Prasad Studios tampering with my music composition: Ilaiyaraaja

The battle between music legend Ilaiyaraaja and Prasad Studios, inside whose sprawling campus the former’s music studio is located, took an ugly turn on Friday. Ilaiyaraaja knocked at the doors of the Chennai Police Commissioner 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 25 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.

A case filed by Ilaiyaraaja against Prasad Studios restraining the management to interfere in the functioning of his office is pending in a court here. The latest accusations by Ilaiyaraaja against Prasad Studios are serious in nature as he alleges that the management has started “destroying or removing or tampering my musical instruments and notes.”

“All my invaluable composition notes are lying there, and I received credible information that they are being sold surreptitiously in the black market for a huge sum,” the music composer said in his complaint.

The keys of the music studio, Ilaiyaraaja said, was in his “lawful possession” and alleged that management of Prasad Studios have broken open even his personal room in the suit premise and have removed all “valuable materials”.

“The worth of some of the materials cannot be quantified by way of money. I have learnt through my known circle that Mr Sai Prasad through his men has been removing, stealing, and damaging many of my belongings and articles which are worth several crores. Therefore, necessary action to be taken against the miscreants and my belongings to be recovered immediately,” Ilaiyaraaja said.

However, there was no reaction from Prasad Studios until the time of writing.

Calling the action by the management as “daylight robbery and grand theft”, Ilaiyaraaja has asked the police to take immediate criminal action against them to ensure that his compositions are not damaged.

Tamil film industry sources said 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.

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 the lease was also rejected by the Prasad Studios management.

Prasad Studios has been very dear to Ilaiyaraaja as he used to spend most of his time a day in his studios composing music.

His colleagues have been maintaining that Ilaiyaraaja should be allowed to use his studios throughout his lifetime as evicting him from the ‘temple of music’ would not be the right decision.