Chennai: Maestro Ilaiyaraaja’s praise for PM Narendra Modi and comparing him to Dr B R Ambedkar is witnessing both opposition and support on social media while BJP national president J P Nadda has hit out at harsh criticism.

The celebrated Tamil composer, in his foreword to a book ‘Ambedkar & Modi, Reformer’s Ideas, Performer’s Implementation’, by Bluekraft Digital Foundation, has made the comparison and lauded pro-women initiatives like the ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’.

The criticism on social media since Saturday against Ilaiyaraaja could be summed up as ideological, which claim that Modi cannot be compared to Ambedkar as the former is committed to Hindutva while the latter is a reformist leader who dedicated his entire life for the upliftment of oppressed people.

Supporters defend the praise for Modi saying the maestro has only pointed out a fact that both the Prime Minister and Ambedkar went on to succeed against all odds through sheer work and despite belonging to socially disempowered sections of society.

Also, they say Ilaiyaraaja commending Modi for schemes aimed at welfare of women, including a legislation against triple talaq, would have made Ambedkar proud.

The war of words spilled over to the political arena with the BJP coming out in full support to the renowned musician. The ruling DMK said no one from the party has expressed any opinion on the maestro’s comment on Modi. The DMK is also not inclined to spell out any view on the matter, said party MP and organising secretary R S Bharathi in a statement. Meanwhile, Ilaiyaraaja’s son Yuvan Raja (Yuvan Shankar Raja) in a Instagram post said he is a ‘Dark Dravidian, Proud Tamizhan’ seen by some people as a remark against the right wing.

Telangana Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan, in a tweet, said, “Music Celebrity iconic legend Thiru. @ilaiyaraaja is the pride of TamilNadu & India. His expression from bottom of his heart saying #Modifullfillsambedkardreams is Welcome. as it reflects million brilliant fair minds.”

Ilaiyaraaja, 70, has given music to a 1000 films. He is emotional, sensitive and deeply religious. He may not cry as much himself, but he knows how to make his audiences weep, listening to his music. He is simple but very bright, naughty but very disciplined, old and traditional looking but very modern-minded and liberal in his music. For his fans, he is not just a legend, he is like God. There is a famous story about him that may explain this to you. There was a time when films in Tamil cinema would sell as they had Ilaiyaraaja music. So, right from early morning 7, when Ilaiyaraaja starts working, there would be top directors waiting in queue to get their songs recorded. So, he would oblige them in a way that each of them got a song, so, he would compose a song for one of them in the morning and one in the evening. And so, outside his studio, there are a number of trees and each tree is named after one of the directors that would be waiting to get his music composed. While his studio is based inside the iconic Prasad Studios in Chennai, it is known as Ilaiyaraaja's studio as he has composed all his music, right from the beginning, out there. I was told that he usually does not meet the media and certainly not for long. I was lucky as I not only got to meet him, but also have my favourite South Indian filter coffee with him. Excerpts from my conversation:

R Balki has done all his three films Cheeni Kum, Paa and now Shamitabh with you. He considers you God in music. What makes you work with him?
He is a very good fan of mine. He knows all my compositions and he will always ask for the old hits only. That is something I don't like. When he came for Cheeni Kum, he asked me for the song on which he had grown up in Bangalore. It's a Kannada film song that he is very fond of. I told him, 'You can use that song and can put the name of any music director. Why should I repeat myself ?' He said, 'Sir, in North India, no one knows about this tune, so I want to give it to them.' His reason was quite alright, so, I accepted. Now, of course, in Shamitabh all the compositions are original.

Sir, you have composed for Amitabh Bachchan earlier in Cheeni Kum and now in Shamitabh. Talk about him?
He is unbelievable. Very nice and he is wonderful. He is a very good singer and I have heard him singing before I composed for him. Balki made me listen to that. His singing is very nice and he keeps his sur in mind. I composed Piddly for him, which he sang in a sur to get the feel and I reworked it basis that.

Does it impact you if a big star is singing your song?
Whoever sings the song, should be good. In the case of Shamitabh, it goes with the story that Amitji is singing the song in his voice, so, we requested him to sing and he sang wonderfully.

Amongst all the stars who have sung for you, who is the most sureela star?
Kamal Haasan. It's very difficult to sing in sur whoever it is. Today, we can do anything with any voice as we have instruments that can correct many things, but earlier in the era of Lataji (Lata Mangeshkar), Ashaji (Asha Bhosle) and Rafi sahab (Mohammed Rafi), they would rehearse for hours together and then come and finish the song in five minutes. Today, it can take days. That was the era of music.

Do you find anybody within the young singers who is potentially the level of some of the biggest singing legends?
A real composer doesn't depend on the singers. My song anybody sings should get popular.

