SPB & Ilaiyaraaja: A spat over royalty and rapprochement on stage

People who knew S P Balasubrahmanyam closely vouch for his people skills. He remained free from controversy till 2017, when his close friend Ilaiyaraaja slapped a copyright infringement case against him.

Balu had been singing Ilaiyaraaja songs to much applause across the world, and the composer wanted to collect royalties on concert collections.

That battle badly disrupted Balu’s overseas tours, but he did not speak bitterly against his old friend. The two had performed together even before Ilaiyaraaja became a celebrity composer.

In 2019, Ilaiyaraaja did a show in Chennai to mark his 76th birthday. Several big names came on stage. SPB and Yesudas were there, and sang a number they had originally sung for the Manirathnam film Thalapathi (1991).

Yesudas, looking saintly in a flowing white beard, stood in the middle and held up the hands of the two adversaries in a gesture of victory, describing them as his two younger brothers. For the huge crowd of fans, it signalled the end of their acrimonious battle.