Read the full article on Film Companion, here: https://www.filmcompanion.in/ilaiyaraajas-balki-masterclass-at-the-international-film-festival-of-india/
Balki gave Raja a situation and asked for the score to be composed on the spot. It was a privilege to watch the great man at work.
The Ilaiyaraaja masterclass took place this Wednesday evening. Balki was moderating it, and I met up with him for a chat this afternoon. It turned out to be a session of Raja remembrances. I spoke of growing up with the maestro’s music and what it was like to be in Chennai at that time, ear tuned to the radio. I spoke about listening to a Geethanjali number for the first time. Balki hummed a number from the Mani Ratnam film. I said it was an earlier movie, the one with Thulli ezhunthathu paattu, a song that made you feel the night. He then, spoke of the day he approached Raja for the very first time — for Cheeni Kum — and said he wanted to use his older songs. He recalled how Raja pulled out a file filled with sheet music — from among several such files — and showed him the notations for Mandram vandha thendralukku, which even stated which musicians would play which notes.
Balki spoke of the time Raja came out of the loo with the melody line for Piddly si baatein (which appeared in Shamitabh), written on a flap of toilet paper. He spoke of the time Raja told him his music wasn’t just a tune — a “melody” — but something systematically created to affect the listener’s neurons, which is why the sad songs make us feel so sad, the happy songs make us take flight into the clouds. He spoke of Raja’s disappointment when he saw the way many of his songs were picturised, of the abyss between the lofty things Raja had imagined while composing and the vulgar reality on screen. Balki’s passion for Raja is second to none. “This man made a stinking city smell sweet,” he said, meaning that after a session with Raja at Prasad Studios, even the sewers of Kodambakkam appeared fragrant. (He repeated this anecdote in the masterclass.)
Continued at the link above.
Copyright ©2019 Film Companion.
Baradwaj Rangan 
Madan
November 27, 2019
Was the session shot on video? Is there any recording of the music in particular that he composed on the spot? Props for mentioning Geethanjali and especially that song. One of his most delicate pathos numbers; that solo violin part in the second interlude is out of this planet.
“One, few people can talk about music, which is the most abstract of arts.” – Hmm, I don’t completely agree here. Musicians are very well able to talk about music. If you see the program Raja did with his musicians on the sidelines of the Malaysia show a few years back or even another such program he did for Podhigai with TVG and Enbar Kannan alongside, he is quite comfortable breaking down compositions there. I think most musicians also realise that a general audience would either feel left out or plain bored of a conversation where musicians discuss music in that way, with all the technical language. So it suits Raja well to play to this abstract and spiritual image.
Once, Raja’s own orchestra, led by Prabhakar, performed Nothing But Wind on stage with Raja in the audience. Apparently, the notes were lost so Prabhakar put it together by listening to the album. Raja said right after the performance was done that while they had performed the music very well, doubtless, the divisions were different from how he had written them. For context, I will add that this performance of NBW came somewhere in the 2010s so more than 20 years after he composed it. And he still seemed to remember it in great detail. If he REALLY talked about how HE perceives music, a lot of people are probably going to find it disappointing. As you mention, “The real reason lies inside his head”.
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Ravi K
November 28, 2019
Video here:
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Vignesh Kanagaraja
November 28, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IqjpWQCsZ8 (has an extra last 5 minute medley as well)
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hikicha
November 28, 2019
BR, IS this the first time you personally met Raaja sir and spoke for a decent strech ? ( I remember you mentioning in ARR’s interview (article) that you wanted to do a raaja interview )
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hikicha
November 28, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0bC-ekWvr8 @madan
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Madan
November 28, 2019
Ravi, vignesh, hikicha : Nandri, Dhanyavaad!
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shaviswa
November 28, 2019
Saw the video. I felt that this was such a badly planned program. They should have had a clear script, the video display screens, etc. And the choice of BGMs and songs to play should also have been crisp with clear notes on what to talk about them.
The sole exception to this was the BGM composed on the fly. It was a good piece but I did not feel it brought out the horror of the situation that it was composed for.
Also can we have these shows without the rabid Raja fans around?