Talk about working with Kamal Haasan?
He is a very good singer and has a very good voice. His grasping is fantastic, be it the scene or music. He would crack jokes on the set while the director would be arranging things to take the shots, but as soon as his call comes and the director would say action, he is unbelievable.

You have also worked with Rajinikanth?
He is a wonderful director. He is a fantastic screenplay writer. He is actually very good at that also, but his career is totally different. I once said to him, 'Why don't you write a script for yourself ? You can write so well.' He said, 'Swamy , that is different Swamy.'

What do you like about yourself the most?
I hate myself for taking this birth. I don't like this janam at all. To take this birth, I would have committed so many sins in my previous birth. So, how to make it alright. That's what I am working for. That's why I have taken birth to make corrections on my previous mistakes.

Who are you most attached to?
All my children.

What is Yuvan Shankar Raja like?
He is very good. He is doing wonderful music. Yuvan has some kind of mischievousness in him. I too am childlike and am more naughty than Yuvan. Sir, no one will imagine you as being naughty. Once I was playing the guitar as a part of the orchestra of another music director. One of the players was my friend, who was playing the mandolin and me the guitar in the same microphone. The music director kept both our notations in front of us and we are both reading that. Before the take, I asked my friend, 'Which one should I play?' So, my friend said, 'Play whichever, as whatever you play, this music director won't be able to find out if you played the wrong one as he can't make out.' Another time, we were playing for another big music director who had repeated composing his song that he had composed long back and yet he had taken three months to compose it. I was assisting him and also playing the guitar with him. So, when the other musicians asked me why it took so long for him to compose this song as it was a repeat of his earlier song, I said, 'It took him time as he had to select which song of his he should repeat'. Like that I was naughty.

How do you feel when you sing for your sons Yuvan Shankar Raja or Karthik Raja who are today big composers themselves?
Very nice. Yuvan will teach the song to me. And I will say, 'Why Yuvan, this is not my pitch?' He will say, 'Come on, dad. Sing.' It feels nice. Karthik never leaves me. He will make very difficult phrases for me and will insist that I have to sing it in my voice.

Yuvan once told me that your favourite is Karthik and he was his mother's favourite.
Nothing like that. They are both my favourites. Yuvan's mother always encouraged him, so, he feels like that and misses her a lot.

You are known to be very short tempered. Is that true?
Yes. But it has already come down. In the beginning, if the orchestra made mistakes, I would shout at them, send them out. But after 80s, I have become normal and never shout and have started keeping silence. It's a miracle how I changed.

Are you competitive?
I never get jealous. I used to compare my songs with songs of other previous composers. Why can't I make this kind of music? If I heard Beethoven or Mozart or Tchaikovsky or Elgar, I would think of why I could not make what they had made.

How do you feel when people treat you like God?
I am not very serious about these things. People call Sachin Tendulkar as God. Like that, for them I am God also, what's the difference. I don't give importance to that. We are bringing down God and making him very cheap.

How did you come into music?
I am completely illiterate but my elder brother, who was about 10 years older to me, is a singer. Through him only I got inspired and came to know about ragas and other things. When he bought this harmonium in 1960, he never allowed me to touch this as I was a small boy then. If I would touch it, he would beat me in my hand with a thick stick. So, in his absence, I would take the harmonium and practise and that's how I learnt.

Talk about your parents?
I was nine when my father died. My mother died later when I was 40 due to brain haemorrhage. I had become a music director by then. But even then, my father always said to my mother, 'You will see how these boys will come up in life.' My father is now like a swamiji for me. He is like an idol in a temple for me. When my father was alive, we were struggling for food in Chennai, but we were still so happy.

You lost your wife two years back. Do you miss her?
I am now very much worried for my children. In my life, I didn't spend time with my wife, my family or children. I was only making music past 30 years or more. But the very best thing about them was that they never complained about me that I didn't spend time with them or didn't take care of them. Everything my wife took care of, so, I was able to do this.

Do you regret not having given them enough time?
No, because they understand. If they complained against me, then I would have.

Sir, what do you look forward to doing after making music for 1000 films?
I never took my life in my hand. It just happened. Now also whatever happens, let it happen. I am not expecting anything.

