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101-629: Ilaiyaraaja (born Gnanathesigan , 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, multi-instrumentalist, lyricist and playback singer popular for his works in Indian cinema , predominately in Tamil , in addition to Telugu , Hindi , Malayalam and Kannada films. Regarded as one of the most prolific composers, in a career spanning over forty-eight years, he has composed over 7,000 songs and provided film scores for over 1,000 films, apart from performing in over 20,000 concerts. He

202-531: A Dalit family in Pannaipuram in present-day Theni district , Tamil Nadu, India, on 3 June 1943. belonging At the time of joining school, his father changed his name from Gnanathesigan to "Rajaiya", and the people in his village called him "Raasayya". When he joined Dhanraj Master as a student to learn musical instruments, the master changed his name to "Raaja". While working for his first film Annakili (1976), Tamil film producer Panchu Arunachalam added

303-554: A communist inclination, began to take shape through the 1940s and the 1950s. IPTA plays, such as Nabanna (1944), prepared the ground for realism in Indian cinema, exemplified by Khwaja Ahmad Abbas 's Dharti Ke Lal ( Children of the Earth , 1946). The IPTA movement continued to emphasise realism in films Mother India (1957) and Pyaasa (1957), among India's most recognisable cinematic productions. Following independence,

404-426: A lead actor was solidified by crime-action films Zanjeer and Sholay (1975). The devotional classic Jai Santoshi Ma (1975) was made on a low budget and became a box office success and a cult classic. Another important film was Deewaar (1975, Yash Chopra ), a crime film with brothers on opposite sides of the law which Danny Boyle described as "absolutely key to Indian cinema". The term " Bollywood "

505-423: A matriarch of the prominent Cornelian family . Ovid wrote elegies bemoaning his exile , which he likened to a death. In English literature, the more modern and restricted meaning, of a lament for a departed beloved or tragic event, has been current only since the sixteenth century; the broader concept was still employed by John Donne for his elegies written in the early seventeenth century. That looser concept

606-587: A poll commemorating 100 years of Indian cinema, he secured 49% of the people's vote and was adjudged as the country's greatest music composer; A. R. Rahman stood second with 29% of the vote. He is reputed to be the world's most prolific composer having composed more than 7,000 songs, provided film scores for more than 1,000 movies and performed in more than 20,000 concerts. He was one of the earliest Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Tamil film music. In 1986, he became

707-412: A poll conducted by CNN-IBN among those 100 films, Mayabazar was voted by the public as the "Greatest Indian film of all time". K. Viswanath , one of the prominent auteurs of Indian cinema, he received international recognition for his works, and is known for blending parallel cinema with mainstream cinema. His works such as Sankarabharanam (1980) about revitalisation of Indian classical music won

808-1038: A rich tapestry of sounds for films, and his themes and background score gained notice and appreciation among Indian film audiences. The range of expressive possibilities in Indian film music was broadened by his methodical approach to arranging, recording technique, and his drawing of ideas from a diversity of musical styles. According to musicologist P. Greene, Ilaiyaraaja's "deep understanding of so many different styles of music allowed him to create syncretic pieces of music combining very different musical idioms in unified, coherent musical statements". Ilaiyaraaja has composed Indian film songs that amalgamated elements of genres such as Afro-tribal, bossa nova , dance music (e.g., disco ), doo-wop , flamenco , acoustic guitar -propelled Western folk , funk , Indian classical , Indian folk/traditional , jazz , march , pathos , pop, psychedelia and rock and roll . By virtue of this variety and his intermingling of Western, Indian folk and Carnatic elements, Ilaiyaraaja's compositions appeal to

909-516: A section of Ilaiyaraaja's "Oru kili" soundtrack composed for the movie Aanandha Kummi (1983) as background music in its official trailer. The Black Eyed Peas sampled the Ilaiyaraaja's composition "Unakkum Ennakum" from Sri Raghavendra (1985) for the song "The Elephunk Theme" in Elephunk (2003). Ilaiyaraaja's song "Mella Mella Ennaithottu" from Vaazhkai was sampled by Rabbit Mac in

1010-581: A single film. Prime Minister Narendra Modi conferred an honorary doctorate to Ilaiyaraaja during the 36th Convocation Ceremony of Gandhigram Rural Institute in Tamil Nadu's Dindigul . Ilaiyaraaja has been awarded five National Film Awards —three for Best Music Direction and two for Best Background Score. In 2010, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan , the third-highest civilian honour in India and

1111-549: A soundtrack with computer for the film Vikram . He also composed Thiruvasagam in Symphony (2006), the first Indian oratorio . In 2013, when CNN-IBN conducted a poll to commemorate 100 years of Indian cinema , he secured 49% of the vote and was adjudged the country's greatest music composer. In 2014, the American world cinema portal "Taste of Cinema" placed him at 9th position in its list of 25 greatest film composers in

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1212-563: A stage play by Mylavaram Bala Bharathi Samajam. The film received an honorary diploma at the 2nd Venice International Film Festival . Chittoor Nagayya was one of the first multilingual filmmakers in India. Jumai Shasthi was the first Bengali short film as a talkie . Jyoti Prasad Agarwala made his first film Joymoti (1935) in Assamese, and later made Indramalati . The first film studio in South India, Durga Cinetone,

1313-423: A standing ovation as a mark of respect for Ilaiyaraaja. The score and soundtrack of the 1984 Malayalam -language film My Dear Kuttichathan , the first stereoscopic 3D film made in India, was composed by him. He composed the soundtrack for the movie Nayakan (1987), an Indian film ranked by Time magazine as one of the all-time 100 best movies. Ilaiyaraaja's first two non-film albums were explorations in

