However, it did not happen when Ilayaraja composed for Annakkili or for the next few movies. When the friend of a famous singer makes his debut as music director, you would expect both to come together. True friends need not be physically close and they don’t need long conversations. SPB said Raja need not write down anything, he had every detail required in his brain, neatly organised. As a proud friend, SPB had said that he is amazed and proud that his friend who did not know how to write notations worked so hard and became a maestro whom the world respects. SPB found his mentor in films soon enough and started singing playback, but Raja had to wait longer for his film debut. Ilayaraja played the harmonium and Amaran played the guitar to the popular film songs sung by SPB.
Balu, the only one from outside the Paavalar family, was the ‘elder brother’ in the group who would fetch Ilayaraja from his music class on his scooter for concerts. The ‘Paavalar Brothers Orchestra’ that young Balu had organised with Ilayaraja and his brothers Gangai Amaran and Daniel Bhaskar began it all. The engineer-aspirant who turned to music out of passion and to help his father financially with the 150 or 200 that a recorded song could fetch him, never imagined such a long run.
The protagonist requests everyone else to help push the bicycle so that once he reaches his destination, others too can follow.SPB broke into the music scene when TM Soundarrajan and PB Sreenivas ruled the Tamil music scene and Ghantasala dominated the Telugu industry. Interestingly, the song depicts three symbols of Brahmanical gatekeeping-an elderly lady denoting the rigid older establishment, an Ambassador car depicting the elite classes and finally a constable representing those who have the power to police. The song goes on to cheekily demand that various gatekeepers stop blocking the protagonist’s way and to let him and his bicycle move forward and up. Although the song written by Gangai Amaran (Ilaiyaraaja’s younger brother) was composed for a particular situation in the film, the lyrics clearly refer to Ilaiyaraaja by mentioning his mother’s name Chinnathayee and his native Pannaipuram.
However, what the All India Radio dubbed as ‘vulgar’ was merely Ilaiyaraaja’s deliberate political statement against the then hegemonic forces. In 1979, three years after his entry into the Tamil film industry, the state broadcaster All India Radio banned his song ‘ Oram Po’ from Ponnu Ooruku Pudhusu for vulgarity.
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