Rajinikanth at Ilaiyaraaja 75: ‘Maestro was partial to Kamal Haasan’

Superstar Rajinikanth and Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja‘s warm camaraderie at the grandly celebrated Ilaiyaraaja 75 event has been the talk of the tinsel town since yesterday. When Suhasini Mani Ratnam asked Rajinikanth to pick his favorite track of the Maestro, the Superstar said, “There are a lot of songs. ‘Pothuvaaga En Manasu Thangam’ from ‘Murattu Kaalai’ is one of my all-time favorites. And then, there is ‘Raman Aandaalum Ravanan Aandaalum.’ ‘Oorai Therinjikkiten’ is also my favorite. The list is endless.”

After a brief pause, Rajinikanth, jokingly, added: “But, he always (composed) more good songs forKamal Haasan. He was partial (grins).” Ilaiyaraajaquickly retorted saying,” You’re saying like this. But Kamal used to ask me to compose the kind of tracks that I score for you.”

Talking about Isaignani’s prolific musical abilities, Rajinikanth said, “Those days, producers used to form a beeline outside Raja sir’s house to seek his dates. He used to complete the re-recording work of nearly three films in just one day. When Raja sir finishes the re-recording for a film, producers would be on cloud nine then. Nowadays, people take nearly one month to complete the re-recording for a film.”

Ilaiyaraaja 75 was hosted by Tamil Film Producers Council and was held at YMCA Stadium on February 2nd and 3rd. Eminent personalities from the Tamil film and music industry graced the occasion, which was flagged off by Honourable Governor of Tamil Nadu, Shri. Banwarilal Purohit alongside SP Muthuraman, TFPC President Vishal, General Secretaries Kathiresan and SS Durairaj, Treasurer SR Prabhu and many others.