The musical genius' first film 'Annakili' was released on this day and a legendary music composer was born on this day.

Panchu Arunachalam, the producer of 'Annakili', roped in Ilaiyaraja for the film and the young man from an interior Pannaipuram village of Theni district did not fail to fulfill the expectations of the producer by making the film's music a big hit and creating a trend in the history of Indian music.
Ilaiyaraja used western orchestraion techniques to Tamil folk music in this film and set a new genre of music in films. Not only the film also the music was a huge hit that time and Ilaiyaraja became a name to reckon with. There was no looking back for the Maestro and he ruled the roost in Tamil cinema for almost two decades, and the legend is still contributing big to the Tamil film music. His latest film composition is for the upcoming film 'Neethane En Ponvasantham' the film that is directed by Gautham Menon.
Ilaiyaraja has worked with almost all the top south Indian film directors including K Balachander, Bharathiraja, Balu Mahendra, K Vishwanath and Mani Ratnam.
The world renowned musician has also composed international music and his albums 'How to Name It', 'Nothing But Wind' and  'Thiruvasagam' are his major non-film compositions that earned him the international fame.
Ilaiyaraja is 68 years now. The musician has three children all involved in music. Yuvan Shankar Raja is one of the noted film composers in south industry. Karthik Raja and Bhavatharani have also scored music for films. Ilaiyaraja's wife Jeeva passed away a couple of months back.