The legendary composer, known for his albums like the Kamal Haasan and Sridevi-starrer Sadma, has composed music for more than 1,500 movies with around 8,500 songs to his credit 
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The legendary composer, known for his albums like the Kamal Haasan and Sridevi-starrer Sadma, has composed music for more than 1,500 movies with around 8,500 songs to his credit Music maestro Ilaiyaraaja is celebrating his 79th birthday on Thursday (June 2). The Internet showered the composer, fondly called Isaignani by his admirers, with birthday wishes on the special day. Director and playback singer Aishwarya Rajinkanth, known for her films like 3 and Vai Raja Vai, took to Twitter to wish the composer on his birthday.
She shared a video of her rehearsals with the composer and wrote, “Can’t be a more apt throwback to this Thursday! Growing up seeing you, listening to you, spending time in your studio and home… I’m truly blessed just to have gotten to be in your presence. Love you Ilaiyaraaja uncle… the [throne] is thy’s always…”
Film trade analyst Ramesh Bala also took to Twitter and wrote, “Wishing Isaignani a happy birthday… For many in TN, music was [synonymous] with his name for a long time… It continues even today… Wishing him a great year ahead… :-)”
Another user wrote, “The man who made us breathe his music, every day, every moment and for every occasion. Here’s wishing the musical magician, the maestro Ilaiyaraaja sir a very Happy Birthday.”
Here’s how netizens wished the composer on his birthday
Meanwhile, the composer was last in the news for giving his own twist to the theme song of the Netflix series Stranger Things Season 4. Netflix India shared the two-minute-40-second-long video of the song on its official Instagram handle and wrote, “Maestro Ilaiyaraaja’s version of the Stranger Things theme has turned our world upside down.”
About Ilaiyaraaja’s career
The legendary composer, known for his albums like the Kamal Haasan and Sridevi-starrer Sadma, has composed music for more than 1,500 movies with around 8,500 songs to his credit. The composer has worked in Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films.
The veteran music director has performed over 20,000 concerts in his career spanning five decades. It is also said that the Oscar winning composer AR Rahman worked in ~500 films with Ilaiyaraaja before his big break with Mani Ratnam-directorial Roja in 1992.
He is also known as the first South Asian musician to compose a full symphony is less than a month and is credited for introducing western sensibilities to south Indian music. The singer was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2010 and Padma Vibhushan in 2018 respectively.
Top songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja include Surmayee Ankhiyon se (Sadma), Vaishnaw Jana To (Hey Ram), Aye Zindagi Gale Laga Le (Sadma), Mudhi Mudhi Ittefaq Se (Paa), Jaane Do Na (Cheeni Kum), Piddly Si Baatein (Shamitabh).
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