Overview
- The state-led felicitation took place on September 13 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium in Chennai, honoring the 82-year-old's five-decade career.
- Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan attended the ceremony, which featured symphonic and live renditions of Ilaiyaraaja’s work.
- M.K. Stalin announced a new Isaignani Ilaiyaraja Award to recognize emerging excellence in music at the state level.
- Stalin publicly appealed to the Union government to confer the Bharat Ratna on Ilaiyaraaja, with any national decision still pending.
- The program underscored the maestro’s global reach as the London Philharmonic performed his Valiant Symphony I, and Ilaiyaraaja himself sang a classic number.