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Rad Mahalikudi
November 28, 2019
Saw the video and I felt the same way like @shaviswa. Nothing came out of it…didn’t find it entertaining too. With all due respect to IR and his compositions, don’t know whether it is in our culture or with specific individuals, there is too much of worship and fandom in these programs. Maybe I am expecting too much out of these.
Two weeks back attended IR concert in Bangalore with high expectations. It was a huge letdown starting with bad acoustics to song selection to too much of talk. When they will learn we pay to hear music and not to hear them talk. FWIW, pop and rock concerts work better, they come on stage, perform, and go. Yes, it can be hit or miss with songs mix but I don’t see them wasting time with useless chit chat.
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Madan
November 28, 2019
Rad Mahalikudi : I mentioned this earlier in a discussion in this space or elsewhere. And then IR will take audience’s case for wanting to drink water and fans will defend him saying after all at his age, he is standing for four hours. But who asked for a four hour show? As you say, rock shows are, generally, crisp (exceptions are legion and GNR has a, er, chequered history that way). They come on stage, perform and FO. And some of these performers are really old too like IR. And it’s not like they are all cold or impersonal. I attended a German band’s show earlier in the year and the drummer stood at the exit and shook hands with all of us, gracefully accepting the richly deserved compliments that came his way. Granted, it was at a pub with a hundred or so people. But the larger point is as a live show, IR isn’t really among the best.
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shaviswa
November 28, 2019
@Rad Mahalikudi
That is typical of Raja’s concerts. Too much of sycophancy, too much God like worship and more importantly Raja being rude to the crowd.
Raja tries to make it always sound like he is a divine being and born to create music and people are blessed to listen to him.
He reminds me of Kamal in many ways. Love their work but not them. These guys need to surround themselves with people who can help them stay grounded.
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bart
November 28, 2019
Thanks for the links Ravi and Vignesh.. This wasn’t a concert, a masterclass that too with an audience like concert. So, you can blame the planners for making it neither here not there.
He has not been a pleasant conversationalist in general for all I’ve seen him over decades. But his music just compensates.. Even here, the tune he composed for the situation, “Hey Zindagi” and “Thendral vandhu” were just exhilarating. Let him be and compose.. Hope he gets more work so that he doesn’t get time for these large-scale faux pas. Listen to that Psycho piece sung by Sid Sriram – he still has a lot to offer.
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Madan
November 28, 2019
bart : Glad you mentioned the Psycho song. I put up the link in another thread and not a word from anyone. But it’s headed for 2 million views on YouTube, so hurray!
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Rad Mahalikudi
November 28, 2019
@Madan, @shaviswa: Thanks for the replies. On the point of rudeness, that happened in the concert here too. IIRC, BR mentioned in one of his articles, some of these great talented people are going to be like that, with rough edges. That is the package. We can expect them to behave the way we would like them to, but it will remain only as our wish.
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Sala Annamalai
November 28, 2019
It was meh. Ilaiyaraaja needs to be a little bit humble and modest, not get offended for everything and claim everything is because of him. True he’s a genius, adhukaaga ippadiya. I went to one of his shows in Toronto, he said he’ll leave the stage if people scream or whistle. Has he been always like this or it’s because of his age?
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Madan
November 28, 2019
Watched the masterclass. Raja was clearly not comfortable answering questions in English in the first place, so he might have been more receptive had the Q&A been in Tamil. Also, I guess the reason he doesn’t get into explaining how and why he makes the decisions he does could be that he wants to keep his mind fresh and unbiased for the next film and the next after that and so on and fears that if he starts articulating his methods, he will start second guessing himself in an attempt to avoid repeating himself. Besides which, some things do happen purely spontaneously in the creative field. Musicians I have talked to say so and somebody who has done over a 1000 films probably has 100x the inspiration of the lesser mortals I know.
Anyhow, the song idea was good. Would be nice to hear him develop it.
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Sifter
December 1, 2019
Like others have said here, it looked badly planned. It was clear that Balki and IR had previous discussions on most of what they should talk and play at this event. Why wasn’t there a video screen then?
