Ilayaraja’s Gift to A.R.Rehman

At the function that took place yesterday, several legends like MS Viswanathan, Ilayaraja and Vidyasagar are present. Rehman started his speech with “Ellam pugazhum iraivanukke.” “Everyone says, I receive the Oscar with the blessings of my father. That’s true. I am reaping the benefits of his hard work. In the last 10 years, the Oscars always went to countries like Japan , China , and Italy , I always wondered why India could not receive it. We have maestros like Ilayaraja, MS Viswanathan, Naushad and KV Mahadevan. I have seen the great respect Ilayaraja commands here. That is greater than the Oscar honor. When I had hardly any free time, I composed music for ‘Slumdog Millionaire.’ It took me only 3 weeks to compose the music for the film. When I delivered the music, the Americans greeted me with a smile, the very smile that greeted me when I composed the music for ‘Roja.’

I don’t consider this my personal triumph. It is also of MS Viswanathan and Ilayaraj who are present here. When Balamuralikrishna spoke, one could gauge the depth of music. I thank all the musicians for having such a large heart. Each musician has a particular fan following. For praising me, don’t scold another musician on the Internet, is what I request of my fans.”

Those who spoke on the occasion included Balamuralikrishna, MS Viswanathan, Ilayaraja, producer AVM Saravanan, director K Balachander, music composers Deva, Vidyasagar, Harris Jayaraj, Bharadwaj, Devi Sriprasad, Shankar Ganesh,  Yuvan Shankar Raja, playback singers TM Soundarajan, Mano, LR Eswari and S Janaki.

Ilayaraja gifted AR Rehman a gold chain and said, “Composer John Williams has won 4 Oscars. For that, it took him many years. Even before clicking our knuckles, our AR Rehman got 2 Oscars, one for each hand. That’s a matter of great pride. Music is beyond awards. In music, there is a lower sthayi, upper sthayi and a topmost sthayi. As far as I am concerned, Rehman has ascended the topmost sthayi. My congratulations to him. Harris Jayaraj gifted him a finger ring. Shankar Ganesh hugged Rehman. The function committee gifted Rehman a globe worth 2 lakhs, made of silver.