Renowned screenwriter Vijayendra Prasad and legendary music composer Ilaiyaraaja have received nominations to the Rajya Sabha. Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced and congratulated the renowned performers on their nominations on Twitter on Wednesday night. Several celebrities from other South industries have been sending congratulatory messages to Ilaiyaraaja and Vijayendra since the announcement.
Shri V. Vijayendra Prasad Garu is associated with the creative world for decades. His works showcase India’s glorious culture and have made a mark globally. Congratulations to him for being nominated to the Rajya Sabha.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 6, 2022
The creative genius of @ilaiyaraaja Ji has enthralled people across generations. His works beautifully reflect many emotions. What is equally inspiring is his life journey- he rose from a humble background and achieved so much. Glad that he has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha. pic.twitter.com/VH6wedLByC
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 6, 2022
The two stalwarts of the Indian film industry have made some legendary contributions to the entertainment business and are revered by the people of the country. Let us get to know about these two latest entrants to the world of politics.
Prasad is the father of SS Rajamouli, who is the director of India’s biggest blockbuster Baahubali franchise and most recently RRR. However, Prasad is the brain behind these two films as he wrote the scripts for them. KV Vijayendra Prasad, one of the nation’s top screenwriters and film directors, was born in Kovvur, Andhra Pradesh. He has written the script for numerous well-known Telugu and Hindi films. Some of the highest-grossing Indian films, such as RRR, the Baahubali series, and Bajrangi Bhaijaan, are among his renowned creations.
He has won numerous awards for story writing, including the Filmfare Award for best story in 2016 for Bajrangi Bhaijaan. Prasad authored his debut movie, Janaki Ramudu, starring Nagarjuna, in 1988. He then wrote numerous films for the Telugu and Kannada film industries. He helmed Ardhangi, his debut feature picture, in 1996. The Babubali series remains his most well-known screenplay.
Ilaiyaraaja, born as R Gnanathesikan, is one of the most revered music composers in the country, with more than 7,000 songs to his credit. He has scored music for more than 1,400 movies and performed in more than 20,000 concerts. Ilaiyaraaja is known as ‘Maestro’ and ‘Isaignani’ among other titles, by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, among others.
He is renowned for fusing traditional Indian instruments and folk music with western classical music approaches. He was the first Indian composer to record movie songs using a computer for Vikram’s Tamil films in 1986. He was one of the first Indian cinema composers to use string arrangements and harmonies from Western classical music in Tamil film music, and the first South Asian to write a complete symphony. The first song of Ilaiyaraaja’s career came in 1976, whose lyrics were Rakkamma Kaiyya Thattu and it was filmed in the Rajinikanth starrer film ‘Thalapathy’ and directed by Mani Ratnam. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2010, and Padma Vibhushan in 2018.
Olympic sprinter PT Usha and philanthropist Veerendra Heggade of the Dharmasthala temple are the other two eminent persons nominated by the President to the Rajya Sabha, filling four out of the seven vacancies in the category.
