Music maestro Ilaiyaraja has been conferred the country’s second-highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan. He is said to have composed over 6500 songs in his career and provided the score for over 1000 films in his career.
He has been active since the 1970s. In his career spanning over 40 years, Ilaiyaraaja has mainly composed music for Tamil films. But he has done notable work in other South Indian languages and Hindi.
Ilaiyaraaja has won five National Film Awards – three for Music Direction and two for his Background Score.
Taste of Cinema awarded Ilaiyaraja the 9th position in the top 25 greatest film composers in cinema history. He was the only Indian to do so.
After the award was announced, messages began to pour in for the legend from the Tamil film industry.
“An award for my elder, my Ilaiyaraja. He was deserving of an award when he was very young. The delay in the giving of this award will be forgiven by the fans, just like by Raja. It’s a proud moment for the award, for the country and for Tamil Nadu,” actor Kamal Haasan wrote.
எனக்கு மூத்தவர் என் இளையராஜாவுக்கு விருது. விருதுக்கான தகுதியை இவர் இளமையிலேயே பெற்றிருந்தார். தாமதமாய் வந்த பெருமையை ராஜா போல் ரசிகரும் மன்னிப்பர்.
விருதும் நாடும் தமிழகமும் பெருமை கொள்கிறது .— Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) January 25, 2018
Actor Vishal too congratulated him.
Govt of India announces Nation’s 2nd highest civilian award #PadmaVibhushan to the God of music #Ilayaraja sir. Hearty congratulations to you sir!proud moment to all of us. God bless
— Vishal (@VishalKOfficial) January 25, 2018
Source: The News Minute