1414-476: A supernatural being guiding him, he always felt a moment of clarity when a composition came to his mind—"It is as if I am the subject and the object of art at the same time when that happens," he said. Ilaiyaraaja uses the same harmonium , both in his studio and in concerts. He has scored with it throughout his career. When he was younger, he was never allowed to touch it by his brother who thought he would spoil it. However, Ilaiyaraaja would play with it whenever he

1515-475: A truthful King and its success led many to consider him a pioneer of Indian cinema. Phalke used an all Indian crew including actors Anna Salunke and D. D. Dabke . He directed, edited, processed the film himself. Phalke saw The Life of Christ (1906) by the French director Alice Guy-Blaché , While watching Jesus on the screen, Phalke envisioned Hindu deities Rama and Krishna instead and decided to start in

1616-444: A type of musical work, usually of a sad or somber nature. A well-known example is the Élégie, Op. 10, by Jules Massenet . This was originally written for piano, as a student work; then he set it as a song; and finally it appeared as the "Invocation", for cello and orchestra, a section of his incidental music to Leconte de Lisle 's Les Érinnyes . Other examples include Gabriel Fauré 's Elegy in C minor (op. 24) for cello and piano,

1717-548: A wrestling match at the Hanging Gardens in Bombay, was the first film to be shot by an Indian and the first Indian documentary film. From 1913 to 1931, all the movies made in India were silent films , which had no sound and had intertitles . In 1913, Dadasaheb Phalke released Raja Harishchandra (1913) in Bombay, the first film made in India. It was a silent film incorporating Marathi and English intertitles. It

1818-480: Is 'foolishness'. Indian cinema The Cinema of India , consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry , has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries , each producing films in different languages, including Hindi , Telugu , Tamil , Kannada , Malayalam , Marathi , Bengali , Punjabi , Bhojpuri and others. Major centres of film production across

1919-491: Is a record. Cinematographer Santosh Sivan said that Ilaiyaraaja finished composing for the entire soundtrack of the film Thalapathi in less than "half a day". During the recording for the song "Sundari" from the movie Thalapathi in Mumbai with R.D. Burman 's orchestra, when Ilaiyaraaja gave them the notes, they were so moved and taken in by the composition that all the musicians put their hands together in awe and gave

2020-652: Is also a music director and lyricist in the Tamil film industry, and both were not on talking terms for 13 years until they met in February 2022. His daughter Bhavatharini died of liver cancer on 25 January 2024. In 2017, claiming copyright violations, Ilaiyaraaja sent legal notices to singers, S. P Balasubrahmanyam , his son S. P. Charan and Chithra , prohibiting them from singing his compositions without his consent, and warned they would have to pay huge royalties and face legal action if they do so. Ilaiyaraaja's brother Gangai Amaran criticized him, saying legal notice to SPB

2121-522: Is especially evident in the Old English Exeter Book ( c.  1000 CE ), which contains "serious meditative" and well-known poems such as " The Wanderer ", " The Seafarer ", and " The Wife's Lament ". In those elegies, the narrators use the lyrical "I" to describe their own personal and mournful experiences. They tell the story of the individual rather than the collective lore of his or her people as epic poetry seeks to tell. By

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2222-745: Is going to become the best composer in India". "Our main guitarist in Madras is the best composer in India", he said. After being hired as the musical assistant to Kannada film composer G. K. Venkatesh , he worked on 200 film projects, mostly in Kannada cinema. As Venkatesh's assistant, Ilaiyaraaja would orchestrate the melodic outlines developed by Venkatesh, learning about composing under Venkatesh's guidance. During this period, Ilaiyaraaja also began writing his own scores. To listen to his compositions, he used to persuade Venkatesh's session musicians to play excerpts from his scores during their leisure times. At

2323-504: Is nicknamed "Isaignani" (the musical sage) and is often referred to as " Maestro ", the title conferred to him by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra , London . Ilaiyaraaja was also one of the first Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Indian film music, and the first South Asian to compose a full symphony . In 1986, he became the first Indian composer to record

2424-425: Is particularly revered for its use of technology. The use of special effects, innovative for the 1950s, like the first illusion of moonlight, showcased technical brilliance.. Powerful performances and relatable themes ensure Mayabazar stays relevant, a classic enjoyed by new generations. On the centenary of Indian cinema in 2013, CNN-IBN included Mayabazar in its list of "100 greatest Indian films of all time". In

2525-546: Is recognisable by his stark, deep voice. He has penned the lyrics for some of his songs in Tamil. He considers M. S. Viswanathan as an overwhelming influence on his music. Ilaiyaraaja is nicknamed "Isaignani" (the musical genius), a title conferred by Kalaignar Karunanidhi. He is often referred to as "Maestro", the title conferred by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra , London. He was one of the earliest Indian film composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Indian film music. This allowed him to craft

2626-488: Is the only Bollywood actor to have starred in a top 10 grossing film each year of her active career (1983–1997). K. V. Reddy 's Mayabazar (1957) is a landmark film in Indian cinema, a classic of Telugu cinema that inspired generations of filmmakers. It blends myth, fantasy, romance and humour in a timeless story, captivating audiences with its fantastical elements. The film excelled in various departments like cast performances, production design, music, cinematography and

