Best hang over experience!

It was a pleasant evening on 3th Feb 2019 at the YMCA grounds in Chennai, lot of excitement on the air to witness one of the biggest concerts of Ilayaraja (Ilayaraja-75). Great to witness such a massive crowd even before 1 hour of the program start. Any politician would have won a seat or become a president with such crowd gathering.

Lot of fans got disappointed with the seating arrangements, the distance between the stage and the seating area for Gold, Silver and bronze category is almost two bus stops distance. They should have mentioned that the venue for Fans is YMCA and for the artist its Guindy. Fans started protesting for refunds and things were getting out of control and then came Ilayaraja entry, the entire crowd went crazy and they all forgot the pain areas and got settled automatically. Thanks to the big screens, this allowed them to clam down when they saw the musically god on the giant screen. It’s like pleasing a crying child with a chocolate and peace was automatically enforced within minutes

Karthik raja kicked started the program by playing a small AV on the list of people who influenced Ilayaraja in his 75 years of journey. The list included Raja sir’s mother, father, wife, brother, friends and his gurus.  Post this Ilayaraja started with his traditional start of singing “Janani Janani” song. The audio quality was outstanding and the music rendered was mesmerizing, all the musicians did an exceptional job. All their hard work and rehearsals paid of big time and that’s precisely what Ilayaraja and his troops delivery in such concerts.

A special mention to the symphony artists from Hungary. The only thing which kept them hungry are the musical notes from Ilayaraja, otherwise Its impossible to keep your energy and smile in spite of not understanding the language/speech for 6+ hours.

The songs selections were wisely chosen to do justice to all musicians. A great display of Raja sir’s composition. Crowd went wild exceptionally for these numbers

1. I guess it’s a stupid attempt for me to list the numbers, I mean all of them got the same reception. Watch out and don’t miss the telecast on SUN TV

Below are some historical moments/highlights of the show

1. Historical judgement – I guess its first of a kind that a Judge praised an artist during the verdict and wished him all the best to go all out. He quoted that it was Ilayaraja who got the lime light back to South Indian music and it’s a shame to file a case against him to postpone the event. 
2. Day 1 saw A R Rahman and Ilayaraja performing together - A rare occasion where both had lot of fun. It’s unbelievable that Rahman had worked with Raja sir for 500 movies, starting from “Moondram Pirai”, and an emotional Rahman responded saying working in a single movie with Ilayaraja itself is a great experience, amidst a roar of applause.
3. Superstar’s entry and his speech - He said that Ilayaraja was a Suyambu Lingam, a rarity in Musical field. As usual Rajini complained each other saying Ilayaraja gave the best songs to Kamal.
4. Kamal’s emotional act - Kamal Haasan's affection was on display as he sought his blessings falling in his feet, hugged and kissed the legend, as the crowd rejoiced the emotional moment. This was a never seen before incident and also Kamal was in full josh and did an exceptional performance in spite of a bad throat. He crooned a number of hit songs like “Ram ram” from Hey Ram, “Unna vida” , “Ninaivo oru Paravai” and  “Kanmani Anbodu”. Kamal mentioned that he takes pride in the fact that 10% of his compositions for his movies and that he learnt music from him.
5. All the celebrities, such as Director Mani Ratnam, Shankar, Actor Vikram, Vijay Sethupathi, Karthik and many other heroes, directors, music directors graced the occasion just as a true Ilayaraja fan and all of them narrated on how Ilayaraja’s music affected their early days.
6. Mano and Chitra filled in the shoes of SPB and S Janaki. Amazing performance by the duo. 
7. Singer Usha Uthup kept the audience on their toes. It was her 50th year in industry as well and she performed for “Vegam vegam” “Rum bum bum” and the highlight was when she requested the lights to be switched off and asked the fans to switch on the mobile torch when she sang “Kanne Kalaimane”. It was an incredible sight to see a sea of fans lighting the torch lights at around 12 in the mid night.
8. Senior citizens/Old couples getting high – None of the crowd walked out as the event went into the third day. It was 12:15 AM on Monday and still you can spot the old couples dancing and enjoying the performances. First time I am seeing someone getting so high without any alcohol influence. They got carried away and Ilayaraja definitely triggered their nostalgic days.  Their diabetic and BP tablets got substituted by Raja sir’s magic. Such concerts are real threat to the medical industry.

It was close to 1 AM and with heavy hang over one has to leave the venue. It’s an unbelievable event and I wish to live with this hang over for ever.