Legendary composer Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja nominated to the Rajya Sabha

Music maestro Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the President of India, Ramnath Kovind. The ace composer has been nominated along with sprinter PT Usha from Kerala, spiritual leader Veerendra Heggade from Karnataka and director KV Vijayendra Prasad from Andhra Pradesh. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who took to social media to wish the composer. He wrote, “The creative genius of @ilaiyaraaja Ji has enthralled people across generations. His works beautifully reflect many emotions. What is equally inspiring is his life journey- he rose from a humble background and achieved so much. Glad that he has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha (sic)."

Ilaiyaraaja began his career in films in the 1970s with the film Annakili (1976), a romantic drama directed by Devaraj Mohan. Before he embarked on his film journey, he was part of the musical troupe Pavalar Brothers, which was headed by his elder brother Pavalar Varadharajan. He penned his first composition, a musical adaptation of an elegy written by the Tamil poet laureate Kannadasan for India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, as part of the troupe. Later, it was Panchu Arunachalam who roped Ilaiyaraaja to compose the songs for Annakili and since then there has been no looking back.

Ilaiyaraaja has a huge repertoire of work, which comprises more than 7,000 songs. He was known for integrating folk and western music and as one of the first composers to use western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in film music. Ilaiyaraaja was also the first Indian to compose a full symphony, performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London in 1993. 

The title Isaignani, which meant the musical genius, was conferred by Kalaignar Karunanidhi. Ilaiyaraaja recently revealed the nugget of information at a concert held in Coimbatore on the occasion of his birthday. He is a recipient of five National Film Awards. He was conferred the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan, the third and second-highest civilian award by the government of India.