Hyderabad: South superstar Dhanush is all set to play Ilaiyaraaja in his next untitled film. The principle shooting of the film titled Ilaiyaraaja will kick-start soon. At the movie launch event in Chennai on Wednesday, Dhanush got emotional while talking about the opportunity to play the legendary musician on screen.
At the film launch, Dhanush spoke candidly about the role and even got emotional as he had manifested working on Ilaiyaraaja's biopic. The actor spoke in Tamil, which loosely translates to: "Ilayaraja's music is a sleep medicine for many people. But I have spent many sleepless nights wondering what it would be like to play Ilaiyaraaja. I wanted to act in two biopics in my lifetime, one was Rajinikanth and the other was Ilaiyaraaja. One is accomplished. It has given me immense pride."
The actor got emotional talking about the film in which he plays the central character based on the music maestro Ilaiyaraaja. The film was announced last year and is expected to hit screens in May 2025. This is Dhanush and Arun Matheswaran's second collaboration, following their previous endeavour, Captain Miller. Interestingly, Ilaiyaraaja earlier collaborated with Dhanush on the music for Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam, with Dhanush crooning the track Onnoda Nadandhaa from the album Viduthalai - Part 1.
Besides cans and crew of the film, screen icon Kamal Haasan was marked his presence at the Ilaiyaraaja movie launch. Following the movie launch event, Dhanush unveiled the first poster of the movie. Sharing the poster on social media, Dhanush wrote, "Honoured @ilaiyaraaja sir," he wrote in the caption.
Ilaiyaraaja, also known as Isaignani or the musical sage, has had a brilliant career lasting over 47 years, with over 7,000 songs and 1,000 film compositions to his credit, as well as more than 20,000 concerts. For the unversed, Ilaiyaraaja mentored A. R. Rahman, the Oscar and Grammy-winning composer, when he started his career in 1986.
Coming back to Dhanush, in addition to his involvement in the Ilaiyaraaja biography, the actor is involved in a number of other intriguing projects, including Kubera, directed by Sekhar Kammula and co-starring Nagarjuna Akkineni and Rashmika Mandanna. Furthermore, he is now working on two directorial projects, Nilavuku En Mel Ennadi Kobam and Raayan. Dhanush's also has Tere Ishk Mein. The film was announced in June 2023 but is yet to take off. Tere Ishk Mein is Dhanush and Aanand L Rai's third collaboration, following Raanjhanaa (2013) and Arrangi Re (2021).
Read More
