‘Raaja sir is composing the tunes, and Yuvan will do the arranging’

It is widely known that Ilaiyaraaja and Yuvan Shankar Raja are composing together for the first time for Seenu Ramasamy’s

Maamanithan

, which stars Vijay Sethupathi and Gayathrie in the lead roles. The maestro has begun the rerecording work for the film, which has been shot in 37 days, and director Seenu Ramasamy gives us a peek into how the father-son duo is collaborating on the music.

“I screened the completed film, which runs for 2 hours 17 minutes, for

Raaja

sir. This includes the songs (which are montages, cut with scratch music) and the fight scenes. He saw the film and came up with tunes for the portions where I’d intended to place songs. Once the lyrics are written, Yuvan will do the arrangements and also take care of the recording,” reveals the filmmaker, who adds, “But the background score is entirely being done by Ilaiyaraaja sir.”

While Vairamuthu had written the lyrics for the director’s previous five films, this film will have Pa Vijay and Palani Bharathi penning the songs. “Since Raaja sir prefers to work with lyricists who he is comfortable with (the maestro’s fallout with Vairamuthu is well known in the industry), we went with these two lyricists. This is the first time I’m working with Pa Vijay, but Palani Bharathi had written lyrics in my debut film, Koodal Nagar,” informs Seenu.
The album, he says, will have five songs, with Pa Vijay writing three songs and Palani Bharathi the remaining two. “The songs have been composed, and the lyrics are being written now,” the director adds.