There are countless songs of IR that i love. Metti Oli Kaatrodu from the movie Metti Oli is an eternal favourite of mine. So,when he talked about how nothing else matters (paraphrasing here) in a movie, only his music (though it is true for many of the movies he scored gems for), it jarred. This Metti Oli Kaatrodu song is a ‘traditional lovers’ song…musically and lyrically. I liked it when i heard it first. Nothing. But i absolutely loved it when i saw it in the movie. It dared to show the love between a mother and her daughters, the daughters love towards their mother, love and naughtiness between sisters, etc. It was enjoyable and different then…it is now. It was not only Illayaraja who made it lovely……the director J Mahendran made it lovelier for me. For me this song could have remained one among the countless songs of IR that i liked but it rose to an exalted status because of the video.
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Madan
December 1, 2019
“So,when he talked about how nothing else matters (paraphrasing here) in a movie, only his music (though it is true for many of the movies he scored gems for), it jarred.” – This comes down, again, to IR being both a poor communicator and more than a little haughty. What he was trying to say was simply that if you have nothing but a bald visual, it doesn’t come alive until you add music to it. I don’t completely agree with that either (and it shows that he is a surprisingly poor aficionado of cinema for someone who scores BGMs so well for films) but in the Indian and especially Tamil context, it is a very valid point. But you always have to have someone to translate what he was driving at which, in his crude phrasing, comes across as self-obsessed or always trying to score brownie points for his fraternity at the expense of directors. Likewise, he and his son have often made the point in shows that lyrics by themselves mean nothing until you add music. Sure, but that is only because the lyricist is tailoring the words to the music and taking liberties he may not if he was just writing a poem. That distinction never comes out the way Raja expresses himself.
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shaviswa
December 1, 2019
@Madan
All said and done, and despite all the great music that he has composed all these years, Ilaiyaraja is obnoxiously self promoting. It can get extremely annoying if you are watching the program only for the music.
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Sifter
December 2, 2019
@Madan- I did have the thought that the way he sounds and acts on stage may be due to a language barrier or him not able to comfortably communicate with those on stage and the audience. But after watching a few interviews, he does not come across as a person who would compliment someone else or appreciate another person’s achievements. He has this condescending attitude towards everyone and expects that people revere him or praise him all the time.
Given that he is a damn genius with his music we should tolerate his behaviour perhaps…but i’d rather just enjoy listening to his songs and not watch anymore of his interviews 🙂
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Madan
December 2, 2019
Sifter: With IR, the rule is any whole hearted compliments will be given out to either past legends or to those among his age peers or younger whom he does not see as potentially approaching his stature. IR himself mentioned that once SPB learnt and recorded a song in an hour and did it in one take and when IR told him, “Nalla paadine “, SPB said, “Adaa paavi, mudhal dharavaya nalla paadine nu sonne . IR said in a light hearted way, but the truth behind the joke is he does not compliment people he feels threatened by easily. He will compliment the musicians of his troupe, the Hungary musicians or new singing stars because they don’t threaten his legacy. Likewise he will wax eloquent about Kannadasan, Vaali or MSV. But not when it comes to a good friend like SPB, let alone a Vairamuthu.
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bart
December 2, 2019
Given the topic is IR, one of the maestro’s firsts.. another gem 🙂
https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/variety/the-making-maestro-ilaiyaraaja-composes-hindustan-coca-cola-beverages-anthem/article30114957.ece#
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shaviswa
December 2, 2019
I think Ilaiyaraja has always been this way….a bit rude, an inability to communicate properly. Selvaraj who worked with him in Annakili and who knew him from their earlier village days says so. He was afraid of allowing Raja to consume alcohol when Panchu offered him – for fear that Raja may say something that would upset Panchu. He says the other brothers including Amaran knew how to speak while Raja did not. Even while he was a guitar artist in GK Venkatesh’s group, he has spoken openly and rudely against an established singer like P Suseela.
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vijay
December 3, 2019
I think about those interviews in the 90s when IR used to dismiss live shows and go “I would much rather do 10 fresh soundtracks in that space, than do 1 live show”. Somewhere along the way we lost that IR. These days, too many shows, not sure who planted this idea in him, maybe his elder son? The same Janani Janani opening in concert after concert and the same tired set of hits, with only the singers being different. Different in the sense, not being a patch on the original great ones who sung these songs. And to see this, you are shelling out 1000 bucks and 5 hrs of your life? are you kidding me? I cant bear to watch it for free in youtube. My immediate reaction is to seek out the originals and re-celebrate them.
