Ilaiyaraaja, the renowned music composer, will record his first song in his new studio on Wednesday. The new recording theatre, located in Kodambakkam in Chennai, was built after renovating MM Preview Theatre.
The music maestro will be composing for the upcoming Tamil film that will be helmed by filmmaker Vetrimaaran with actor and comedian Soori in the lead and actor Vijay Sethupathi playing a significant role in the film, a source told Silverscreen India.
The new recording studio comes after the musician vacated his chambers in Prasad Studios on December 28, 2020 following the Madras High Court’s permission to Ilaiyaraaja to retrieve his belongings. The court gave the permission after a long tussle over the musician’s recording studio and chamber, which was tampered with by the management. The chamber in the studio contained several of Ilaiyaraaja’s photos and his Padma Bhushan award.
The feud between Ilaiyaraaja and Prasad Studios began in September 2019 after Sai Prasad, the grandson of the studio’s founder LV Prasad, took over the studio. In July 2020, Ilaiyaraaja filed a complaint against Sai Prasad for “tampering with his musical instruments, notes and valuables” and for threatening to cut electricity, water, and other supplies. Prasad Studios had denied Ilaiyaraaja’s entry into the premises if his intention was to compose music.
Ilaiyaraaja had also filed a complaint after he was denied access to Prasad Studios, citing renovation work. He moved the Madras high Court to stop the owners from interfering with his use of a recording theatre and also demanded Rs 50 lakh as compensation for the mental agony caused to him due to the forcible eviction.
Vetrimaaran’s untitled film is based on a short story titled Thunaivan written by Tamil and Malayalam writer Bahulehan Jeyamohan. The story was published in the Tamil weekly magazine Ananda Vikatan in 1992.
The shooting began in December 2020 and is expected to complete by this February. The team had taken a break for the Pongal festival and had resumed shooting in January in the Sathyamangalam forest area in Erode, Tamil Nadu.
The film will mark the first collaboration between Sethupathi and Vetrimaaran. Sethupathi was supposed to play a pivotal role in Vetrimaaran’s 2018 Tamil action crime film Vada Chennai (starring Dhanush) but opted out due to other commitments.
The film is Ilaiyaraaja’s first collaboration with Vetrimaaran. The rest of the cast and crew members are yet to announced.
