Madras High Court allows Ilaiyaraaja to visit his recording theatre and meditate for a day

The dispute between legendary music composer Ilaiyaraaja and Prasad Studios has finally come to an end.

Ilaiyaraaja will now visit the sound recording theatre inside the sprawling Prasad Studios, very soon, and meditate for a few hours at his abode for nearly 35 years before taking all his belongings from there. Ilaiyaraaja has been composing music for hundreds of films from the theatre since the 1980s.

However, in 2019, the current management asked Ilaiyaraaja to vacate the premises, but the music director objected to the move and took the matter to court.

The Madras High Court on Wednesday allowed Ilaiyaraaja to go to the studio for one day to meditate and take away his belongings. Justice N Sathish Kumar also directed the Commissioner of Police, Chennai to provide police protection.

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The amicable settlement came after Ilaiyaraaja promised to withdraw all litigation against Prasad Studios. In July, the music composer had filed a complaint with police accusing the management of Prasad Studios of “breaking open his music studio” and selling his “invaluable composition notes” surreptitiously in the black market for a “huge sum.”

Ilaiyaraaja, who has scored music for over 1,300 films encompassing all South Indian languages and Hindi, has been functioning out of his office-cum-studio inside the Prasad Studios for the past 35 years. However, the equation between the music composer and Prasad Studios changed rapidly after Sai Prasad, grandson of late film producer L V Prasad, took over the management.

Ilaiyaraaja was asked by the late L V Prasad to set up his studio inside the Prasad Studios premises and it served as the music composer’s second home for decades together. Prasad Studios has been very dear to him as he used to spend most of his time a day in his studios composing music.

A controversy broke out in late 2019 after Sai Prasad, asked Ilaiyaraaja to vacate the premises, so that he can continue with his renovation plan. The sources said the music composer’s offer to take the premises on lease was also rejected by the Prasad Studios management.