Maestro Ilayaraja News and Tidbits 2014

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The so-called celebration function may turn out to be a damp squib, for the following reasons:

1. Balki is doing this event/ promo on a shoe-string budget. So, it's not really a huge show involving thousands of spectators in a large stadium or a venue, open to 'masses'. It's a 'small scale' function held in a star hotel ballroom.

2. He is using this as a promo function for Shamibabh (Funnily enough the music label and production house have already released the songs on Youtube and Gaana.com a week earlier). Of all people, he is getting Dhanush to sing IR's older hits.. really? That's going to generate a greater awareness about IR's vast repertoire amongst the Hindi-speaking journos and news channels invited for the event?

3. These news channels will probably show a 15-second clipping of the 'event' tomorrow. Once again, their focus will be on the actor, not the composer or his music. At the most, they may show a short clip from Sadma, as a sample of IR's music.

I hope I am proven wrong.
Gowtham Menon, backed by the production house and Sony Music, organised a fabulous event with the release of Nee Thaane En Ponvasantham. Now, a similar event, with a carefully selected set of songs in a variety of Indian languages (and possibly the German song, "Ich Liebe Dich") performed by a live orchestra and prominent singers, with some sound bytes from eminent personalities, would be a true tribute to the man and his music.

PS: Indirectly, people are made to believe that Shamitabh is IR's 1000th film (although Balki has made a clarification), yet no news media is picking up the fact that this feat is rare and has not been achieved by any other MD.