I’m Grieving My Daughter’s Loss: Ilaiyaraaja On Not Celebrating His 81st Birthday

Legendary musician and composer Ilaiyaraaja turned 81 on June 2. Since his debut album, Annakkili, in 1976, Ilayaraja has presented the Tamil music industry with unparalleled gems. His career spanning over 50 years, with more than 7,000 songs, has earned him numerous accolades throughout his career. He has received the Padma Bhushan, Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, and Padma Vibhushan for his contributions to the industry. On his 81st birthday, fans and celebrities outpoured love and support on social media. Some fans also crowded at his office in Chennai, and the musician and composer didn’t leave his fans disappointed and clicked pictures with them. He also addressed the press and sorrowfully shared that he is not willing to celebrate his birthday this year.

While addressing the media persons, he said, “I am not celebrating my birthday today because I am grieving the loss of my daughter Bhavatharini, and you are wishing me a happy birthday. This meet is only to acknowledge my fans.”

Ilaiyaraaja’s daughter breathed her last on January 25 this year. She passed away while being treated for liver cancer in Sri Lanka. Bhavatharini made her debut in Prabhu Deva’s Raasiya and has since sung in numerous films. She frequently collaborated with her father and her brothers, Yuvan Shankar Raja and Karthik Raja. She bagged the National Award for Best Playback Singer for Bharathi’s song Mayil Pola Ponnu Onnu in 2000.

South star Dhanush took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to wish Ilaiyaraaja on his birthday by sharing a poster from his upcoming film. The film is based on the life of the legendary musician. Sharing it on X, Dhanush wrote, “Happy birthday to the one and only @ilaiyaraaja sir.”

The poster saw the actor, who will play the music maestro, standing on stage in front of an ocean of people while several people sat with their musical instruments behind him. The Arun Matheswaran-directorial will be jointly produced by Sriram Bakthisaran, Varun Mathur, CK Padma Kumar, Ilamparithy Gajendran, and Saurabh Mishra. Ilaiyaraaja will be out in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi.