Ilaiyaraaja Nominated To Rajya Sabha; PM Narendra Modi Congratulates The Music Maestro

Ilaiyaraaja, the music maestro of Indian cinema has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha. The veteran musician has been nominated to Rajya Sabha in the category of eminent personalities nominated by the honourable President of India. Along with Ilaiyaraaja, senior screenwriter V Vijayendra Prasad, Olympian PT Usha, and Veerendra Heggade of Dharmasthala Temple have been nominated for Rajya Sabha by the president.

Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India took to his official social media handles and congratulated the music maestro for his Rajya Sabha nomination, with a special post. The honourable Prime Minister shared a picture of Ilaiyaraaja with the President of India, and wrote: "The creative genius of @ilaiyaraaja Ji has enthralled people across generations. His works beautifully reflect many emotions. What is equally inspiring is his life journey- he rose from a humble background and achieved so much. Glad that he has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha."

Check out PM Narendra Modi's Twitter post here:

The creative genius of @ilaiyaraaja Ji has enthralled people across generations. His works beautifully reflect many emotions. What is equally inspiring is his life journey- he rose from a humble background and achieved so much. Glad that he has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha. pic.twitter.com/VH6wedLByC

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 6, 2022

Ilaiyaraaja, who is unarguably one of the finest musicians India has ever seen, was born in Pannaipuram, Madurai, in 1943. He was introduced to the world of music by his elder brother Pavalar Varadarajan, who was a lyricist and composer. The musician later shifted his base to Madras in the 1960s and started learning music under TV Gopalakrishnan and Dhanraj. Ilaiyaraaja later earned a gold medal in classical guitar from the Trinity College of Music in London.

Ilaiyaraaja made his debut in films with the 1975-released film Annakkili, and has composed over 6000 songs across languages, so far. Kalaignar Karunanidhi, the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister bestowed him with the title 'Isaignani' which translates 'Musical Genius'. The Government of India honoured him with the second-highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan, in 2018.