2727-1004: The veena , venu , nadaswaram , dholak , mridangam and tabla as well as Western lead instruments such as saxophones and flutes. The basslines in his songs tend to be melodically dynamic, rising and falling in a dramatic fashion. Polyrhythms are also apparent, particularly in songs with Indian folk or Carnatic influences. The melodic structure of his songs demand considerable vocal virtuosity, and have found expressive platform amongst some of India's respected vocalists and playback singers, such as T. M. Soundararajan , S. Janaki , P. Susheela , K. J. Yesudas , K. S. Chithra , S. P. Balasubrahmanyam , M. G. Sreekumar , Rajkumar , Asha Bhosle , Lata Mangeshkar , Jayachandran , Uma Ramanan , S. P. Sailaja , Jency , Swarnalatha , Minmini , Sujatha , Malaysia Vasudevan , Kavita Krishnamurti , Hariharan , Suresh Wadkar , Udit Narayan , Sadhana Sargam and Shreya Ghoshal . Ilaiyaraaja has sung more than 400 of his own compositions for films, and

2828-470: The 7th Busan ; Rajnesh Domalpalli's Vanaja (2006) won "Best First Feature Award" at the 57th Berlinale . Elegy The Greek term ἐλεγείᾱ ( elegeíā ; from ἔλεγος , élegos , ‘lament’) originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter (death, love, war). The term also included epitaphs , sad and mournful songs, and commemorative verses. The Latin elegy of ancient Roman literature

2929-695: The British Raj banned Wrath (1930) and Raithu Bidda (1938) for broaching the subject of the Indian independence movement . The Indian Masala film —a term used for mixed-genre films that combined song, dance, romance, etc.—arose following the Second World War. During the 1940s, cinema in South India accounted for nearly half of India's cinema halls, and cinema came to be viewed as an instrument of cultural revival. The Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA), an art movement with

3030-542: The Indian Cinematograph Enquiry Committee . The ICC consisted of three British and three Indians, led by T. Rangachari , a Madras lawyer. This committee failed to bolster the desired recommendations of supporting British Film, instead recommending support for the fledgling Indian film industry, and their suggestions were set aside. The first Indian sound film was Alam Ara (1931) made by Ardeshir Irani . Ayodhyecha Raja (1932)

3131-557: The Padma Vibhushan in 2018, the second-highest civilian award by the government of India . In 2012, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award , the highest Indian recognition given to practising artists, for his creative and experimental works in the music field. He is a gold medalist in classical guitar from Trinity College of Music , London, Distance Learning Channel. Ilaiyaraaja's soundtrack for

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3232-507: The Palme d'Or at Cannes and Indian films competed for the award most years in the 1950s and early 1960s. Ray is regarded as one of the greatest auteurs of 20th century cinema , along with his contemporaries Dutt and Ghatak. In 1992, the Sight & Sound Critics' Poll ranked Ray at No.  7 in its list of Top 10 Directors of all time. Multiple films from this era are included among

3333-856: The Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada. The Toronto concert was promoted by Trinity Events for Vijay TV in India and produced by Sandy Audio Visual SAV Productions with PA+. Following his show at Toronto, Ilaiyaraaja also performed at the Prudential Center Newark, New Jersey, on 23 February 2013 and at the HP Pavilion at San Jose on 1   March 2013. After his North America tour, he made a live performance at The O2 Arena in London on 24 August 2013, along with Kamal Haasan and his sons Yuvan Shankar Raja and Karthik Raja . "Only

3434-480: The greatest films of all time in various critics' and directors' polls, including The Apu Trilogy , Jalsaghar , Charulata Aranyer Din Ratri , Pyaasa , Kaagaz Ke Phool , Meghe Dhaka Tara , Komal Gandhar , Awaara , Baiju Bawra , Mother India , Mughal-e-Azam and Subarnarekha (also tied at No. 11). Sivaji Ganesan became India's first actor to receive an international award when he won

3535-534: The "Prize of the Public" at the Besançon Film Festival of France in the year 1981. Forbes included J. V. Somayajulu 's performance in the film on its list of "25 Greatest Acting Performances of Indian Cinema". Swathi Muthyam (1986) was India's official entry to the 59th Academy Awards . Swarna Kamalam (1988) the dance film choreographed by Kelucharan Mohapatra , and Sharon Lowen

3636-442: The 1947 partition of India divided the nation's assets and a number of studios moved to Pakistan. Partition became an enduring film subject thereafter. The Indian government had established a Films Division by 1948, which eventually became one of the world's largest documentary film producers with an annual production of over 200 short documentaries, each released in 18 languages with 9,000 prints for permanent film theatres across

3737-506: The 1960s, Indira Gandhi supported the production of off-beat cinema through the FFC. Baburao Patel of Filmindia called B. N. Reddy 's Malliswari (1951) an "inspiring motion picture" which would "save us the blush when compared with the best of motion pictures of the world". Film historian Randor Guy called Malliswari scripted by Devulapalli Krishnasastri a "poem in celluloid, told with rare artistic finesse, which lingers long in

3838-688: The 1970s. Madhumati (1958, Bimal Roy ) popularised the theme of reincarnation in Western popular culture . Actor Dilip Kumar rose to fame in the 1950s, and was the biggest Indian movie star of the time. He was a pioneer of method acting , predating Hollywood method actors such as Marlon Brando . Much like Brando's influence on New Hollywood actors, Kumar inspired Hindi actors, including Amitabh Bachchan , Naseeruddin Shah , Shah Rukh Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui . Neecha Nagar (1946) won

3939-464: The 1991 film Thalapathi was included in The Guardian ' s 100 Albums to Hear Before You Die . In 2003, according to an international poll conducted by BBC of more than half-a million people from 165 countries, his composition " Rakkamma Kaiya Thattu " from Thalapathi was voted fourth in the top 10 most popular songs of all time. In 2013, when the Indian news channel CNN-IBN conducted

4040-690: The Best Actor award at the Afro-Asian film festival in 1960 and was awarded the title of Chevalier in the Legion of Honour by the French Government in 1995. Tamil cinema is influenced by Dravidian politics , with prominent film personalities C N Annadurai , M G Ramachandran , M Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa becoming Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu . By 1986, India's annual film output had increased to 833 films annually, making India

4141-678: The Bollywood directors and producers held the rights to their films in Northern India, Salim–Javed retained the rights in South India, where they sold remake rights for films such as Zanjeer , Yaadon Ki Baarat and Don . Several of these remakes became breakthroughs for actor Rajinikanth . Sridevi is widely regarded as the first female superstar of Indian cinema due to her pan-Indian appeal with equally successful careers in Hindi , Tamil , Malayalam , Kannada and Telugu cinema . She

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4242-596: The Hindu mystic Ramana Maharshi , and his Thiruvasakam : A crossover (2005) is an oratorio of ancient Tamil poems transcribed partially in English by American lyricist Stephen Schwartz and performed by the Budapest Symphony Orchestra . His most recent release is a world music-oriented album called The Music Messiah (2006). In May 2020, he composed a song titled Bharath Bhoomi , as tribute to

4343-720: The Indian Performing Right Society, said in 2017, "the kind of stellar body of work that Ilaiyaraaja has created in the last 40 years should have placed him among the world's top 10 richest composers, somewhere between Andrew Lloyd Webber ($ 1.2 billion) and Mick Jagger (over $ 300 million)." British musician Andy Votel , described Ilaiyaraaja in an essay thus, "Whatever "genre" of music you choose to like/ love/ promote/ protect/ politicise/ over-intellectualize/ despise/ defend or pretend to enjoy, Ilaiyaraaja has done it." Carnatic vocalist T. M. Krishna considers that no other film composer has displayed

4444-664: The Indian box office since the 1990s. Shah Rukh Khan was the most successful for most of the 1990s and 2000s, while Aamir Khan has been the most successful since the late 2000s; according to Forbes , Shah Rukh Khan is "arguably the world's biggest movie star" as of 2017, due to his immense popularity in India and China. Other notable Hindi film stars of recent decades include Arjun Rampal , Sunny Deol , Akshay Kumar , Ajay Devgn , Hrithik Roshan , Anil Kapoor , Sanjay Dutt , Sridevi , Madhuri Dixit , Juhi Chawla , Karisma Kapoor , Kajol , Tabu , Aishwarya Rai , Rani Mukerji and Preity Zinta . Haider (2014, Vishal Bhardwaj ),

4545-406: The Indian rural dweller for its rhythmic folk qualities, the Indian classical music enthusiast for the employment of Carnatic ragas , and the urbanite for its modern, Western-music sound. His sense of visualisation for composing music is always to match up with the movie storyline and help the audience feel the emotions flavoured through his musical score. He mastered this art of blending music to

4646-667: The Mumbai-based Hindi-language film industry (Bollywood). As of 2022, Telugu cinema leads Indian cinema with 23.3 crore (233 million) tickets sold, followed by Tamil cinema with 20.5 crore (205 million) and Hindi cinema with 18.9 crore (189 million). Indian cinema is a global enterprise, and its films have attracted international attention and acclaim throughout South Asia . Since talkies began in 1931, Hindi cinema has led in terms of box office performance, but in recent years it has faced stiff competition from Telugu cinema. Overseas Indians account for 12% of

4747-933: The audio release function of the film Dhoni and before that, he performed a programme that was conducted and telecasted by Jaya TV titled Enrendrum Raja ("Everlasting Raja") on 28 December 2011 at Jahawarlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Chennai. On 5 September 2012, Ilayaraja performed in a live concert in Chennai with the Hungarian National Philharmonic orchestra; during this event the music launch of his films Neethaane En Ponvasantham and Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu took place. On 23 September 2012, he performed live in Bangalore at National High School Grounds. On 16 February 2013, Ilayaraja made his first appearance in North America performing at

4848-402: The biggest Bollywood movie star of the period. Another landmark was Amar Akbar Anthony (1977, Manmohan Desai ). Desai further expanded the genre in the 1970s and 1980s. Commercial Hindi cinema grew in the 1980s, with films such as Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981), Disco Dancer (1982), Himmatwala (1983), Tohfa (1984), Naam (1986), Mr India (1987), and Tezaab (1988). In

4949-649: The broad range of understanding music like Ilaiyaraaja, and the way he modifies himself and creates music is "unfathomable" making him the "absolute master". On 6 July 2022, Ilaiyaraaja was nominated to the Rajya Sabha as Member of Parliament by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind . Ilaiyaraaja was married to Jeeva, and the couple has three children— Karthik Raja , Bhavatharini and Yuvan Shankar Raja —all of them are film composers and singers. His wife Jeeva died on 31 October 2011. His brother, Gangai Amaran ,

5050-576: The business of "moving pictures". In South India , film pioneer Raghupathi Venkaiah Naidu , credited as the father of Telugu cinema , built the first cinemas in Madras (now Chennai ), and a film studio was established in the city by Nataraja Mudaliar. In 1921, Naidu produced the silent film, Bhishma Pratigna , generally considered to be the first Telugu feature film . The first Tamil and Malayalam films , also silent films, were Keechaka Vadham (1917–1918, R. Nataraja Mudaliar ) and Vigathakumaran (1928, J. C. Daniel Nadar ). The latter

5151-488: The conceptual approach suggested in the title—that music is a "natural phenomenon akin to various forms of air currents". He has composed a set of Carnatic kritis which were recorded by electric mandolinist U. Srinivas for the album Ilayaraaja's Classicals on the Mandolin (1994). Ilaiyaraaja has also composed albums of religious/ devotional songs. His Guru Ramana Geetam (2004) is a cycle of prayer songs inspired by

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5252-904: The contemporary film music. Later, when a new wave of films started to come, they opened the space for the kind of music he wanted to explore. Ilaiyaraaja's use of Tamil folk music in his film scores injected new life in the Indian film score milieu. By the mid-1980s, he started gaining increasing stature as a composer and music director in the South Indian film industries. He worked with Indian poets and lyricists such as Kannadasan , Vaali , Vairamuthu , O. N. V. Kurup , Sreekumaran Thampi , Veturi , Acharya Aatreya , Sirivennela Seetharama Sastry , Chi. Udayashankar and Gulzar . Most of his compositions were sung by S. P. Balasubrahmanyam , S. Janaki and K. S. Chithra . Director R. K. Selvamani claimed that for his film Chembaruthi (1992), Ilaiyaraaja had composed nine songs in just 45 minutes, which

5353-543: The country include Mumbai , Hyderabad , Chennai , Kolkata , Kochi , Bangalore , Bhubaneswar - Cuttack , and Guwahati . For a number of years, the Indian film industry has ranked first in the world in terms of annual film output. In 2022, Indian cinema earned ₹ 15,000 crore ($ 1.9 billion) at the box-office. Ramoji Film City located in Hyderabad is certified by the Guinness World Records as

5454-520: The country. The period from the late 1940s to the early 1960s is regarded by film historians as the Golden Age of Indian cinema. This period saw the emergence of the parallel cinema movement, which emphasised social realism . Mainly led by Bengalis, early examples include Dharti Ke Lal (1946, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas ), Neecha Nagar (1946, Chetan Anand ), Nagarik (1952, Ritwik Ghatak ) and Do Bigha Zamin (1953, Bimal Roy), laying

5555-460: The early 1970s, Hindi cinema was experiencing thematic stagnation, dominated by musical romance films . Screenwriter duo Salim–Javed ( Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar ) revitalised the industry. They established the genre of gritty, violent, Bombay underworld crime films with Zanjeer (1973) and Deewaar (1975). They reinterpreted the rural themes of Mother India and Gunga Jumna in an urban context reflecting 1970s India, channelling

5656-454: The elegy. Elegy presents every thing as lost and gone or absent and future. A famous example of elegy is Thomas Gray 's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1750). In French, perhaps the most famous elegy is Le Lac (1820) by Alphonse de Lamartine . In Germany, the most famous example is Duino Elegies by Rainer Maria Rilke (1922). In the Islamic world—namely Shia Islam,

5757-466: The film director will be with me when the situation and the story are narrated. Then, it's just me and my harmonium. I just think about the situation and touch my harmonium and music flows. If people consider it as an alternate world, so be it. To me, it is something that I can't explain." — Ilaiyaraaja on his creative process Ilaiyaraaja, once reflecting over his works after turning seventy-five, said his "life experiences and learning" have been

5858-520: The first Indian composer to record a soundtrack with computer, for the film Vikram . In 1993, he became the first Indian to compose a full symphony , performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London, and is also known to have written the entire symphony in less than a month. Composed by Ilaiyaraaja, the critically acclaimed Thiruvasakam in Symphony (2006) is the first Indian oratorio . Achille Forler, board member of

5959-436: The foundations for Indian neorealism The Apu Trilogy (1955–1959, Satyajit Ray ) won prizes at several major international film festivals and firmly established the parallel cinema movement. It was influential on world cinema and led to a rush of coming-of-age films in art house theatres. Cinematographer Subrata Mitra developed the technique of bounce lighting , to recreate the effect of daylight on sets, during

6060-428: The fount from which his musical output poured, but sometimes felt that some of his compositions transcended them as if they were "the reflection of the efforts of past lives — mine, or those of other musical exponents." When enquired if it was mystical as in the case of mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan , who insisted he received math formula in dreams from a goddess, Ilaiyaraaja said that unlike Ramanujan who felt

6161-455: The fusion of Indian and Western classical music. The first, How to Name It? (1986), is dedicated to the Carnatic master Tyāgarāja and to J. S. Bach . It features a fusion of the Carnatic form and ragas with Bach partitas , fugues and Baroque musical textures. The second, Nothing But Wind (1988), was performed by flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia and a 50-piece orchestra and takes

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6262-607: The globe, compared to Hollywood 's 2.6 billion tickets sold. Realistic parallel cinema continued throughout the 1970s, practised in many Indian film cultures. The FFC's art film orientation came under criticism during a Committee on Public Undertakings investigation in 1976, which accused the body of not doing enough to encourage commercial cinema. Hindi commercial cinema continued with films such as Aradhana (1969), Sachaa Jhutha (1970), Haathi Mere Saathi (1971), Anand (1971), Kati Patang (1971) Amar Prem (1972), Dushman (1972) and Daag (1973). By

6363-467: The growing discontent and disillusionment among the masses, unprecedented growth of slums and urban poverty, corruption and crime, as well as anti-establishment themes. This resulted in their creation of the "angry young man", personified by Amitabh Bachchan , who reinterpreted Kumar's performance in Gunga Jumna and gave a voice to the urban poor. By the mid-1970s, Bachchan's position as

