with it, a wrist watch. A short dark man in white pants, presenting a memento to another dark boy- what a memorable moment in my life! And, take note, his second film was yet to be released.
At that time, in every light music programme in TamilNadu, only Hindi songs were sung in majority. Yaadon Ki Bharat, Bobby, Sharmilee and Abhimaan were super hits on stage performances. Even in films, the music directors were presenting carbon copies of Hindi hit songs. The great masters like K.V.Mahadevan and M.S.Viswanathan were on the verge of becoming stale. And then came’Annakili’, followed by other Ilayaraja films, and the entire scenario got changed. Tamil songs were being listened. Discs and cassettes of Tamil movies began to sell in large numbers. The electronic revolution brought plenty of low priced tape recorders, and Ilayaraja began to fill every ears.
Ilayaraja was one of the’Pavalar brothers’ headed by Pavalar Varadarajan, his eldest brother. They were performing stage shows for Communist party all over TamilNadu. Every nook and corner were aware of these brothers, who were from a very remote village. Chinnasamy, who later became Bharathiraja, was their childhood friend. After the early death of Pavalar, the brothers along with Chinnasamy, migrated to Chennai, to find a place in Tamil Cinema. Poverty was their companion, and after years of struggle, Bharathi became an asst.director and the brothers as musicians for film recording. Ilayaraja joined G.K.Venkatesh as his asst. and meanwhile tried to learn western music from Master Dhanraj. He wrote the London Trinity Exam in Guitar and passed with honours. Imagine a village youth, without English knowledge and classical music background, passing through this difficult exam with ease. Ilayaraja, his brothers Bhasker, Gangai Amaran and S.P.Balasubramaniyam were cycling through the city for chances for stage shows at that time, and finally Raja got his break in Annakili, thanks to producer Panju Arunachalam. Rajaiah became Ilayaraja, and a new page in the history of Tamil Cinema was turned open.
Film music was in the hands of some particular communities, and it was unimaginable that a dark skinned Dalit youth can enter the field with ease. Yet he conquered and broke all the norms of conservative film music. A great fan of Noushad’s background orchestration, especially’Mother India’s, he gave a new style in re- recording. Till then, re-recording was just fillers with a harmonium or shehnai. He wrote notations for re-recording and the bgms of movies were taken note by simple fans also. A devotee of M.S.Viswananthan, Raja tried to bring back melody to songs. New Directors with positive approach to give quality films were also beginning to approach Ilayaraja, and he never let them down. Mahendran, who gave some of the great films like Mullum Malarum, Udhiripookkal etc. used Ilayaraja to the best. Films like’Metti’ and’Nandu’ had soul stirring songs and bgm. Balu Mahendra, who was engaging Salil Choudhry, shifted to Raja, and together they gave fantastic songs.’En Iniya Pon Nilave’ from Moodupani was a rage. Bharathiraja and Ilayaraja combination was noted for rustic melodies, and when he directed’Sigappu Rojakkal’, an urban crime thriller, the re-recording by Raja was spine chilling. He was Maniratnam’s composer till’Thalapathy’. Ilayaraja, even when he was busy churning out songs for commercial movies, took great care in providing music for new comers and parallel cinema. Rudraiyya who directed only two films, got Ilayaraja to compose for him. His’Gramathu Adyayam’ was forgotten, but the song’Ooddha kaathu veesaiyile’ still lingers in our ears. Prathap Pothen’s’ Meendum Oru Kadhal Kathai’, Ravishankar’s’Eeravizhi Kaviyangal’, Sreedar Rajan’s’Kan Sivanthal Mann Sivakkum’, Sreedhar’s’Ninaivellam Nithya’, P.Vasu’s’Chinna Thambi’, Gangai Amaran’s’Karagattakkaran’and many more films are all now remembered for their songs only. Kamalahasan is a great fan of Raja, and remember’Rajaparvai’? ’Mahanadhi’ was another film in which Raja gave his soul.’Priya’ was the first film with stereophonic recording, and in’Punnagai Mannan’ computer was used to compose the songs.
He tried new voices for his films and a flood of talented singers flowed in.
When Raja became a selling factor, every other film maker exploited him. His names appeared bigger than the director in the advertisements. Giant-sized cut outs were erected with his images, and when A.R.Rehman emerged as the next king, the same people made a big dive. Mani Ratnam, Balachander and Bharathiraja joined the Rehman bandwagon. Vairamuthu, the lyricist, who was in the habit of showering praises began to sing ballots on Rehman. Even then Ilayaraja has a special place in the music scene. The recent hits’Azhagi’ by Thankar Bachchan and’Bharathi’ by Gnana Rajasekaran were real musical hits. And to find out the real difference, hear the songs of the same directors’ other films with music by other composers.
To write a review on Ilayaraja without quoting many of his songs is a difficult job, and that too in a short form. Without writing about his albums’Nothing but wind’ or’How to name it" or’Thiruvasagam’, can we do justice to his works? This is written non-stop, and maybe in future somebody might write a more elaborate one.