50 years of Ilaiyaraaja: When Rajinikanth revealed about maestro gossiping about heroines, thought of paying distributors to make Rajadhi Raja successful
50 years of Ilaiyaraaja: An event was held by Tamil Nadu government to celebrate the music maestro's golden jubilee, which was attended by the likes of Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan
Last Updated: 11.29 AM, Sep 14, 2025
To celebrate 50 years of Ilaiyaraaja as a musician and composer, a special event was organised by the government of Tamil Nadu. In attendance were Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, who have closely collaborated with Ilaiyaraaja on several films. Rajinikanth, who spoke about his deep friendship with Ilaiyaraaja over the years, also spilled some beans, shared anecdotes about their times together.
50 years of Ilaiyaraaja: Rajinikanth shares his experience
Starting off his speech about Ilaiyaraaja's major feat of composing a symphony and thanking the state government for organising the event, Rajinikanth said that Ilaiyaraaja is a man of wonder he had seen, and has so much to speak about him.
"His tunes and beats reverberate everywhere. The music he composed in the 70s and 80s holds so much value even today that those songs will be hit in the current times. Even in Coolie, we had used some of his songs. More than as a composer, I have seen him as a human,” Rajinikanth said. The actor also recalled the times when he saw Ilaiyaraaja as a young man, to being the person that he is today. "Ever since he shaved his head, wore a bindi, and dressed up in a jibba, I started calling him samy."
Rajinikanth also talked about the times when he did the 1989 film Rajadhi Raja as a favour to Ilaiyaraaja's family banner, Pavalar Creations. "R Sundarrajan is a peculiar director, and producer Bhaskaran did not even speak about the film. I had a conversation with samy (Ilaiyaraaja), sharing my concerns about the film. He said to me that he had not read a line of script but assured that it will mark silver jubilee and if not, he would not do music. I was really taken aback, and it caused me further tension. So, I thought I should pay the exhibitors and distributors to make the film run. But the film did run a silver jubilee.”
Rajinikanth also said that Ilaiyaraaja how he always gave special treatment to Kamal Haasan and gave his best songs, to which the audience laughed, and went on to mention the lyrics from a Nayagan song. The actor also said that Ilaiyaraaja also faced his share of failures, when new composers began to come to field. "His brother, wife, and daughter passed away one by one. But despite all that, he kept doing music. Then came the Prasad studio issue when they asked him to vacate, he made another studio for himself. He also fought for the rights of his music and won the copyright issues.”
When Ilaiyaraaja gossiped about heroines
When Ilaiyaraaja took his turn to speak at the event, Rajinikanth interrupted him and recalled the time when they were working on the 1980 film Johnny. “Me and director Mahendran were drinking when we invited him (Ilaiyaraaja) as well. He too drank with us, and had gossiped about almost every heroine. He was up until 3 am, and had so much romances. That's how the songs came. There is much to tell and I will save it for another day,” Rajinikanth said to which the audience laughed.
FAQs
Q. Which is the 1000th film of Ilayaraja?
A. Ilaiyaraaja's 1000th film is Tharai Thappattai released in 2016.
Q. Did AR Rahman work for Ilayaraja?
A. Yes, AR Rahman worked in Ilaiyaraaja's troupe during the former's formative years.
Q. What is the problem between SPB and Ilayaraja?
A. Ilaiyaraaja sent a legal notice to SP Balasubramaniam restricting him from singing his songs in public events, and the two friends were fighting a legal battle. Subsequently, the composer won the case.