My tryst with Ilayaraja - 1

When my story was accepted to be made into a movie, one of the first things we discussed was music directors and one of the first names we discussed was Ilayaraja.

I spent the month of April and May, pretty much running behind my dialogue writer Gandham Nagaraj (of Gamyam fame). Then, Chaitanya was shooting Baanam in Vizag and I went to Vizag to spend couple of days with Gandham Nagaraj (who went there to spend couple of days with Chaitanya). By day two, we kind of picked up steam and I still remember the shared auto ride we took to the beach and when suddenly out of nowhere Nagaraj narrated the one line 'order' to me. I absolutely loved it. The next day afternoon I got a call from Mr. Ashwini Dutt saying that Ilayaraja is ready to listen to the story. I took the next flight available to Chennai.

I reached Ilayaraja's studio 30 minutes late. I hate being late to my appointments. Needless to say, if the one you are meeting Ilayaraja, then the last thing you want to be is late.

To be honest, I didnt know what to expect. I had no clue about the protocols. They asked me to wait in a hall. I carefully made notes about each and every song and song situation.

Finally Ilayaraja came and threw this huge smile. I immediately felt home. In less than two minutes I introduced myself and started explaining about the song situations. He stopped me and asked me to forget about the songs and to narrate the story as it would appear on the screen. For the next one hour, I did.

At the end he said, "Baagundi". He offered few suggestions and then looked at me. That was it. I hesitantly stood up and left.

Well after a month later I went to Chennai to meet him again. This time for songs. He absolutely stunned me by recalling the characters of the story and the situations accurately.

...to be continued.