6464-894: The highest number of mainstream Indian hit movies that decade. At the end of the decade, Yash Chopra 's Chandni (1989) created a new formula for Bollywood musical romance films, reviving the genre and defining Hindi cinema in the years that followed. Commercial Hindi cinema grew in the late 1980s and 1990s, with the release of Mr. India (1987), Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak (1988), Chaalbaaz (1989), Maine Pyar Kiya (1989), Lamhe (1991), Saajan (1991), Khuda Gawah (1992), Khalnayak (1993), Darr (1993), Hum Aapke Hain Koun..! (1994), Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995), Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Pyar Kiya Toh Darna Kya (1998) and Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998). Cult classic Bandit Queen (1994) directed by Shekhar Kapur received international recognition and controversy. In

6565-425: The history of cinema. He is the only Indian on the list, appearing alongside Ennio Morricone , John Williams , and Jerry Goldsmith . Ilaiyaraaja received several awards for his works throughout his career. In 2012, for his creative and experimental works in the field of music, he received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award , the highest Indian recognition given to people in the field of performing arts . In 2010 he

6666-693: The industry's revenue. The history of cinema in India extends to the beginning of the film era. Following the screening of the Lumière and Robert Paul moving pictures in London in 1896, commercial cinematography became a worldwide sensation and these films were shown in Bombay (now Mumbai ) that same year. In 1897, a film presentation by filmmaker Professor Stevenson featured a stage show at Calcutta's Star Theatre. With Stevenson's camera and encouragement, Indian photographer Hiralal Sen filmed scenes from that show, exhibited as The Flower of Persia (1898). The Wrestlers (1899), by H. S. Bhatavdekar , showing

6767-453: The largest film industry in India in terms of box office. In 2022, Hindi cinema represented 33% of box office revenue, followed by Telugu representing 20%, Tamil representing 16%, Kannada representing 8%, and Malayalam representing 6%. Other prominent film industries are Marathi , Punjabi , Bengali , Gujarati , Bhojpuri , and Odia cinema . As of 2022, the combined revenue of South Indian film industries has surpassed that of

6868-517: The largest film studio complex in the world measuring over 1,666 acres (674 ha ). Indian cinema is composed of multilingual and multi-ethnic film art. The term ' Bollywood ', often mistakenly used to refer to Indian cinema as a whole, is only the Hindi-language segment, with Indian cinema being an umbrella term that includes various film industries, each offering films in diverse languages and styles. In 2021, Telugu cinema emerged as

6969-455: The late 1980s, Hindi cinema experienced another period of stagnation, with a decline in box office turnout, due to increasing violence, decline in musical melodic quality, and rise in video piracy, leading to middle-class family audiences abandoning theatres. The turning point came with Indian blockbuster Disco Dancer (1982) which began the era of disco music in Indian cinema. Lead actor Mithun Chakraborty and music director Bappi Lahiri had

7070-567: The late 1990s, there was a resurgence of parallel cinema in Bollywood, largely due to the critical and commercial success of crime films such as Satya (1998) and Vaastav (1999). These films launched a genre known as "Mumbai noir", reflecting social problems in the city. Ram Gopal Varma directed the Indian Political Trilogy , and the Indian Gangster Trilogy ; film critic Rajeev Masand had labelled

7171-485: The latter series as one of the "most influential movies of Bollywood. The first instalment of the trilogy, Satya , was also listed in CNN-IBN 's 100 greatest Indian films of all time. Since the 1990s, the three biggest Bollywood movie stars have been the " Three Khans ": Aamir Khan , Shah Rukh Khan , and Salman Khan . Combined, they starred in the top ten highest-grossing Bollywood films , and have dominated

7272-515: The masses (admission as low as an anna [one-sixteenth of a rupee] in Bombay). Young producers began to incorporate elements of Indian social life and culture into cinema, others brought new ideas from across the world. Global audiences and markets soon became aware of India's film industry. In 1927, the British government, to promote the market in India for British films over American ones, formed

7373-461: The memory". Commercial Hindi cinema began thriving, including acclaimed films Pyaasa (1957) and Kaagaz Ke Phool (1959, Guru Dutt ) Awaara (1951) and Shree 420 (1955, Raj Kapoor ). These films expressed social themes mainly dealing with working-class urban life in India; Awaara presented Bombay as both a nightmare and a dream, while Pyaasa critiqued the unreality of city life. Epic film Mother India (1957, Mehboob Khan )

7474-566: The most famous examples are elegies written by Sachay Bhai on the Battle of Karbala . Elegies written on Husayn ibn Ali and his followers are very common and produced even today. In Spain, one of the capital works in Spanish is Coplas por la Muerte de su Padre (Stanzas About the Death of His Father), written between 1460 and 1470 by Jorge Manrique . "Elegy" (French: élégie ) may denote

7575-422: The narration, which very few others managed to adapt themselves over a longer time. Although Ilaiyaraaja uses a range of complex compositional techniques, he often sketches out the basic melodic ideas for films in a very spontaneous fashion. Actor Rajnikanth noted that Ilaiyaraaja used to complete the re-recording of three films in a single day without any sleep, while present generation composers take 30 days for

7676-417: The people working amid COVID-19 pandemic . The song was crooned by S. P Balasubrahmanyam and the video of the song was unveiled by Ilaiyaraaja on his YouTube channel on 30 May 2020, in Tamil and Hindi. On his birthday in 2020, Ilaiyaraaja announced the upcoming launch of his 'Isai OTT' app . He stated that the app would contain much more than just his songs, like behind-the-scenes trivia about how each song

