Music composer Ilaiyaraaja was on Thursday honoured with the second highest civilian honour, Padma Vibhushan, by the Government of India. Ilaiyaraaja has mainly composed for Tamil films but has also given music to various Hindi, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films. In a career spanning over four decades, the legendary composer has given music in over 1000 films.
Ilaiyaraaja has won five National Film Awards, three for Music Direction and two for Background Score. His last National Film Award was for the Tamil film Tharai Thappattai, which he won for background score. He is also an instrumentalist, singer and songwriter.