And Sid Sriram sucks. I hope he doesn’t do a cover of SPB classics any time soon. Let him conquer his puberty first. He makes Devan sound more masculine in comparison.
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vijay
December 3, 2019
“He reminds me of Kamal in many ways. Love their work but not them. These guys need to surround themselves with people who can help them stay grounded.”
Have you ever heard Kamal say in any of his stage shows that “en nadippaal dhaan neengaL vaazhigireergaL”, “naan dhaan ulagamagaa nayagan” etc. ? If anything he comes across as a bit self-dismissive in both his interviews as well as stage appearances. He may ramble a bit when posed with straightforward questions and indulge in a bit of name-throwing but that’s his quirk. In one TV program he said he was so jealous of IR’s talent that had he been a composer himself he may have even strangled IR. Does that remind you of IR? Nah..
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Subhadra
December 3, 2019
@Madan: Hmm, and that’s why SPB is a long term friend and Ilayaraja gave some of his best tunes to this singer. I am sure plenty of admiration and appreciation goes either ways between them. I also feel the whole royalty thing between the two was staged, now that they are back together.
As BR wrote, can we just let the man be and not judge for his odd crankiness.
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Madan
December 3, 2019
Subhadra: Well, if some of the admiration IR had for SPB came out in public, one wouldn’t have to speculate about this. Seriously how hard can it be for him to do that? And as for friendship, IR said a few years back via the Kumudham series that his only friend in the industry was Panju Arunachalam. Tell me why is it that SPB and Yesudas who, one would imagine as professional rivals, seem to get along better than IR with almost anyone?
And I am not judging him. I accept the package with everything it entails because I am not surprised that someone of IR’s talent behaves or communicates this way. That doesn’t mean I am going to sugarcoat his behaviour either. I don’t feel the need to as I am a fan of IR the composer, not IR the personality. And again, I don’t understand why we struggle with this so much, particularly in South India. Nobody would describe Kishore Kumar as anything other than eccentric but that doesn’t stop millions from still listening to the songs he sang. I see it the same way with IR. Yes, he is a musical genius. But at the same time, the way he communicates thwarts Balki’s well intentioned efforts to give us a glimpse into his mind.
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Subhadra
December 3, 2019
Madan: I think South India mostly does recognize the crankiness, just that they don’t bother to bring this up for discussion or analyze the behavior.
Or may be it’s the interviews like the ones above that restore faith in IR, the personality, that this soul could exhibit humility when it chooses to.
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Madan
December 3, 2019
Subhadra: I have seen those interviews before (the second one on Podhigai itself by sheer coincidence) and those are not going to change my opinion of the above interaction with the audience at IFFI.
Oh, and please don’t tell me South ignores the crankiness. It’s Chennai that taught me the word thalaiganam (applied to IR), a word that I never use. I have heard and read reams and reams said about why IR needs to be humble (again, not something that I have ever asked of him). So it’s more like some fans are extremely possessive about his image for reasons known to themselves. Which is just the same as how Rajni or Thala fans defend their hero to death. It’s very much a South phenomenon in THAT sense – a cult of personality attached to a movie figure.
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TambiDude
December 4, 2019
“I don’t feel the need to as I am a fan of IR the composer, not IR the personality. ”
Are you sure? Eventually difficult to separate the artist/sportsperson and the obvious talent they have. I no longer have the urge to watch Kamal’s movies, or even Nasir. Just like I find it difficult to appreciate Ricky Ponting’s batting.