7777-449: The prefix "Ilaiya" (meaning 'younger' in Tamil ) to the name "Raaja", and renamed him as "Ilaiyaraaja", because in the 1970s there was another popular music director with the same suffix, namely A. M. Rajah . As the birthdays of both Ilaiyaraaja and the politician M. Karunanidhi fall on the same date (3 June), Ilaiyaraaja decided to celebrate his on 2 June so that people of Tamil Nadu can celebrate only that of Karunanidhi on 3 June. This

7878-613: The second film of the trilogy and later pioneered other effects such as the photo-negative flashbacks and X-ray digressions. During the 1950s, Indian cinema reportedly became the world's second largest film industry, earning a gross annual income of ₹ 250 million (equivalent to ₹ 26 billion or US$ 320 million in 2023) in 1953. The government created the Film Finance Corporation (FFC) in 1960 to provide financial support to filmmakers. While serving as Information and Broadcasting Minister of India in

7979-507: The song Sempoi . Popular American rapper Meek Mill sampled one of Ilaiyaraaja's hit songs for Indian Bounce . The alternative artist M.I.A. sampled "Kaatukuyilu" from the film Thalapathi (1991) for her song "Bamboo Banga" on the album Kala (2007). Alphant sampled Ilaiyaraaja's music for his song An Indian Dream . Gonjasufi sampled Ilaiyaraaja's "Yeh Hawa Yeh Fiza" from the movie Sadma . Ilaiyaraaja rarely performs his music live. His first major live performance since his debut

8080-464: The soundtrack, Ilaiyaraaja applied techniques of modern popular film music orchestration to Tamil folk poetry and folk song melodies, which resulted in creation of a fusion of Western and Tamil idioms. Initially he was little apprehensive about how his work would be received, thinking musicians in the industry may write him off. When Annakili released in 1976, the music became a huge hit. For his following 12 films, Ilaiyaraaja based his compositions on

8181-443: The start of his career, the music sensibility of Ilaiyaraaja was very different to the film music being composed in those days, so although he spent a lot of his time learning, he "wasn't able to grasp how music was being made for films." However, in 1975, film producer Panchu Arunachalam, impressed by a song casually sung by Ilaiyaraaja, commissioned him to compose the songs and film score for a Tamil film titled Annakili (1976). For

8282-1473: The third instalment of the Indian Shakespearean Trilogy after Maqbool (2003) and Omkara (2006), won the People's Choice Award at the 9th Rome Film Festival in the Mondo Genere making it the first Indian film to achieve this honour. The 2000s and 2010s also saw the rise of a new generation of popular actors like Shahid Kapoor , Ranbir Kapoor , Ranveer Singh , Ayushmann Khurrana , Varun Dhawan , Sidharth Malhotra , Sushant Singh Rajput , Kartik Aaryan , Arjun Kapoor , Aditya Roy Kapur and Tiger Shroff , as well as actresses like Vidya Balan , Priyanka Chopra , Kareena Kapoor , Katrina Kaif , Kangana Ranaut , Deepika Padukone , Sonam Kapoor , Anushka Sharma , Shraddha Kapoor , Alia Bhatt , Parineeti Chopra and Kriti Sanon with Balan, Ranaut and Bhatt gaining wide recognition for successful female-centric films such as The Dirty Picture (2011), Kahaani (2012), Queen (2014), Highway (2014), Tanu Weds Manu Returns (2015), Raazi (2018) and Gangubai Kathiawadi (2022). Salim–Javed were highly influential in South Indian cinema . In addition to writing two Kannada films , many of their Bollywood films had remakes produced in other regions, including Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam cinema. While

8383-403: The time of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and others, the term had come to mean "serious meditative poem": Elegy is a form of poetry natural to the reflective mind. It may treat of any subject, but it must treat of no subject for itself; but always and exclusively with reference to the poet. As he will feel regret for the past or desire for the future, so sorrow and love became the principal themes of

8484-496: The troupe, he penned his first composition, a musical adaptation of an elegy written by the Tamil poet laureate , Kannadasan , for India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru . In 1968, he began a music course with Professor Dhanraj in Madras (now Chennai) . The course included an overview of Western classical music, compositional training in techniques such as counterpoint , and study in instrumental performance. Ilaiyaraaja

8585-526: The world's largest film producer. Hindi film production of Bombay, the largest segment of the industry, became known as "Bollywood". Summary of the 2022 box office revenues. By 1996, the Indian film industry had an estimated domestic cinema viewership of 600   million people, establishing India as one of the largest film markets, with the largest regional industries being Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil films. In 2001, in terms of ticket sales, Indian cinema sold an estimated 3.6 billion tickets annually across

8686-467: Was Kisan Kanya (1937, Moti B). Viswa Mohini (1940) was the first Indian film to depict the Indian movie-making world. Swamikannu Vincent , who had built the first cinema of South India in Coimbatore , introduced the concept of "tent cinema" in which a tent was erected on a stretch of open land to screen films. The first of its kind was in Madras and called Edison's Grand Cinema Megaphone. This

8787-657: Was a four-hour concert held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, India, on 16 October 2005. He performed in 2004 in Italy at the Teatro Comunale di Modena, an event-concert presented for the 14th edition of Angelica, Festival Internazionale Di Musica, co-produced with the L'Altro Suono Festival. A television retrospective titled Ithu Ilaiyaraja ("This is Ilaiyaraja") was produced, chronicling his career. He last performed live at

