Ilaiyaraaja 75 will be held on February 2 and 3. (Source: ilayaraja.official/Instagram)The Tamil Film Producers Council (TFPC) will felicitate ‘Isaignani’ Ilaiyaraaja at a two-day function (February 2 and 3) to be held at YMCA Grounds in Chennai. A 10-member actor group, including Vishal, Vijay Sethupathi, Karthi, Santhana Jayam Ravi, Arya, Jiiva, Vishnu Vishal, Atharvaa and Nanda, will attend Ilaiyaraaja 75 – a tribute event celebrating the music maestro. These actors shared the promo videos on microblogging sites.
This function will also act as a fundraiser for the Producers’ Council’s initiative to help the needy. According to sources, the first day of the event will have artistes dance to the songs of Ilaiyaraaja, besides a plethora of programmes — including skits and musical performances. The next day will have Ilaiyaraaja himself perform on the stage along with his live orchestra.
Top actors and technicians from all South Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, besides Hindi, are expected to attend the event. The source adds, “All film-related activities including shooting and dubbing will be cancelled for those two days so that the entire Tamil film fraternity is in attendance.”
However, we need to wait and watch if SP Balasubrahmanyam and AR Rahman will also be present. In 2017, Ilaiyaraaja and SPB had an ugly spat after the former sent a legal notice to the latter, asking the singer not to perform any song composed by him without his permission.
In a long time, Ilaiyaraaja and Rahman haven’t shared the stage together. One may recall that the Oscar-winning composer was once a keyboard player in Ilaiyaraaja’s troupe.