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Sifter
December 4, 2019
@ Madan- I remember the word thalaiganam was dumped on the heads of most heroines those days. Good to know that the word was applied to IR too 🙂 🙂
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Madan
December 4, 2019
Tambidude: I am pretty sure about this. I am not talking about if the artist was actually a criminal. I can’t watch Salman films for that reason. But I really don’t care what kind of person the artist is. From everything I have heard, Christian Bale is an enormous prick. That won’t stop me watching the movies he is cast in. Same with Russell Crowe or Edward Norton. Why, the fact that IR said that dialogue, “En Isaiyaladhan vazharanga” in a concert hasn’t stopped me listening to his work. Including new stuff. I hear Shreya Ghoshal is singing one of the songs on the new Mysskin film Psycho. Can hardly wait to hear it. Interested to see what he has done with Arijit as well.
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shaviswa
December 4, 2019
@TamilDude I agree that after a certain point, the dislike for the person moves to dislike for the person’s work as well. It has started happening to me with KH. Not yet with Ilaiyaraja.
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shaviswa
December 4, 2019
That should read as @Tambidude and not @TamilDude . Apologies
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Ravi K
December 4, 2019
Madan, I agree. Why do people demand that these artists they’re probably never going to meet or work with always be humble and nice? As long as he doesn’t cross a line into abusive or violent behavior, his personality shouldn’t be of concern to us.
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shaviswa
December 5, 2019
@Ravi K and @Madan
It should not – I agree. But it is human tendency to form opinions on people based on how they speak and behave. And over a period of time, it also impact what you like about them.
For example, I was a very very big fan of Tendulkar for almost his entire career. But when he dragged his career in search of that 100th 100, when he spoke about how he was offended and surprised by Dravid’s declaration while he was on 194, etc. etc. my opinions about the man changed and then I started looking at his previous innings too differently. I thought he was slowing down for his landmarks etc. It took sometime for me to again start liking the batsman Tendulkar – and now I watch old videos of his batting with the same fan-like intensity as I used to 🙂
So perceptions are formed due to various reasons and they do influence what you like and don’t like.
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Madan
December 5, 2019
shaviswa: But the example you have used is one where Sachin’s choices affected his batting and made it both less entertaining and less effective. On the other hand, it is very much possible for artists and sportspersons to be very arrogant and also be successful in their field. I would say some amount of ego helps because the ones who are modest play down their work and don’t promote it.
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Mani
December 6, 2019
I guess there is too much analysis on IR’s personality. IMHO, The mental state of a person can change over a period of time (due to age, experiences undergone and what not) – so its better to not mull over this considering this Genius’ age! Even within our closer circle, we would have seen people acting odd as they age after retirement. Just enjoy his music and wish him good physical and mental health!
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vijay
December 7, 2019
With IR, his behavior did affect the quality of work over a period of time. Inferior lyricists, inferior singers and eventually nincompoop directors who could not inspire him. And as BR mentioned about another anecdote when a director wanted to summon good lyric he dismissed it saying they are not important for him, while he himself waxes eloquent about kannadasan and his creativity(and MSV ) every chance he gets and lamented about lack of good lyrics in the 80s .. , He used to detest live shows yet does nothing much else these days. There are many such contradictory instances. He is a bundle of contradictions.lets move on..
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Srinivas R
January 7, 2020
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GsHTaqvYKk – i liked this one quite a bit
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Madan
January 7, 2020
Srinivas R: I liked it too. Soundtrack’s promising, that is, I assume there are more tracks.
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Heisenberg
January 8, 2020
@Srinivas R – The string section sounds very similar to Schubert’s symphony. Once ilaiyaraaja played this in a Live show (Endrendrum Raja?) and sang “Idhaiyam Pogudhe” calling the symphony as inspiration for that song.
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sai16vicky
June 23, 2020
So, this dialogue-as-a-counterpoint that Raaja mentioned intrigued me and I was adamant to find at least one scenario in his vast oeuvre, where this happened.
I think I did. I was recently watching the Prabhu starrer ‘Rajakumaran’. The lead in into the gorgeous song ‘Ennavendru Solvadhamma’ has a piece of dialogue between Vadivelu and Meena, where the former says ‘Poyi paatu paadi aadamma, athai madi methiyadi aadi vilayadamma’.
And guess what meter ‘Ennavendru Solvadhamma’ is set in. It’s exactly that of ‘Athai madi methiyadi’.
There is one problem though. This film came after Amadeus. The next step is to find a movie before it, where he has done the same.
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