‘From Raaja With Love’: Maestro Ilaiyaraaja puts on a mesmerising show in Chennai, despite glitches
“There are crowds within me,” wrote Walt Whitman in ‘Song of Myself’, and on Sunday morning I couldn’t help but wonder what that meant. Like me, tens of thousands of Tamil music fans also made their way to the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai with their hearts set on knowing the answer to one question: “What Ilaiyaraaja could we experience today?”
Of course there is only one ‘Isaignani’ Ilaiyaraaja, the corporal is celebrated as the ‘King of Music’. But if the last 50 years of Tamil music have taught us anything, it’s that Ilaiyaraaja has a lot of people. There is Ilaiyaraaja that we listen to when we miss being in our mother’s arms; an Ilaiyaraaja is constantly waiting to soothe a newly broken heart; There’s one for when we miss the smell of petrichor, there’s one for late-night contemplation, and there’s one for the breeze blowing through the windows of buses and trains; I even met an Ilaiyaraaja who once reached out his arm to the darkness in which I was drowning.
Ilaiyaraaja, whom we met at the From Raaja With Love concert on Sunday, was also someone we were all very familiar with – except there seemed to be too many obstacles in the way of what was supposed to be a once-in-a-lifetime meeting. The event had many mishaps, including backstage malfunction and in-ear monitor issues that the singers visibly struggled to overcome. As for the tracklisting, one even wondered if Raaja’s legal battles (with Saregama and Echo) had limited her options; Despite containing many popular songs that fans like you were truly enthralled by, those eager to be introduced to a ‘concert Raaja’ that would balance the popular tunes with soothing chartbuster tunes seemed disappointed.
The show’s management further led to another issue. Many attendees, especially from the Gold ticket section, complained that setting up a videography stage in the middle of the stadium was a poor decision as it blocked most of their view of the stage. Most of the participants watching the event from the back complained about the lack of speakers and LED monitors, as well as the poor maintenance of the seats.
With all this, a music lover willing to overcome all these troubles was still in for a magical night; After all, this was Raaja we were talking about. In true Raaja style, the conductor kicked off the concert by injecting an aura of divinity into the air. ‘Janani Janani’ took Devi’s (and Raaja’s) blessings across the ocean of music pilgrims and continued with singers Anitha Karthikeyan and Srisha Vijayasekar taking the stage and singing ‘Amudhe Thamizhe’. Koil Pura. In a classic Raaja concert moment, the performance turned quite meta when she corrected Srisha before looking at the crowd and saying, “That’s why I’m here.” Koil Pura A song that the music teacher corrects during his student’s interpretation.
When the next song started, all those classic tones moved towards our hearts and a wave of techno sound traveled across the floor. The heavy basslines of ‘Rajadhi Raja’ were met with applause and when the moment I had been waiting for arrived, neither Raaja nor the crowd were disappointed. “Eppavum naan Raaja,” the King sang, smiling and looking at his subjects, who roared and surrendered to his spell, as they had done for over 50 years.
The composer said on the microphone that the next song was 40-50 years old. “Pazhaya paatuShweta Mohan snickered with pride and sarcasm as she started playing the eponymous song. AnnakilliIt is Raaja’s first film, which turns 50 this year. An old man sitting behind me was glad he had never heard this song live and Shweta pulled it off with ease and grace. Especially the way he hums the interlude before the line:sila naal in kanavo” stood out.
“SPB Charan!” He introduced Raaja to loud cheers; the crowd knew that this had to be a classic sung by Charan’s late legendary father and sound twin SP Balasubrahmanyam. An electric guitar solo had us all jumping out of our seats. Charan deserved all the applause for how he managed a song as difficult as ‘Madai Thiranthu’. “Pudhu raagam padaippadhaale naanum iraivane“, the lyrics continued, and although Raaja disagreed with this view, the chants of her devotees proved otherwise.
When Karthik sang ‘Megam Kottatum’, he felt a cold breeze for the first time in the packed stadium. Those who hear the song Enakkul Oruvan He would understand the uncanny timing. Talking about SPB songs, Haricharan even recreated the late singer’s classic laugh during the performance of ‘Raakamma Kaiya Thattu’ with Anitha.
The concert later saw Madhu Balakrishnan’s rendition of ‘Pazhamudhircholai’, Ananya Bhat’s rendition of ‘Oho Megam Vandhadho’ and an impressive Vibhavari Apte Joshi singing ‘Anandha Raagam’.
Now it was Yugendran’s time, who was introduced by Raaja as Yugendran’s father and legendary singer Malaysian Vasudevan. Singing ‘Aasai Nooru Vagai’ was never an easy task, but still, Yugendran could be seen over-emphasizing every word. Raaja recorded how she was introduced to Vasudevan in 1968. “Jeyachandran and Vasudevan are difficult to teach,” the composer joked, adding that Yugendran got it right, which even his father often failed to do.
In a pleasant surprise, Raaja took over the vocals after the performance of ‘Meyaadha Maan’ and sang ‘Indha Maan’ and ‘Vaan Megangale’.
After Srisha’s performances of ‘Oru Jeevan’ and Ananya Bhat’s ‘Kaattumalli’ – Ananya was plagued with poor in-ear feedback – a series of speeches, film trailers and announcements followed.
Later, when Gangai Amaran sang ‘Poojaiketha Poovidhu Nethu Dhana Poothadhu’, Raaja noticed the mistake in the pallavi lyrics of the track and stated who would perform pooja with the flowers that bloomed the previous day. “But that’s what music does; music can make you miss those kinds of mistakes,” he observed. Shoba Chandrasekhar was introduced to the stage by director Parthiban as “the mother of the ‘raaja’ who rules Tamil Nadu” and Raaja spent a lot of time discussing Shoba’s theatrical origins and the unfortunate decline of theater music.
After Shoba’s performance of ‘Kannan Oru Kai Kulanthai’, Charan brought his more familiar Raaja to the concert. It was truly magical to see the Full Moon shining in the sky as ‘Ilaya Nila’ serenaded the romantics in the crowd.
This was followed by Madhu Balakrishnan’s ‘Raja Raja Chozhan’, Karthik’s ‘Vanithamani’ and Shweta Mohan-Hricharan’s ‘Poo Maalai Oru Paavai’. Many must have felt a tug in their hearts when Vibhavari paid a heartfelt tribute to Asha Bhosle by singing ‘Shenbagame’. Shweta then teamed up with Madhu for a stirring rendition of ‘Thendral Vandhu Ennai Thodum’ and then Karthik joined Shweta to bring to life the magical SPB-Chitra song ‘Kadhal Kavithaigal Padithidum’.
From Raaja With Love concluded with a spectacular performance of ‘En Jodi Manja Kuruvi’, the energy even had some standing up and dancing.
When I got home I was still humming; Even though it wasn’t the Raaja I saw on Sunday, the Raaja I used on my late night subway rides continued to comfort me. This love knows no boundaries.
It was published – 01 June 2026 08:30 IST