Yuvan Shankar Raja, 34, called lovingly Yuvi at home, is not just the legend Ilaiyaraaja's younger son, but is also India's youngest composer, who did his first Tamil film music at the age of 16. While Yuvan in his name stands for young, Shankar was added by a pandit and Raja, his family name, when he became a composer. After giving music in 100 Tamil films, he makes his Bollywood debut with Raja Natwarlal. Over an hour-long conversation, the otherwise inaccessible composer opens up to Bombay Times about why he sung for AR Rahman, what made him convert to Islam and why no one can replace his mother in the world. Excerpts:

Being Ilaiyaraaja's son, was becoming a composer the obvious choice for you?
I grew up in a musical environment, but I always wanted to become a pilot. When I was 13, my mom sent me to learn piano from Jacob John, who has also taught piano to A R Rahman and my elder brother and sister. As a child, I used to listen to English music and kept hitting some chords on the piano by myself. When he asked me to play something, he said to me, 'What will I teach you? You are on the right track. I will teach you some basics and then, you are on your own.' Slowly, I started composing at 13 and did my first film with both background score and songs at 16, and became the youngest composer to do that.

Talk about your connection with AR Rahman?
Rahman used to play the keyboard for my dad, when he was a kid back in the day with the orchestra. So he knows me since I was six and has seen me growing up. I know Rahman, but am not close to him. I have sung just twice for him, whereas I have sung at least 10 times for my father. But being Ilaiyaraaja's son, singing for Rahman became a big deal. Actually, I sung for Rahman as I don't have any ego, so I wanted to set an example for future composers to not have an ego and boundaries with other composers. My dad asked me, 'What made you sing?' I said, 'I just felt like singing.' After that, I started getting calls from lots of composers to sing, but to maintain exclusivity I said no except once I sung for Dharan.

Talk about your father?
My dad thinks about music 24 x7. Even at home, if you see him, he will be writing. He still goes to classes to learn writing. I respect his drive and dedication to work, where, despite his age, he is still doing 5-6 films a year and has recently completed composing for 1,000 films. Once I remember when I was small, he was really sick but even though he couldn't even walk, he went to work. His life is centered around his music. He is not an expressive person and doesn't show his emotions. If I play a song, he will not show it. Max to max he will laugh and ask, 'What did you do?' His laughing is a sign that he appreciated it. We all live together but I don't like his temper. I was very close to my mom and my older brother Karthik is very close to my father. He knows that I am a rebel and will do what I have to and that I will not listen to anybody. I am guessing that he doesn't like how I decide everything on my own without any discussion with anybody. My brother was a gold medalist from Trinity, whereas I was a school drop out after Class IX, so I know that my father would not have imagined that I could have done so well. I am the underdog in my family. And while I know that my father is proud of me, he is even more proud of my brother due to the knowledge of music he has. I do love my father, but my respect for him is even more.

Who do you love the most in the world?
My mom. She died of a heart attack all of a sudden in 2011. She was a housewife and used to run the entire show. We have a large, extended family, but she held all of us together and was the singular pillar. It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that she was no longer there. I would cry a lot till 2013. I had a lot of work, but after her, could not concentrate. People started trashing my work. It was the worst time of my life. She was my force as it was she who always pushed and motivated me. After her, there is a vacuum in my life and I now need to push myself. She was most attached to me and prayed the most for me. She liked me for being a rebel, who was emotional and affectionate. She knew that I am a giver, who, given an opportunity, would do any thing for my family. I had composed a song titled Aarariraro from the film Raam that was her favourite. It is a generic lullaby for kids. In the song, the son sings the lullaby for his mother to sleep as his mother is about to die. He tells her, 'Come, lie in my lap. I will sing for you. In my next birth, I want you to be my daughter.' Four days prior to her passing away, I came back home around midnight. I was hungry and was cooking Maggi in the kitchen, when she came in. She opened the door and I asked her, 'Aren't you sleeping?' On TV that same song was playing and she said to me, 'Yuvan, whenever I listen to this song, I cry. How much you have sacrificed to come to this level.' That stuck with me. Being the son of a legendary composer is not an easy job. Bollywood is a bigger platform and to see me compose my debut film, she would have been very happy.

How did you get Raja Natwarlal?
Pritam not only suggested my name to Kunal Deshmukh, but was persistent that he sign me. It's rare for a composer to recommend another in the way Pritam did.

What is your relationship status?
I first got married when I was 25, but my marriage lasted for three months. I again married when I was 30, but am now separated and on the way to divorce. I feel very lonely and would like to get married again and have a family. The main problem with me is that I need to give more time to my relationship. I do minimum 10 films every year and I'm always preoccupied in my mind. I love to help people. While for big films, I charge commercially, I have also done films for free for struggling people. My father too has helped a lot of people in his life and is not commercial. If a producer's wife came to her to tell her that her husband had no money, my mother would request my dad to help. I too have imbibed that.

What made you convert to Islam?
My father is a staunch Hindu and is so superstitious that even if a glass breaks, he will call a pandit. Both my parents were ritualistic, but right from childhood, I used to always have a thought that beyond all this there is a supernatural power who is running the whole world.