8888-471: Was a gold medalist in classical guitar after completing the course through a distance-learning channel from Trinity College of Music , London. He learnt Carnatic music from T. V. Gopalakrishnan . During the 1970s in Chennai, Ilaiyaraaja played guitar in a band-for-hire, and worked as a session guitarist , keyboardist, and organist for film music composers and directors such as Salil Chowdhury from West Bengal . Chowdhury once remarked that "[Ilaiyaraaja]

8989-404: Was awarded the Padma Bhushan , the third-highest civilian honour in India, and in 2018 the Padma Vibhushan , the second-highest civilian award by the government of India . He is a nominated Member of Parliament in the Indian upper house Rajya Sabha since July 2022. A biographical film about his life titled "Ilaiyaraaja" was announced on 20 March 2024. Ilaiyaraaja was born as Gnanathesigan in

9090-498: Was built in 1936 by Nidamarthi Surayya in Rajahmundry , Andhra Pradesh. The advent of sound to Indian cinema launched musicals such as Indra Sabha and Devi Devyani , marking the beginning of song-and-dance in Indian films. By 1935, studios emerged in major cities such as Madras, Calcutta and Bombay as filmmaking became an established industry, exemplified by the success of Devdas (1935). The first colour film made in India

9191-451: Was coined in the 1970s, when the conventions of commercial Bombay-produced Hindi films were established. Key to this was Nasir Hussain and Salim–Javed's creation of the masala film genre, which combines elements of action , comedy , romance , drama , melodrama and musical . Their film Yaadon Ki Baarat (1973) has been identified as the first masala film and the first quintessentially Bollywood film. Masala films made Bachchan

9292-452: Was conceived, produced, and delivered, as well as collaborations with other musicians. Ilaiyaraaja's song 'Naanthaan Ungappanda' from the 1981 film Ram Lakshman was part of the playlist for the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics . His compositions Paayum Puli Title Music and Ilamai Itho were part of the soundtrack of Ashim Ahluwalia 's 2012 Cannes Film Festival entry, Miss Lovely . The Lovebirds (2020) incorporated

9393-405: Was done in honour of Karunanidhi who gave Ilaiyaraaja the title "Isaignani". Ilaiyaraaja grew up in a rural area and was exposed to a range of Tamil folk music in his formative years. At the age of 14, he joined a travelling musical troupe named as "Pavalar Brothers", headed by his elder brother Pavalar Varadharajan , and spent the next decade performing across South India . While working with

9494-585: Was due to the fact that electric carbons were used for motion picture projectors. Bombay Talkies opened in 1934 and Prabhat Studios in Pune began production of Marathi films. Sant Tukaram (1936) was the first Indian film to be screened at an international film festival, at the 1937 edition of the Venice Film Festival. The film was judged one of the three best films of the year. However, while Indian filmmakers sought to tell important stories,

9595-620: Was featured at the Ann Arbor Film Festival , fetching three Indian Express Awards . B. Narsing Rao , K. N. T. Sastry , and A. Kutumba Rao garnered international recognition for their works in new-wave cinema. Narsing Rao's Maa Ooru (1992) won the " Media Wave Award " of Hungary; Daasi (1988) and Matti Manushulu (1990) won the Diploma of Merit awards at the 16th and 17th MIFF respectively. Sastry's Thilaadanam (2000) received "New Currents Award" at

9696-420: Was most often erotic or mythological in nature. Because of its structural potential for rhetorical effects, the elegiac couplet was also used by both Greek and Roman poets for witty, humorous, and satirical subject matter. Other than epitaphs, examples of ancient elegy as a poem of mourning include Catullus 's Carmen 101 , on his dead brother, and elegies by Propertius on his dead mistress Cynthia and

9797-611: Was not there; "that's how I learnt how to play," he said, "the harmonium knows that it was made for me. It tells me that there is more music to be made." The harmonium was reportedly bought for eighty-five rupees. Ilaiyaraaja's musical style is characterised by an orchestration which is a synthesis of Indian folk music and Western classical music, with traditional Indian instruments and modes . He uses electronic music technology that integrates synthesizers, electric guitars and keyboards , drum machines, rhythm boxes and MIDI with large orchestras that feature traditional instruments such as

9898-559: Was premiered in Coronation cinema in Girgaon . Although some claim Shree Pundalik (1912) of Dadasaheb Torne is the first ever film made in India, some film scholars have argued that Pundalik was not a true Indian film because it was simply a recording of a stage play, filmed by a British cameraman and it was processed in London. Raja Harishchandra of Phalke had a story based on Hindu Sanskrit legend of Harishchandra ,

9999-481: Was the first Indian film to be nominated for the US-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and defined the conventions of Hindi cinema for decades. It spawned a new genre of dacoit films . Gunga Jumna (1961, Dilip Kumar ) was a dacoit crime drama about two brothers on opposite sides of the law, a theme that became common in Indian films in

10100-503: Was the first Indian social drama film and featured the first Dalit -caste film actress. The first chain of Indian cinemas, Madan Theatre , was owned by Parsi entrepreneur Jamshedji Framji Madan , who oversaw the production and distribution of films for the chain. These included film adaptations from Bengal's popular literature and Satyawadi Raja Harishchandra (1917), a remake of Phalke's influential film. Films steadily gained popularity across India as affordable entertainment for

10201-529: Was the first sound film of Marathi cinema . Irani also produced South India's first sound film, the Tamil–Telugu bilingual talking picture Kalidas (1931, H. M. Reddy ). The first Telugu film with audible dialogue, Bhakta Prahlada (1932), was directed by H. M. Reddy , who directed the first bilingual (Telugu and Tamil) talkie Kalidas (1931). East India Film Company produced its first Telugu film, Savitri (1933, C. Pullayya ), adapted from

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