Biography

One man — One harmonium

Musicians who have sat in Ilaiyaraaja’s sessions describe the same thing: Ilaiyaraaja arrives, sits at the harmonium, and the score comes out whole — orchestration and all, written straight down for fifty players, rarely revised. It is how Ilaiyaraaja got through more than 1,500 films in fifty years.

  • 1,500+

    films scored

  • 7,000+

    songs composed

  • 5

    National Film Awards

  • 50

    years since Annakili

1943 – 1967

Roots

Rural Tamil Nadu, a family with no money and a great deal of music.

  1. Born in Pannaipuram

    Born Gnanathesigan in a village in what is now Theni district, to Ramasamy and Chinnathayammal.

  2. Childhood

    Ilaiyaraaja’s first teacher was his mother

    Ilaiyaraaja learned the folk songs of the region from Chinnathayammal, and taught himself the harmonium — the instrument he still composes at.

  3. Teenage years

    On the road with the troupe

    Ilaiyaraaja joined the travelling musical troupe led by his elder brother Pavalar Varadarajan and spent years performing across South India.

1968 – 1975

Madras, and the long apprenticeship

Eight years of learning the craft from the inside before anyone let him lead.

  1. Aged 25

    Ilaiyaraaja moves to the city

    Ilaiyaraaja arrives in Madras looking for a way into film music, and studies guitar and piano under Master Dhanraj.

  2. Alongside the work

    A gold medal from London

    Ilaiyaraaja takes a course in Western classical music through Trinity College of Music, London, and earns a gold medal in classical guitar — the training that later lets him write for a full orchestra.

  3. The apprenticeship

    Session guitarist, then assistant

    Ilaiyaraaja plays on other composers’ recordings and works as an assistant music director, learning how a film score is actually built.

1976

Annakili changes everything

One village film, and Tamil film music sounds different afterwards.

  1. Ilaiyaraaja’s first film as composer

    For Annakili Ilaiyaraaja does something nobody had: he takes the folk music of the Tamil countryside seriously, and scores it with the orchestration of Western pop and classical. The songs are an immediate hit.

  2. How he got the name

    Producer Panchu Arunachalam adds Ilaiya — younger — to distinguish him from an established composer with a similar name. He has been Ilaiyaraaja ever since.

1980 – 1989

The decade that made him

A film a fortnight, and some of the finest scores in Indian cinema.

  1. Sagara Sangamam

    Ilaiyaraaja’s first National Film Award for Best Music Direction.

  2. Sindhu Bhairavi

    A second National Award, for a film built around Carnatic music itself.

  3. Nayakan

    Mani Ratnam's gangster epic, with a score still regarded as among the greatest written for an Indian film.

  4. Rudraveena

    A third National Award for Best Music Direction.

1986 – 2006

Beyond the film score

Work that had no commercial reason to exist, made anyway.

  1. How to Name It?

    An instrumental album setting Bach against Thyagaraja — two traditions treated as equals rather than as decoration for each other.

  2. Nothing But Wind

    Written for flute and orchestra, with Hariprasad Chaurasia.

  3. Thiruvasakam in Symphony

    An oratorio setting ninth-century Tamil devotional poetry for full choir and symphony orchestra, recorded in Budapest.

2010 – 2018

The honours

The state catches up with what audiences had known for thirty years.

  1. Padma Bhushan

    India's third-highest civilian honour. The same year brings a National Award for the background score of Pazhassi Raja.

  2. Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

    The highest Indian recognition given to a practising performing artist.

  3. Tharai Thappattai

    A fifth National Film Award, again for background score.

  4. Padma Vibhushan

    India's second-highest civilian award.

2022 – 2026

Parliament, and a symphony

In his eighties, two things he had never done before.

  1. Nominated to the Rajya Sabha

    Ilaiyaraaja takes his seat in the upper house of the Indian Parliament as a nominated member for the arts.

  2. Symphony No. 1, Valiant

    Ilaiyaraaja’s first symphony is performed live in Chennai with a full orchestra, under the title From Raja With Love.

2026

Raaja 50

Fifty years since Annakili, marked on stage across three continents.

  1. The anniversary world tour

    London, then eleven cities across the United States through July and August, with more to be announced. Ilaiyaraaja conducts, and he still plays.

  2. Film number 1,540

    Ilaiyaraaja is currently scoring Dorothy for Karthik Subbaraj, alongside Pocket Novel, Thupparivaalan 2 and others.

Still writing

Fifty years in, the work continues — six films in production and a world tour under way. The dates are on the main page.

See tour dates