“I’m not different. The audiences find me different. I’m not doing anything new. I’m repeating the same tunes,” said maestro Ilaiyaraaja, who broke Indian musical archetypes through his indo-Western sounds, in an interview with the Indian Express sometime in the 1980s. As a Gen Z kid, what connects me to Ilaiyaraaja is something I always think about, which led me to write this.
In the same interview, Ilaiyaraaja also says, “I like to watch Walt Disney cartoons. They’re fantastic. I'm not interested in local films.” Doesn’t this sound like any kid’s response when they are forced to watch local movies? I think this is the point where his thoughts cross over with our generation.
Recently, on the YouTube channel Flac Monkeys, I watched a podcast on Ilaiyaraaja. They compared his works with English rock bands such as the Beatles and Pink Floyd. This also gave an insight on how we’re getting Ilaiyaraaja into our playlists. All these helped me to unravel how Ilaiyaraaja tunes reach Gen Z through Instagram and remix songs.
My generation has become vintage enthusiasts; we like old money fashion, motorcycles, and cars. Even when it comes to listening to music, we prefer wired headphones; we collect vinyl records with cool covers; everyone wants a Walkman after the famous Sadie Sink scene in Stranger Things. In the same way, we discovered Raaja’s music as a jigsaw piece fitting in our Instagram stories to make our photos retro-ish.
In Instagram, when selecting music for stories or posts, the app suggests several of Raaja’s songs. I’ve been introduced to so many tracks that I’ve never heard of. For example, in the movie Ninaivellam Nithya, he has composed different sound tracks that depict love, infatuation, fun, jealousy, energy, temptation, passion, etc. These sound tracks have been popularised on Instagram according to the post’s mood.
Our generation is also focused on the score and orchestration rather than the lyrics. And Ilaiyaraaja is an apt candidate with the albums Nothing but Wind and How to Name It? Singing Self, Do Anything, and Mozart I Love You are a few songs that went into most youths’ playlists.
As a part of the aesthetic trend among Gen Z, albums with good vinyl covers are selected and added on Instagram stories. One of my friends found the Eera Vizhi Kaaviyangal album’s cover to be unique and added it with the song En Gaanam on his story as an underrated gem.
The Instagram algorithm also brings up nostalgic compositions such as Nilaave Vaa, Mouna Ragam theme, Poove Sem Poove, En Iniya Pon Nilavae for reels and posts that show the countryside, clouds, woods, paddy fields, etc. This nature-aesthetics is a common trend among Tamil youth, which takes Raaja’s music across borders. The other day I saw a reel showing Tokyo nights with the song Ilaya nila and another reel depicting the Puerto Rican sky with the Poomalaiye song’s saxophone interlude as background.
We are born in an era where we can separate the tracks from a composition. Raaja’s bass guitar tunes from movies such as Vikram rule many of our playlists for their retro vibes. We also discover folk music from Raaja for festive seasons. When I tried to post a photo for Pongal, the track suggested to me was Kaattu kuyilu drums solo. This goes to show how obsessed we are with listening to the raw voice or specific string or percussion that matches our vibe.
My generation has clearly sorted Raaja’s songs for each situation – Ilamai idho idho and Sorgam madhuvile for party vibes; Roja poo aadivandhathu and Thendral vandhu while dressing in traditional outfits; Rasathi unna and Thenpandi seemaiyile to express loneliness and FOMO (fear of missing out).
My friends who are learning music sing songs from every music composer. But when you ask them to sing their favourite or a tough-to-crack song, they invariably choose Ilaiyaraaja’s Carnatic pieces. Songs such as Ninnukori varanam and Sangathil paadatha kavithai fall in this category.
Another way in which Ilaiyaraaja seeps into our playlist is through remixes and reuse of his songs in contemporary Tamil cinema. One of my friend’s ringtone is the remixed version of Va va pakkam va from Coolie. Other compositions such as the Vikram theme music from Vikram (2022) and En jodi manja kuruvi from Fight Club (2023) are also widely heard in recent times.
This trend is present not only in Kollywood, but also in Mollywood and Tollywood. In Malayalam, Lokah (2025) used Kiliye kiliye while in Telugu, Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu (2026) used Sundari kannaal oru sethi. In Spotify under Ilaiyaraaja’s profile, Kiliye kiliye currently remains the most popular track.
Raaja’s songs have also made a comeback through movies. For instance, Manjummel Boys used Kanmani anbodu and Lubber Pandhu used Nee pottu vacha. Both these songs have ruled Tamil youth’s playlist recently. Notably, these reused songs become more popular than the original album in some cases.
All of the songs and albums are pretty old, so the question arises whether Ilaiyaraaja does not match today’s musical tastes. My answer would be to ask people to listen to the Modern Love Chennai album. Though three music directors have worked on the album, Gen Z recognised Raaja’s mastery, especially in Ninaivo oru paravai’s score. Four years ago, we witnessed an unexpected collab – Ilaiyaraaja x Stranger Things, promoting season 4 of the show, a great example of how he blends with Gen Z.
Similarly, we also see how contemporary Tamil filmmakers want to work with Ilaiyaraaja at least once. Mysskin, Thiagarajan Kumararaja, Vetrimaaran have done this; now Karthik Subbaraj has announced his next film with him and Mari Selvaraj is about to work with him in his next project. So, Ilaiyaraaja in one way or the other is travelling with us even in the 2020s.
The popular assumption that Gen Z doesn’t like or listen to Ilaiyaraaja is not completely false. I see memes that compare listening to Raaja at a younger age and now, and I think our generation resonates with these memes. When we were young, we only listened to his tracks at wedding functions or while travelling in local buses and cars. I don’t know whether to blame motion sickness for not finding his songs appealing. But as grown-ups now, we see him as an equivalent to Beethoven and Mozart in India.
Today with the growth of the internet, we are able to identify his musical intelligence. Recently, in an online store I saw a Agni Natchathiram vinyl cover, which read ‘Tamil synth pop & electro-funk’. This made me realise that Pop, Rock, Metal, Electronic, Country, Jazz, Prog were all buried in Tamil cine albums under the Ilaiyaraaja banner. He takes these genres to the next level by fusing them with Indian folk and Carnatic conventions. His music is such that for music scholars, the musical depth is emphasised and for others, it creates a personal space for their own feelings.
His music has turned into fine wine, but every time you hear it, it is fresh. I think not only Gen Z, but this wine will be enjoyed by every single upcoming generation. With Ilaiyaraaja completing 50 years in his musical career, Gen Z regards him as a cult classic figure and will forever resonate with his music.
Hailing from Madurai, Buddha Mithiran is a literature enthusiast currently studying at Azim Premji University.
Views expressed are the author’s own.