How can God be in any form?
That search was always there in me. What triggered my conversion was my mom's sudden passing away . I had come to Mumbai for some work. When I returned to Chennai, my mom was coughing badly and me and my sister rushed her to the hospital. I was driving the car. We reached the hospital and I was sitting next to her holding her hand and the next second her hand fell and she had died. I was crying but wondered where her soul went within seconds as she was alive just a few seconds back. I was in search of the answers and I should say that I got a direct calling from Allah. It was a spiritual experience. My friend had just been to Mecca and he said to me, 'You seem to be really low. You have to move on.' He gave me the musalla (the prayer mat) and said, 'This one mat I used in Mecca and it has touched Mecca so if you are feeling really heavy, just sit on it.' I kept the mat in one corner of my room and forgot all about it. A few months later I was speaking to one of my cousins about my mother and I started feeling really heavy. I entered my room and coincidentally saw the mat which all this while I had missed even though it was kept in the same corner. I sat on it for the first time just started crying saying, 'Ya Allah please forgive my sins.' That was 2012. I started reading the Quran and the translations and it connected with me really fast. I started practising Islam and learnt how to pray and by January 2014, felt sure about converting. Since I am known as Yuvan Shankar Raja in films, I have still not changed my name officially in my passport and other records, but maybe later, I might do that too. My father was the last one I told in my house to. I told him, 'I have started reading the Quran and it gives me a lot of peace.' He said to me, 'Yuvan, I am not comfortable with you becoming Islamic.' My brother and his wife were very supportive. It's odd but in some way I used to get that spiritual feeling that it was my mom, who held my hand, and said, `Yuvan, you are alone. I want you to stand here under the tree called Islam.'

Kal the miley, phir kyun lage aise,

Tumse miley arsaa hua jaise

Ab tu bataa jo ho pataa

Tere bina lamha lamha jiyenge kaise...

Crooned by Arijit Singh, touched by the monsoon shower, bringing with it all the bittersweet emotions of meeting and parting, this is the first song from Raja Natwarlal to be released. However, the version was recorded as an afterthought, after 90 per cent of the con caper had been shot.


“It was Humaima's (Malik) introduction scene in the film, a seductive bar dance, and Shweta Pandit had recorded the female version earlier. But the more I heard the tune, the more I was convinced that it was a quintessential Emraan Hashmi love song. Finally, I coaxed my composer, Yuvan Shankar Raja, to give it a crack with Arijit Singh,“ recalls director Kunal Deshmukh.

Fortunately for him, Yuvan loved Arijit's voice, programmed the male version and flew down to Mumbai. It was recorded in 45 minutes flat even though Arijit wasn't feeling too well and requested that they push forward the recording to another day. “But Yuvan persuaded me to sing a few lines and after listening to it, insisted that the kharoch (scratch) in my voice was working for the song. Since he was okay with the scratches in my voice, I sang with out worrying about tonality and it was over in a flash,“ reveals the singer.

Arijit however admits that when he heard that Illayaraja's son was making his Bollywood debut with a commercial Emraan Hashmi film, he was surprised because the composer is known for his classy, semi-commercial scores down South. “But when I heard the track I was blown away. It was a catchy commercial track with Yuvan's Southern touch and the richness of melody," he raves. Kunal reveals that it was Pritam who referred Yuvan when he approached him to score for his fourth film. “Pritam wanted to take a break and sent me some links of Yuvan's songs. Little did I know that they'd never met before," he smiles.

Yuvan flew down to Mumbai and over a two-hour conversation Kunal and he sized each other up. The Southern whizkid was picky about his Bollywood debut but when Kunal narrated his story, he decided this was it. “He only laid down one condition, that he would compose all the songs. This suited me fine," recalls Kunal.

And so this tune was set and given to Irshad Kamil with the brief that he should come up with words of love that came straight from the heart. “Whenever I write a romantic song I try to project love in a new light. And this time I wanted something, which had a hint of zidd and aggression that comes when you are really and truly in love. Your beloved becomes your aim in life and you are ready to fight every obstacle to get her because you feel teri baahon ka ghera badaa mehfooz lage hai, badi bekhauf jagah hai yeh inme hi rehna chaahein," he points out, reasoning that it didn't matter to him whether a girl sang it or a boy because such feelings are not gender specific.

The song was picturised in the first week of July, incorporated into the second half, a promo was cut, got the censor nod and it opened to arousing reception yesterday. Arijit, who also sang Murder 2's Phir mohabbat karne chala tu, says, “It's always great to sing for Emraan because his songs usually click. Hopefully, this one too will bring romance to the long rainy days."