Ilaiyaraaja shares a story about Yuvan's birth date: Happy Birthday Yuvan Shankar Raja (Image: Instagram/ Yuvan Shankar Raja)Music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja is celebrating his 43rd birthday today, and his fans took to social media to wish him a happy birthday. But one message has grabbed the most attention. It is from Yuvan’s father, the iconic Tamil musician Ilaiyaraaja.
In a brief video, Ilaiyaraaja shared how the day when Yuvan was born panned out. The veteran musician said, “At one point, I had the habit of composing songs in Aliyar dam (Pollachi). I used to stay in the guest house there to compose songs for two to three films in a stretch. Director Mahendran and KRG (producer KR Gangadharan) took me there for one such session. My troop and I were composing daily, and since KRG had a house in Coimbatore, he used to drive back and forth. One evening, he came back from home and told me, ‘Hey, your wife has delivered a boy.’ Look at me, even back then I was busy composing songs instead of being with my wife and taking care of her. She also didn’t mind it much. When I got the news, I was composing the song Senorita I Love You from Johnny… Rajini sir’s film. And the boy who was born 0n that day was Yuvan! Happy birthday, Yuvan (sic).”
Senorita I Love You is one of the thousands of hits that Ilaiyaraaja has composed. It was sung by the late singer SP Balasubrahmanyam. The song was written by Ilaiyaraaja’s younger brother Gangai Amaran. Johnny (1989), directed by Mahendran, starred Rajinikanth, Sridevi, Deepa, Balaji, and Suruli Rajani in lead roles.
Here’s the song:
Happy Birthday, Yuvan @thisisysr @IMMOffl pic.twitter.com/DLQzMPwA9l
— Ilaiyaraaja (@ilaiyaraaja) August 31, 2022
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Yuvan Shankar Raja made his debut as a composer at the age of 18 with the film Aravindha (1997). Over the years, Yuvan has become a cultural icon whose songs are fondly referred to as ‘drugs’ by his fans. He has composed hit albums such as Kattradhu Tamizh, Pudupettai, Paruthiveeran, Billa, Goa, and Mankatha. His last film was Karthi’s Viruman.